Kelley Blue Book, a name synonymous with trusted automobile valuations, is the latest non-traditional player looking to make some waves in the real estate space.
Kelley Blue Book Homes has launched a residential real estate platform that offers homeowners free, data-driven home valuations and gives real estate agents subscription-based access to seller leads, the company announced Tuesday. The platform is a joint venture between valuation and appraisal technology firm True Footage and Kelley Blue Book parent company Cox Enterprises. In April, True Footage raised a $40 million Series C round led by Cox Enterprises’ Socium Ventures.
“Through True Footage, over the last few years, we have been providing appraisal technology to a lot of the nation’s top appraisers. We have great analytics and tools like TrueTracts that can produce highly accurate and comprehensive valuations,” John Liss, the CEO of True Footage, who is also leading the charge at Kelley Blue Book Homes, said. “We wanted to get our products in front of consumers because the options available to them are not that accurate and may have different incentives to price a property a certain way.”
Initial launch in 10 states
The service, now open for consumers to use and agents to sign-up for in 10 states, applies the Kelley Blue Book brand’s pricing authority from the auto sector to housing. Seller marketing services and lead distribution are scheduled to begin Aug. 1, according to the announcement.
The platform is live for agents and consumers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. Agents can purchase marketing rights on a ZIP code basis and receive access to homeowners who request valuation reports in those areas.
But not just any agent can sign up, Liss said he and his team have a stringent screening process for agents, where they examine agents’ closed sales volume, average days on market, sale-to-list price ratio and things like their sales process and follow-up process with clients.
“This is not just a sign up and pay type of situation,” Liss said. “We are really looking to find the best agents, and we are built on the premise that for every property there is an agent that has the best strategy to sell it. We don’t think you should hire the person that has been badgering you at the PTA meetings for the past decade, you should hire the top person based on the data in your market, and we want to make sure [that] we pair consumers with the best valuation experience and expertise, but also with the right strategy to maximize their outcome.”
Liss added that this subscription model structure was created in response to both agent and consumer concerns with the more common success fee or commission referral fee models.
“What we have seen is that success fees have become extremely extractive and especially top performing agents, who we are targeting, are tired of paying these exorbitant success fees,” Liss said.
He added that agents are also not under any pressure to attach ancillary services like mortgage, homeowners insurance or title insurance to their seller leads.
All about the consumer experience
Prospective sellers looking for a valuation on their home can input data about the property into Kelley Blue Book Homes to receive a valuation report, where they are also asked if they would like to be contacted by an agent. Regardless of their response, the report comes branded with a designated Kelley Blue Book agent’s information, who is listed as their designated Kelley Blue Book advisor, providing them with the information in case they have questions or decide to explore listing their property. Liss said that one agent will remain connected with the property and that Kelley Blue Book Homes does not send the prospective seller to several agents, which only causes confusion and annoyance on the part of the consumer.
In early test markets, more than 17% of homes that received a Kelley Blue Book Homes price report were listed on the MLS within 90 days, according to the announcement.
“This is about as high-intent as it gets for agents,” Liss said.
Liss believes this is a product of the quality of the firm’s valuation engine which incorporates things like neighborhood-level pricing trends, property-specific renovations and condition details supplied by the homeowner, micro-market dynamics and seasonal timing considerations.
“Our data can break things down by neighborhood and then take things further by looking at trends for specific property types in a neighborhood because what is going on there with 5,000 square foot homes might not be the same as what is happening with 1,000 square foot homes,” Liss said. “Or if a consumer reaches out to an advisor wondering if putting in a pool would be a good investment, we can show them what the return on their investment would be in their neighborhood based on the data.”
While the platform is more geared towards sellers, Liss said they have seen many buyers use the platform to an offer price on a property they are considering.
The right time for the right company
Despite the current chaos of lawsuits, listing data ownership debates and consolidation taking over the housing industry, Liss said he believes this is the right time to launch Kelley Blue Book Homes.
“I think it is a really good time for a brand that is focused on the truth and providing people with the best information possible to get into the industry,” he said. “A lot of people are fighting right now and that creates an environment of low consumer trust because people feel like the companies maybe are working for themselves and not for the consumer. A lot of people are trying to say they are all about consumers, but we are this unbiased party in the conversation, just focusing on providing people with the best information.”
Although the platform is currently only available in 10 states, Liss said they plan to add another 10 states in the fall, with an aim of going nationwide sometime during Q1 2027.
“It is going to be a fast and aggressive rollout, but we have already presold hundreds of spots to agents,” he said. “The response so far has been pretty positive, which I think is a combination of seller leads being the Holy Grail and people just being tired of existing options, combined with a strong affinity for the Kelley Blue Book brand.”
