How Revive’s approach to pre-sale renovations delivers an optimum sales price, with turnkey, Instagrammable results for the HGTV generation.

Maximizing profit is every homeowner’s goal when they choose to sell their property. The goal is simple, however the approach is rife with risks, uncertainties, and misaligned incentives.

In this article we take a look at Revive, a real estate services company that is eliminating these market challenges by aligning the objectives of homeowners, realtors, and contractors. Revive’s approach insures that their pre-sale renovations deliver the optimum sales price, with turnkey, Instagrammable results for the HGTV generation.

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Also see:

 

The Importance of Pre-Sale Renovations

The practice of Pre-Sale Renovations (AKA Pre-Listing Renovations) involves strategically repairing and upgrading a home prior to listing the property for sale. This category of renovations is undertaken to either increase the sales price of a home or to shorten the sales cycle.

Both objectives can be achieved simultaneously when projects are expertly scoped, exceptionally managed and implemented in a tight timeframe. When well executed, pre-sale renovations can significantly increase the net profit for a home seller.

However, due to timing and competitive pressures, combined with changing buyer preferences, pre-sale renovations are inherently risky for homeowners to take on without partnering with an expert in this field.

Left to their own devices, homeowners can end up either spending too much, spending too little, renovating the wrong features, or selecting the wrong materials and design styles.

In short, you will want to team up with someone who embodies the traits and capabilities of a successful Professional House Flipper. Enter Revive.

 

About Revive

Launched in 2019 and based in Southern California, Revive’s mission is to serve the residential real estate market with laser focus on helping homeowners maximize the profit of their most significant asset – their home. The company’s key service is enabling homeowners to sell their properties for peak profit through expertly scoped and executed pre-sale renovations. In essence, Revive helps homeowners flip their homes like a pro.

Revive is currently providing pre-sale renovations in the following states: California, Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, with plans to expand to Arizona and North Carolina next.

Revive Pre-Sale Renovation Kitchen Remodel, Bainbridge Island, Washington

Kitchen Remodel, Bainbridge Island, Washington

 

Revive’s Current Offerings

Prepare to Sell

Revive’s pre-sale renovation or concierge service is known as “Prepare to Sell“. Using statistical data and analysis, Revive can determine the renovations and upgrades needed for a given property that will return a better sale price than if the homeowner were to sell the property “As-Is”. Homeowners need only sign a pre-sale contract, and the rest – all materials, contractor agreements, project management and funding – is handled by Revive.

All-Cash Buyer (AKA Prepare to Buy)

Formerly known as “Trade-Up“, Revive’s All Cash Buyer product provides assurance for homeowners who need to purchase a home before selling their existing property. Revive will submit a winning all-cash offer, purchase the home, and subsequently rent the home back to the prospective homeowner until their current home sells.

All-Cash Buyer participants may rent up to six months before exercising their option to purchase the home from Revive. Should a longer rental term become necessary, Revive will extend the client for an additional six months for a percentage-based fee.

Prepare to Stay

Revive is also extending their renovation capabilities to homeowners who wish to leverage Revive’s proven, low-stress solution to upgrade their existing, “not-for-sale” homes to the latest “turnkey” standards, features and designs.

By allowing average homeowners to leverage Revive’s project management team in tandem with their network of material suppliers and contractors, Revive is democratizing the renovation industry by empowering any property owner to have access to reliable experts and efficient capabilities that were once only reserved for high-end real estate professionals.

In our opinion, this is a highly-needed service and will be well received. Homeowners will not only have comparable capabilities as professional house flippers, they will be protected against a plethora of risks that most homeowners face when hiring contractors directly and managing projects themselves.

 

Revive’s Unique Approach to Pre-Sale Renovations

Backed by years of experience in house flipping, Revive understands what it takes to deliver an optimal outcome for homeowners when renovating their homes for sale. Revive’s operational objectives have evolved into systemizing and scaling critical capabilities, learned over many years that are necessary to flip houses successfully and reliably.

