Off Markt app gives owners easy way to document worth of their homes amid uncertain economy
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- In the wake of natural disasters like the Jones Road wildfire, on track to be one of the worst fires in New Jersey history, the minds of many homeowners are turning to protecting their properties.
A new app, called "Off Markt," offers homeowners an easy way to document their homes, inside and out, providing helpful evidence for insurance claims.
"When you think about rebuilding, you know, there are certain things that you may not necessarily have documented before, whether it's your molding, whether it's the type of kitchen, all of these details that you are able to capture that make your home special," said Off Markt Founder Ali Bernstein.
After Los Angeles's devastating wildfires in January, a mess of litigation over insurance payouts is still winding its way through California courts.
"So, from an insurance perspective, from a building perspective, a lot of people will just kind of count the cost out," Bernstein said. "OK, this is what it costs to rebuild a home at this square footage. But when you have those details available and you can see the level of the quality of the home or the windows, the doors... all of those things are captured."
Bernstein says she's heard from many of those LA homeowners.
"Especially with the situation with California wildfires, you know, people really were looking to document all these pieces of their home," she said. "And when you think about the way we live in our homes, it's very rare that we actually go through and document how we live."
Recent surveys find 56% of millennials say climate change impacts the regions and homes they are considering, and 25% have moved in the past five years due to weather-related events.
Despite this growing preoccupation for homeowners, natural disasters were not Bernstein's inspiration for Off Markt, her second real estate app.
Her stunning apartment, with sweeping views of Central Park, was found off market.
"This is really what inspired me to think about how we live in in our homes and how we can really parlay that into a way to transact more real estate in a less frictionless environment," she said.
She says she was able to reach out to the owner and ask them if they were considering selling even though their home wasn't on the market.
"I think that, you know, what I found was a huge market opportunity of people that would sell if somebody approached them and would buy if there was greater inventory," Bernstein said. "And so how do we create a more efficient marketplace to open this up and create greater liquidity in this space?"
The app, which aggregates national public data on homes, gives users the ability to reach out to owners with a "knock," which generates a post card sent in the mail.
Off Markt has already been soft launched, and will be fully launched in a couple of months.
You can check out the app online, and download.
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