Unlocked
Unlocked is a San Francisco-based, direct-to-consumer California real estate brokerage serving Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego home buyers with licensed agents, a 1% cash back rebate, and proprietary valuation and disclosure analysis tools.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Unlocked does
Unlocked is a privately held, direct-to-consumer residential real estate brokerage founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, serving home buyers across California including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The firm operates with a small team of co-founders, partners, and licensed California real estate agents, guiding individual and first-time buyers through the full purchase lifecycle from pre-approval and home search through offer, negotiation, disclosure analysis, and closing.
The company's core differentiators are two proprietary analytical deliverables layered on top of standard buyer's agent representation: the Custom Valuation Report (CVR), which packages recent comparable transactions, nearby listings, and third-party valuations with expert analysis into a single dataset with a recommended sales price range, and the Disclosure Review Summary (DRS), which distills the typical 200+ page disclosure packet into a risk-coded summary of the six major reports and an estimated repair-cost outlook. These are delivered through a standardized 5-Step Playbook spanning preparation, home search, data-driven evaluation, competitive offer submission (executed via DocuSign), and smooth closing.
Unlocked's revenue model is a transaction-based take rate: the brokerage retains 1.5% of the purchase price as its buyer's agent fee (subject to a $15,000 minimum per transaction), received only at closing, and passes through 1% of the standard 2.5% buyer's agent commission back to the buyer as a cash rebate. Customer acquisition is primarily organic via Yelp and Google reviews (300+ five-star reviews cited), the company website, and word-of-mouth, with no disclosed external funding.
Unlocked firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Unlocked
- Legal name
- Unlocked
- Website
- https://unlocked.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Unlocked is a San Francisco-based, direct-to-consumer California real estate brokerage serving Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego home buyers with licensed agents, a 1% cash back rebate, and proprietary valuation and disclosure analysis tools.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Unlocked industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Residential Real Estate Brokerage
- NAICS
- Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (5312)
- SIC
- Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Buyer Representation Services (BPAJAAAJ)
Keywords
Where Unlocked is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Unlocked business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Buyer's Agent Commission: Unlocked earns a 1.5% buyer's agent commission on the purchase price of homes, subject to a $15,000 minimum per transaction. The commission is received upon closing of the home purchase. Sellers typically offer 2.5% buyer's agent commission, of which Unlocked passes through 1% as cash back to buyers, retaining 1.5% for services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Full-service buyer's agent with 1% cash back |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Unlocked product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Unlocked is a California real estate brokerage that provides full-service buyer's agent representation to residential home buyers, charging a 1.5% buyer's agent commission (minimum $15,000 per transaction) and returning 1% of the purchase price to the buyer as a cash back rebate at closing when the seller offers a 2.5% commission. The service combines licensed agent representation with two proprietary analytical tools — the Custom Valuation Report (CVR) for fair market value analysis and the Disclosure Review Summary (DRS) for risk-assessed review of 200+ page disclosure packets — delivered through a structured 5-Step Playbook from pre-approval through closing.
Product overview
Unlocked is a data-driven real estate brokerage service for California home buyers that combines traditional buyer agent services with analytical tools and a commission rebate model. The core offering centers on the Custom Valuation Report (CVR) and Disclosure Review Summary (DRS) — proprietary evaluation tools that analyze comparable sales, listings, and disclosure documents to provide data-driven insights on property value and condition. These are delivered through the structured 5-Step Playbook methodology. The company differentiates through its 1% cash back commission rebate, where it passes through the difference between the 2.5% buyer's agent commission typically offered by sellers and its own 1.5% service fee. The service is available in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Custom Valuation Report (CVR) Data-driven home evaluation tool providing an easy-to-interpret spreadsheet dataset of recent comparable transactions, nearby listings, and third-party valuations with expert analysis on fair market value and expected sales price range. Delivered to individual California home buyers as part of Unlocked's buyer representation service.
- Disclosure Review Summary (DRS) Comprehensive summary of the 200+ page disclosure packet that catalogs issues, assesses risk levels of each issue, summarizes the six major reports, and provides estimated repair costs needed before move-in. Delivered to individual California home buyers as part of Unlocked's buyer representation service.