Revive’s Key Pre-Sale Renovation Capabilities

Revive’s key capabilities for delivering successful pre-sale renovations can be summarized as:

  • On-Demand Network of Integrated, Pre-Vetted, Pre-Tested, High-Quality, Repeat Contractors
  • Dedicated Project Managers that serve as representatives for homeowners that fill the role of professional house flippers for contractors
  • Low-Risk, High-Return Value Proposition that can dramatically increase the profit of a given home, through more comprehensive upgrades, previously out of the reach of most homeowners and agents

The company’s unique approach to partnering with a vetted, integrated network of contractors and material suppliers helps to maintain their cost competitiveness and to ensure timely availability of labor and supplies, while upholding quality standards.

By providing both the capital and a dedicated project manager necessary for the renovations, Revive removes a tremendous burden for homeowners during this often stressful period. Homeowners need only review the work when the project is completed.

In terms of technology, they use House Canary to conduct home appraisals, Matterport 3D scan models for proposals and designs, and a proprietary app to help contractors, homeowners and agents communicate during the renovation project.

Revive’s Financial Approach to Pre-Sale Renovations

For properties that Revive deems a good fit for their services, the proposed renovation budget typically ranges between 40% and 60% of the estimated incremental sales price.

For example, if a home has an “As-Is” value of $1M and Revive estimates that they could capture a $2M sales price, the incremental value would be $1M and the budget would range between $400K and $600K. This scenario would represent an ROI of between 150% (for a $400K budget, $600K/$400K) and 67% (for a $600K budget, $400K/$600K). Thus, a $400K budget would deliver a gross profit of $600K ($1M – $400K), and a $600K budget would deliver a gross profit of $400K ($1M – $600K).

To hedge their risks against renovating in a slow real estate market, the company requires that a property be in a market in which the Average Days on Market is 60 days or less. No matter your situation, homeowners are encouraged to reach out to Revive to request a no-risk proposal for their property, as their market knowledge is invaluable. From their perspective, they sincerely believe that there is no reason why a homeowner should not contact them.

To reiterate their unique approach to pre-sale renovations, we further demonstrate in detail how Revive is simultaneously serving their three key partners:

  • Homeowners
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Contractors

 

How Revive Helps Homeowners

Completing renovations before a home sale is not an easy task and can often involve emotional attachment for most homeowners, coupled with uncertainty. With pre-sale renovations, however, homeowners need to look at their property as unbiased investors, and be able to answer questions objectively, such as:

  • How can you be sure that the renovations you make will cover costs, let alone return a sizeable profit?
  • Can you trust that potential buyers would prefer the same tile, paint or cabinets that represent your personal design preferences?
  • How do you know which features and upgrades will drive the most interest and enable you to list your home as a desirable turnkey property?

Further complicating the undertaking is access to high quality, available contractors, guaranteed building materials and supplies that meet your timetable. As you can imagine, the overall project can quickly become daunting.

52% of homeowners say that making improvements and preparing a home for sale are the most stressful aspects of selling, according to the Zillow Group 2019 Consumer Housing Trends Report.

Why Homeowners Need Representation

Understanding these challenges, Revive assigns a dedicated project manager – also referred to as an owner’s representative – to each homeowner client. This team member is responsible for gathering and defining all of the project details:

  • Budget & Project Scope
  • Design Specs
  • Materials Sourcing
  • Contractor Activation
  • Timeline

This intricate preparation is what enables Revive’s contractors to execute their work on time, on budget and to requisite quality standards. The adept handling of project details is the embodiment of how successful house flippers operate – they streamline the renovation process as much as possible for their contractors.

Once the renovation work starts, the Revive Owner’s Rep then handles the day-to-day remodeling process, which allows homeowners to focus on family, work and finding their next residence. All they really need to do is enjoy the process and wait for the final results!

Also see:

Revive Pre-Sale Renovation Living Room Fireplace, San Mateo CA

Living Room Upgrade, San Mateo, California

 

How Revive Helps Real Estate Agents

Revive understands that a real estate agent should never be placed in the position of being the financier for client upgrades, nor the project manager when their clients’ homes need pre-sale renovations.

71% of home sellers said that they completed at least one improvement project as part of selling their home (e.g. painting, redecorating, kitchen improvement, new appliances, replacing/repairing flooring, etc), according to the Zillow Group 2021 Consumer Housing Trends Report.

