Meet Curbio, the company transforming your house pre-sale for max profit

The Offer Sheet readers —

This Sunday we’re excited to share with you the story of Curbio, an innovative company that executes your home improvement project top to bottom in a fully turnkey way (you do nothing), to allow you to then sell your home for top dollar. Who says no to that?

We touch on topics such as how the concept actually works, its benefits, the founding story, the extent of their services, their business model, feedback they are hearing from the market, and what’s next. Hope you enjoy!

We’re thrilled to be chatting with the Curbio team and their Chief Marketing Officer, Olivia Mariani. They have an innovative concept going where you can renovate your home and not pay a dime until you close. Can you tell our readers exactly how this works?

Absolutely. Curbio partners with real estate agents and their listing clients to get homes market ready, without the hassle of traditional home improvement. We specialize in ROI-driven home improvements that potential buyers want, helping our clients to sell their homes quickly and for top dollar. We are a fully turnkey service, meaning that we take care of every aspect of all projects from start to finish. Our clients can track the progress of their Curbio project in real-time via the Curbio app, allowing them to stay up-to-date without ever needing to visit the project site. With our technology, five-star contractor network and world-class customer success team, we are providing our users with an easy, elevated home improvement experience. Plus, every single Curbio project is pay-at-closing with zero interest, fees, or premiums. There’s no catch- we just get paid for our work when the house sells, providing our clients with the financial freedom they need during the home sale process.

What are the benefits to homeowners of taking on repairs / renovations themselves before selling? How much more $$ can homeowners make on a house typically?

Buyers want move-in-ready homes. Up to 77% of potential buyers say that they won’t consider purchasing a home that isn’t move-in-ready, and 68% of buyers say the biggest dealbreaker to buying a home is disrepair and wear and tear. In a continuously fluctuating real estate market, sellers who update their homes prior to listing are giving themselves the best chance at a highly profitable sale by meeting buyer demand.

Homes updated by Curbio prior to listing sell for an average of 28% more than homes listed as-is, putting more money into sellers pockets and boosting agent commissions. Curbio sees an average ROI of 269% on home updates of all sizes, across all markets. Some of the top improvements in terms of ROI are a kitchen refresh at 277%, refinishing hardwood floors at 348%, and 297% for basic listing preparations and minor repairs. The numbers really speak for themselves—pre-listing prep work is a clear win for everyone involved.

Personally, I hate the hassle of dealing with home renovations folks, contractors, painters, etc. It’s like a second job. How are you guys making that so simple and stress free?

Curbio is a completely turnkey service, we handle everything so that our clients don’t have to. Once a homeowner and their real estate agent sign a contract with us, they are introduced to their Curbio project manager who is their direct liaison for the entire duration of the project. Our team handles everything related to the project, from materials ordering to vendor sourcing and punch list. Our project managers keep clients updated in real-time with photo and video updates via the Curbio app, providing them with transparency and communication without adding any stress. Agents who use Curbio gain a contractor partner who handles everything project related for them, allowing them to focus on serving their clients and growing their business.

Is there a period of time in which I need to sell my home after using Curbio to pay for renovation expenses?

Our contracts typically require the home to be sold within one year after the project completion, with some flexibility. As long as you are actively working with a real estate agent to sell the home, we are willing to work with you.

What if someone wanted to use you guys on a flip? Are there any limitations like that or otherwise?

The only limitation with Curbio is that you have to be working with a real estate agent on a listing to use our services. We partner exclusively with agents to get homes ready for the market, so anyone not represented by an agent is unable to use our solution.

What is the Curbio story and how / why did this business come about?

Curbio was founded back in 2017 with the goal of helping homeowners to sell their house for the best possible price, without paying cash up front for renovations. The company was actually initially named “MaxSalePrice”. As the name implies, our business was truly centered around renovating homes to sell for the maximum possible price. Since then, we have refined our service and evolved into a solution that is transforming home improvement for the real estate industry. We are removing the frustrations, communication barriers and logistical issues that plague traditional home improvement and are replacing them with a simple, fast and accessible model. Since we were first founded, we have become the largest provider of pay-at-closing home improvements in the United States. Our goal is to continue being the go-to pre-listing contractor for real estate agents, helping them to get all of their listings market-ready with ease.

How does Curbio make money? And what does pricing look like? Is there any risk if your house doesn’t end up selling for the anticipated post repair price?

Curbio makes money just like any other contractor does- we get paid for the work that we complete. The only difference is that we get paid once the home sells, rather than being paid up front. Most people think that this sounds too good to be true, but there really is no catch. We offer pay-at-closing terms on projects of all sizes, with zero interest, fees or premiums. Our pricing is comparable to any high-quality contractor. We likely won’t be the cheapest option on the market, but we’re the only option that focuses on ROI-driven updates, and we’re the only completely turnkey solution on the market. In the event that a homeowner decides to not sell their property, Curbio would simply require direct payment for services rendered like any typical contractor.

What’s the extent of services that you offer? Do you offer a whole house makeover, do you offer staging?

It’s honestly easier to list what we don’t do—the only thing we don’t do is completely new buildings (new construction, home extensions, etc.). We can do pretty much everything else, from whole home renovations to simple projects like cleaning and staging. We do painting, landscaping, roofing, flooring, bathroom renovations, kitchen renovations, decluttering, the list goes on and on. We also have a free estimate tool available to all agents and homeowners via our mobile app. And, as of earlier this year, we provide inspection repairs as well. If you can name it, Curbio probably does it. We truly are a solution fit for any and all pre-listing needs.

Is there anyone else doing anything like what you guys are? If so, what makes you different / unique?

There are a few concierge services that offer pay-at-closing terms for pre-listing work, but we are the only completely turnkey solution on the market. Concierge services provide financing, but don’t do any project management. We handle all vendor sourcing and project management in-house, allowing our clients to get their valuable time back instead of wasting it trying to wrangle contractors, schedule work and visit the property site. We’re also unique in that we don’t have any project minimums or maximums required to utilize our pay-at-closing offering, making us a perfect fit for any listing.

Where do you see Curbio going in terms of future offerings?

Curbio is constantly expanding its offerings. Just this year we added home staging and inspection repairs to our suite of in-house services. We have plans to continue expanding into new markets. We’re continuing to invest in our technology, launching products like our mobile app to provide real estate agents and homeowners with an elevated experience. I think in the near future, I see us focusing on becoming a complete solution for real estate agents who are navigating the listing process. We want to be a true partner to agents, so I can see us expanding to help them with things like marketing and lead generation in addition to pre-listing home improvements.

One I would love to see would be having someone manage my renovation pre-STR listing instead of pre-sale. In other words, I’d like to transform a broken down property into a cash flowing STR but don’t want to do the hard work. And instead of selling, do a short term rental. Any thoughts or future plans?

At this point in time, we are really focused on driving a truck through the market for pre-sale repairs and updates. This is a $100B market with a ton of untapped potential, and we’re a perfect fit for that space. Obviously, we’ll never say never, but for right now, we’re seeing success in our solution being targeted specifically on the sell side of a real estate transaction.

What type of feedback are you getting from customers?

Most of our customers say they can’t believe they didn’t know about us before! They are blown away by how streamlined our process is, and how easy it is to work with us. Agents love that they can provide a pay-at-closing solution to their sellers without taking on extra work, stress or costs, helping them to not only win listings but to also sell them quickly and for more.