- 1% Cash Back Commission Rebate Buyer commission rebate program where Unlocked returns 1% of the home purchase price to the buyer at closing, funded from the difference between the 2.5% buyer's agent commission typically offered by sellers and Unlocked's 1.5% service fee. Subject to a $15,000 minimum commission per transaction. Available to individual California home buyers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
- Full-Service Buyer's Agent Representation End-to-end buyer's agent representation delivered by licensed California real estate agents, covering pre-approval and market assessment, home search and tour coordination, data-driven property evaluation (CVR and DRS), competitive offer strategy and submission, negotiation, and closing support. Charged at 1.5% of the purchase price (minimum $15,000 per transaction), payable only at closing. Available to individual home buyers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
Quantifiable outcome
- $1.5 Billion+ in transactions completed
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Unlocked
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Unlocked technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature2 records
Unlocked partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Unlocked competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Redfin: Redfin is a tech-enabled residential brokerage that employs salaried/commissioned agents and offers data-driven home search, valuation, and transaction tools. It is a direct peer to Unlocked as a buyer-side brokerage using analytics to differentiate from traditional agents, though at much greater national scale.
- Prevu: Prevu is a buyer-side brokerage that rebates a portion of the commission to the home buyer — directly comparable to Unlocked's 1% cash-back model. Both firms target cost-conscious home buyers with a tech-enabled, rebate-driven value proposition.
- Clever Real Estate: Clever is a nationwide buyer-agent network that offers commission rebates to home buyers and matches them with local agents. It overlaps directly with Unlocked on the rebate-buyer-agent model and the data-driven matching experience, while operating across more states.
- Trelora: Trelora is a flat-fee, full-service residential brokerage that uses a tech-enabled model to reduce commission costs for buyers and sellers. It is directly comparable to Unlocked on the discount-brokerage buyer-side value proposition.
Broad incumbents
- Compass: Compass is one of the largest U.S. residential real estate brokerages, with a heavy tech, data, and agent-tools investment. It competes with Unlocked for buyer-agent market share, especially in California, and has far greater scale, capital, and agent headcount.
- eXp Realty: eXp is a cloud-based, agent-centric brokerage that operates nationally with low overhead. It competes with Unlocked for buyer-agent relationships and offers a commission/compensation model that is highly attractive to licensed agents — directly relevant to Unlocked's agent recruiting and retention dynamics.
- Opendoor: Opendoor is a large iBuyer/real estate tech platform that buys and resells homes directly. While primarily seller-facing, it competes with traditional buyer-agent workflows and is a comparable data-driven, technology-first real estate brand.
- Offerpad: Offerpad is an iBuyer/real estate solutions company that offers cash offers and a broader marketplace of home services. It is comparable to Unlocked as a data-driven real estate technology competitor reshaping the buyer/seller transaction experience.
Emerging players
- HomeLight: HomeLight is a real estate tech platform that matches consumers with top agents, provides cash-offer and home-trade-in products, and supplies data-driven agent selection tools. It is comparable to Unlocked on the data-driven consumer/agent matchmaking layer and the analytical positioning.
- Flyhomes: Flyhomes is a tech-enabled real estate brokerage that offers cash offers, mortgage, and brokerage services to home buyers. It overlaps with Unlocked on the analytical, buyer-first brokerage positioning and on the integration of data-driven valuation and offer tools into the home-purchase journey.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Unlocked social profiles
Digital presenceUnlocked financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Unlocked leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Unlocked funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Unlocked M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Unlocked
What does Unlocked do?
Unlocked is a California real estate brokerage that provides full-service buyer's agent representation to residential home buyers, charging a 1.5% buyer's agent commission (minimum $15,000 per transaction) and returning 1% of the purchase price to the buyer as a cash back rebate at closing when the seller offers a 2.5% commission. The service combines licensed agent representation with two proprietary analytical tools — the Custom Valuation Report (CVR) for fair market value analysis and the Disclosure Review Summary (DRS) for risk-assessed review of 200+ page disclosure packets — delivered through a structured 5-Step Playbook from pre-approval through closing.
Is Unlocked a public or private company?
Unlocked is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Unlocked founded?
Unlocked was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Unlocked based?
Unlocked is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Unlocked make money?
One revenue line is on record: buyer's Agent Commission.
Who are Unlocked's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Redfin, Prevu, Clever Real Estate and Trelora. Broad incumbents are Compass, eXp Realty, Opendoor and Offerpad. Emerging players are HomeLight and Flyhomes.
Does Unlocked have an API?
No public API is recorded for Unlocked.
What industry is Unlocked in?
Unlocked's product category is Residential Real Estate Brokerage. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAJAAAJ, Buyer Representation Services. Its NAICS code is 5312 and its SIC code is 6531.