Real estate platform, Orchard — formerly known as Perch — announced today it raised $36 million in equity funding.
Buying and selling a home can be stressful. Often, it involves moving multiple times, juggling two mortgages at once and compromising on price and priorities. Orchard wants to change that by helping users find, buy and sell a home all on one site.
As long as they agree to sell their current home through Orchard, users can secure their dream home using the company’s cash and are not responsible for the new mortgage until their old home is sold. Orchard makes its money through a six percent commission on the sale of the old home, claiming 85 percent of its users sell their home at market price.
“Customers work directly with a dedicated, licensed Orchard agent to find a new home they’ll love. When they find their dream home, Orchard reserves the home for them by making a cash offer on their behalf. Since Orchard customers are making cash offers, they’re more likely to be chosen by sellers,” Phil DeGisi, the co-founder and head of customer experience, told Built In. “The customer moves into their new home and then our agents get to work on selling their old home for top dollar. Orchard handles everything from cleaning to listing and showing — all after the customer moves out, so they never have to deal with it.”
Orchard’s model was designed to give home sellers and buyers more autonomy throughout the process, ensuring they make more money on their old houses and spend less looking for a new one. While the company is based out of Austin and New York, it serves Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Denver and Atlanta as well.
Since its founding in 2017, the company has achieved tenfold year-over-year growth and has raised more $69 million so far. DeGisi says Orchard plans to use this most recent funding to roughly double its 150-person team, improve its product and possibly expand to new markets.
The company also announced today that it changed its name from Perch to Orchard.
