High-End Brokerage Determined to Revolutionize Home Renovation

California real estate firm reels in a ‘refined’ relationship with Curbio

By John Voket

The stars must align with a highly viable market and a very willing firm poised to co-brand services to lure a potential vendor into opening a brand-new office in one of California’s most competitive regions. 

But that’s exactly how things developed recently between home renovation leader Curbio and Willis Allen Real Estate, as the La Jolla, California-based firm’s extensive search for a perfect home improvement partner concluded in a highly successful collaboration.

Renovations for all: turnkey solutions every client can afford

Curbio offers turnkey home improvement solutions to REALTORS® and their clients. Services are fast and the process is effortless for brokers, agents, and homeowners. Curbio completes home improvements before homes go on the market and defer payment for any work until closing.

Under this recent partnership with Willis Allen Real Estate, programs offer built-in financing to buyers.

Curbio provides agents a competitive advantage and their clients a means to make improvements before (or after) their home is sold without having to reach into their pockets upfront to get that work accomplished. This struck a chord with the Willis Allen Real Estate team as they researched vendors.

“We wanted a service where the agents didn’t have to act as a general contractor and be incredibly involved because they should be out selling real estate rather than managing projects,” says Jane Granados, COO and managing broker. “When we reached out to Curbio, they seemed to understand our needs and checked a lot of the boxes,” she adds.

“But Curbio wasn’t serving our market at the time, so we kept going back and asking, and about a year ago, they said they would come to San Diego for us and set up shop,” says Granados.

Keeping services in-house: white labeling home renovations

Curbio enhanced the partnership by permitting Willis Allen Real Estate to co-brand services. Under the firm’s Refine label, clients could take advantage of Curbio’s suite of home renovation services. Staging, home improvement projects, and renovations are all financed with Curbio’s “renovate-now-pay-at-closing” price model. Willis Allen Real Estate then worked closely with Curbio to fashion all related marketing for the newly branded line of services.

“As a luxury broker, we know that virtually every property can use some improvements,” says Kate McIver, Willis Allen Real Estate’s director of Risk Management & Education. “One of the big advantages for us is that with Curbio, there’s no project minimum,” she adds. 

One recent project under the Refine program ended up netting the seller an added profit of $290,000 on the home’s list price of $1,250,000—with total renovations costing a fractional $34,349.

“That included exterior painting, new flooring, some window additions, trim replacements, bathroom refreshes as well as some new appliances and kitchen work,” says Granados.

“For closed transactions involving Curbio, there’s been a measurable increase in net profit for the seller across the board,” notes MacIver. “Clients are ecstatic because the people and contractors they’re working with under Refine are all very responsive; materials are first class, and the agents know they have the edge over the competition because they can offer these services.”

If there were any drawbacks, Granados says it’s convincing sellers in a white-hot market to take the additional time required to permit the Curbio contracting team to get the improvement work done.

“If a seller isn’t interested in the opportunity, Curbio has done a great job of creating opportunities for buyers to use their services as well—and they’re offering financing for them,” says Granados. “Now our agents can have Curbio come in during escrow and talk to buyers about getting a quote and making the property their very own after closing.”

For more information, please visit https://curbio.com.