By partnering with Revive, agents can increase both their listings and earnings when they engage the company’s pre-sales renovations program to handle all aspects of their client’s remodel.

These services free up agents to focus on what they do best. More importantly, Revive can empower agents to offer upgrades on a totally different level than they previously thought possible.

Summary of Benefits to Real Estate Agents Provided by Revive:

  • Win more listings
  • Increase sales prices and profit
  • Gain more referrals from satisfied clients
  • Offer renovation services previously out-of-reach to most agents, in terms of project complexity and cost
  • Offer comprehensive renovation services ideal for America’s aging housing inventory
  • Free up time to tend to more existing and future clients

Also see:

Revive Pre-Sale Renovation Dining Room Enhancement Menlo Park, California

Dining Room Enhancement, Menlo Park, California

 

How Revive Helps Contractors

Revive’s pre-vetted network of contractors benefit from their association with the program, as these contractors can do more, and be better than if they had to spend considerable time winning new business and handholding less-experienced homeowners through renovation projects.

Their standardized contracts, processes, pricing and integrated job scheduling means that their contractor partners can be more productive and efficient.

Once part of the Revive network, contractors can sign up for a guaranteed number of projects per month that fit their overall business needs and objectives. Contractors also have the option of remaining completely independent, pursuing other customers in parallel to Revive projects, or becoming part of the company’s captive of participating providers.

Since Revive is responsible for defining the project scope, budget and design of remodeling projects, contractors need only do what they do best by focusing on delivering quality results on time.

Their network efficiencies also mean that contractors never need to worry about material supplies becoming unavailable, or projects stalling due to supply chain or trade issues. The company’s growing market presence provides contractors new ways to solve problems, out of reach for most small independent firms.

Lastly, Revive mentors contractors to help them continuously improve their overall services, while contractors have incentive to meet Revive’s high standards of quality and reliability to ensure continuous streams of jobs.  Thus, homeowners and their future buyers are beneficiaries of this self-improving, symbiotic relationship.

Also see:

 

Example Revive Pre-Sale Renovation Case Study

Property: 68-70 Monterey Blvd, San Francisco, CA, MLS Listing Page
Property Type: Duplex
Total Square Footage: 1,874
Year Built: 1948
Listing Agent: Rica Ruiz, Meraki Real Estate
Pre-Sale Renovations Partner: Revive
Pre-Sale Renovations Case Study: 68-70 Monterey Blvd
Renovations Completed: New flooring, interior & exterior painting, driveway replacement, kitchen remodel, new appliances, lightings, electrical wirings, bathroom remodel and backyard enhancement
As-Is Price: $1,100,000
Cost of Renovations: $331,675
List Price: $1,348,000
Sold Price: $2,000,000
Gross Profit: $568,325
Date Sold: 1/19/2022

Walk-Through Video Tour

3D Virtual Tours

68 Monterey Blvd – Bottom Unit


70 Monterey Blvd – Top Unit

Also see: 711 Clayton Ave, El Cerrito, CA

 

Why We Like Revive

Having had the opportunity to speak with Revive’s two co-founders, CEO, Michael Alladawi, and CTO, Dalip Jaggi, on multiple occasions for this article, we learned quite a bit about their unique approach and passion for what they do.

Here are a few intangible corporate traits and capabilities that we discovered, which we believe will bode well for Revive’s future.

  • Revive is “On-Trend” with Homeowners
  • Revive is a Learning & Teaching Organization
  • Revive is Fostering an Informal Keiretsu
  • Revive is an Example of Why Not All Concierge Services are Equal
  • Revive is Delivering Renovations that Matter

Revive is “On-Trend” with Homeowners

Of all the things that we learned about Revive, we are most excited about their approach to partnering with contractors. At Purgula, part of our mission is to help homeowners identify and hire high-quality, trustworthy contractors. The reality is that the best contractors are often unavailable, as they are continually booked, often by strategic partners, such as professional house flippers.

When the company states that they work with “vetted” contractors – this means that they already have working relationships in place. Most importantly, their contractor partnerships have mutually aligned incentives to perform better over time to the benefit of Revive’s homeowner clients. Part of the company’s role is to resolve any issues that may arise during a project, as well as helping contractors be as successful as possible.

