Plunk To Provide Mobile Valuation Smarts To California-Based The MLS

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Real estate software company Plunk is partnering with The MLS/CLAW (Combined LA, Westside), a large multiple listing service in southern California, to provide its flagship home value analytics solution to members of the multiple listing service, it was announced.

Plunk’s mobile, dynamic value analytics software actively integrates live market data, covering 104 million homes, with a range of prospective upgrade projects to arrive at a potential future value. Users—agents, vendors and homeowners—are given a dashboard of comparison tools, such as charts, a proprietary scoring algorithm and other metrics to better understand how a home would fare on the open market.

The MLS serves over 20,000 agents and brokers with active, past and pending real estate data, business software tools and brokerage resources. It’s active in some the Golden State’s most lucrative markets, such as Beverly Hills, Malibu, Hollywood Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena and Palm Springs.

“Now more than ever, it’s important to find new and effective ways to give our members a unparalleled advantage to thrive in this constantly changing market,” said Annie Ives, CEO of The MLS, in a statement. “Innovation is vital to our members’ growth and success.”

Determining, and numerically demonstrating home value is going to become increasingly critical as the country enters an odd market period. Sales have slowed, a recession is pending, interest rates are up, yet sellers are holding firm, keeping inventory low. When inventory is low, value traditionally remains high, leading to agents industry-wide not knowing how best to advise clients.

In its most recent earnings call, Anywhere Real Estate’s executive vice president and chief financial officer Charlotte Simonelli specifically addressed inventory.

“I can’t emphasize enough how the continued lack of inventory contributes to this drop-off,” she said. “Many homeowners are locked into their current homes with low mortgage rates creating a barrier to new supply coming onto the market.”

Tools like Plunk can provide agents with additional market insight to show in listing presentations and before buyers write offers.

Those agents will be able to leverage the majority of Plunk’s functionality, including its AVM (automated valuation model) features an market insights tool. Additionally, Plunk’s Refined Value module, which empowers agents to hone value by intricately editing property details, and its Remodel Value, a feature that examines the financial impact and market appeal of a remodel.

In an Inman review, Plunk was described as mature beyond its relative launch date, as well as “polished, engaging and able to distill vast amounts of property intelligence to help its users arrive as close as possible to what a home may go for on the open market.”

The app classifies remodel projects according to levels of quality, each including regionally verifiable costs from construction and labor statistics databases. Users can juxtapose a range of build qualities against the market’s inventory similarities. Users can upload images and give the home a Condition Score, as an appraiser would, such as Disrepair, Economy, Stock, Semi-Custom, Custom, Luxury.

“This critical partnership keeps them ahead of the industry,” said David Bluhm, Co-founder and President of Plunk, about The MLS, in a press release. “We will provide real-time access to the most advanced property and market valuation tools — whether they’re on their computers or their mobile phones.”

Plunk is based in Bellvue, WA. It earned $6.5 million in seed funding in May, 2021 and was a member of NAR’s Reach Accelerator Class of 2021.

Email Craig Rowe