Stay Alfred founder launches new company to take guesswork out of homebuying

A local entrepreneur is aiming to make the homebuying process more transparent through a new-online-real estate bidding platform.

Stay Alfred founder Jordan Allen recently launched Ruumr, a website that takes the guesswork out of bidding for a home by providing real estate agents and buyers with sales terms, disclosures and home prices upfront before bidding on a home.

“Everything is done behind the scenes in the traditional homebuying process,” Allen said. “You come up with terms that you think the seller is going to accept, but, really, you are just kind of guessing.”

Allen said Ruumr provides a fair and transparent platform to bid on homes. Buyers know the offer criteria to secure a home, sellers can obtain the highest list price and agents spend less time writing offers.

Real estate agents and their clients are able to view and place bids on properties in real-time.

Buyers can also schedule showings, view home inspections, sale contingencies, desired closing dates, photos and take 3-D virtual tours of homes via Matterport, which lists items included in the sale. Ruumr also features moderated discussion boards for each property, allowing buyers to ask questions.

Sellers on Ruumr’s platform work with a real estate agent to determine a reserve price and offer criteria for their home. The reserve price, which is typically set at market value, is hidden. Bidding starts at zero once the property listing goes live on the website.

Ruumr’s first listing – a three-bedroom, 21/2-bathroom townhome in Liberty Lake – went live on the website about two weeks ago and has garnered 20 offers as of Monday.

Since launching Ruumr last month, dozens of real estate agents have signed up on the platform and more properties will be listed on the website in the near future, Allen said.

The platform also is designed to work in a buyer’s market, which is when there’s more housing supply than demand.

“In a down market, they might have to adjust a reserve price in order for the home to sell, but at least they get to determine what the price of the home was valued at versus cutting (the price) every three months,” Allen said.

Ruumr’s co-founders include former OddJobbers CEO Nick McLain; Matt Melville, a former director of financial planning and analysis at Itron Inc. and Stay Alfred; and Sean Tedore, owner of San Francisco-based Futureblank, which provides consulting and product development services to businesses.

Allen founded Spokane Valley-based Stay Alfred in 2011.

The company, which was known for popularizing the concept of upscale travel apartment rentals in walkable locations, had nearly 300 employees, generated more than $100 million in revenue and operated more than 2,200 units in 32 markets across the country before it shuttered last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Allen said Stay Alfred’s closure was a painful experience, but he’s learned valuable lessons from operating the business for nearly a decade.

Martin Tobias, an angel investor, serial entrepreneur and founder of Incisive Ventures, said he typically invests in companies that have a unique approach to solving a problem he’s experienced or is knowledgeable about.

“When I came to Spokane last year, I owned a house here and went around and bought two to three rental properties. It was pretty easy,” Tobias said.

But when Tobias tried to buy additional properties about six months ago, he encountered bidding wars and struggled with knowing prices that sellers were willing to accept.

“When Jordan told me what he’s doing – that this could increase transparency and make the process easier for both buyers and sellers, I said: ‘Here’s a guy that I’d love to back,’ ” Tobias said.

Ruumr has raised $4 million in a seed investment round. The company is looking to hire 20 employees and expand to other markets within a year, Allen said.

“A lot of major innovators in the venture capital space believe that the home sales market is ripe for disruption,” Allen said. “But we still partner with Realtors, which is the biggest key to make all this work.”