If a homeowner chooses to work with Revive, many may not realize that they are getting a type of “VIP access” to some of the best contractors in their market. Without Revive’s existing contractor relationships, hiring workers directly would always be a riskier and more time-consuming process for homeowners.

Revive is a Learning & Teaching Organization

Revive’s cultural of learning and teaching stems from CEO, Michael Alladawi. While pursuing his vision of helping homeowners flip their own homes like pros, he had to be introspective on the lessons he learned flipping houses over many years.  Alladawi’s experience taught him that processes need to improve continuously and that companies need to be able to adapt quickly to changing market dynamics.

Revive is Fostering an Informal Keiretsu

By incorporating lessons learned from years of successful house flipping, Revive has in effect created an informal Keiretsu between the company, homeowners, agents and contractors. They have created a system that is optimized for all parties to be successful and mutually satisfied. With continual learning and optimization, their system will only get better for all stakeholders. Their secret sauce is that they are a trusted, expert intermediary that is helping each party be a better partner by taking over responsibilities and details that are critical for successful “house flipping”.

Revive is an Example of Why Not All Concierge Services are Equal

Because Revive has intimate knowledge and years’ of experience flipping houses, they understand what is necessary for successful pre-sale renovations – the most challenging of all renovations – exceptionally well. When considering pre-sale renovation services, be wary of firms that solely offer “financing and referrals”.

Delivering Renovations that Matter

Though Revive’s mission is clearly focused on maximizing profit for homeowners, their efforts to “democratize house flipping” has been eye-opening to the team at Revive. They are often humbled when learning how monetary gains have impacted the lives of their homeowner clients.

Here are a few examples of “Renovations that Matter”:

  • Retiring with Dignity
  • Starting a Family Sooner
  • Retiring Closer to Family
  • Trading up to a Larger Home
  • Providing a Financial Cushion
  • Eliminating Debt

 

Future Opportunities for Revive

Though we understand that the top priority of Revive is to continue to grow their business in what they do best, e.g. pre-sale renovations, we cannot help but anticipate related opportunities coming their way. Given Revive’s collaborative approach, we are optimistic that they will likely anticipate and adapt quickly to emerging opportunities for not only themselves, but for their partners, as well.

Here are a few examples that we hope to see play out in the near future:

  • Real Estate Agent Referral Program
    • As the popularity of Revive’s “Ready to Stay” program grows, agents could be rewarded by the company for referring business to them for homeowners that are not ready to sell
    • By recommending services to clients who are remaining in their homes for extended periods of time, agents can stay engaged with their client base, while providing valuable, trustworthy market advice.
    • Agents could pitch the “Ready to Stay” program as ideal for homeowners planning to sell their home in the next few years, but want to have the “turnkey experience” before selling.
  • Offer a “Love It or List It” Option
    • As some homeowners, who go through the pre-sale renovations process, end up wanting to keep their newly created “turnkey home”, the “Ready to Stay” service should consider offering a “Love It or List It” option (a reference to the popular real estate reality show).
    • This option would allow homeowners to experience a competitive upgrade of their homes that could potentially address all of the reasons they were selling in the first place. This would be especially valuable for homeowners that truly love their current neighborhood, town and school district.
    • If the homeowners decided that the pre-sale renovations did not meet their needs, then they could proceed to list their renovated property for sale.
  • Expand Their Services and Partnerships into Home Maintenance & Home Performance
    • Given that we view Revive’s most important asset as Trust, we encourage them to expand their vetted network of partners into the Home Maintenance and Home Performance industries.
    • By referring best-of-breed, trustworthy service companies to homeowners, this would enable homeowners to take better care of their homes, while deepening the relationship between homeowners and Revive beyond infrequent home sales.
    • “Revive Maintained Homes” could evolve into a certification program, further increasing the value of a home.

 

Revive Resource Links

 

Revive Competitors

Companies Offering Pre-Sale Renovations & House Flipping Services

Companies that Help Property Owners Upgrade, Prep & Manage Rental Properties

 

Recommended Reading

Pre-Sale Renovations

Home Selling

Home Buying

 

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