A new Kirkland-based business is looking to change the way people sell their homes while benefiting both the owner and the buyer as well.

In fact, Faira, a real estate technology platform, is even offering their services to Zillow owner, whose home has been on the market for several months.

Faira allows home owners to post their homes for sale online. Along with the posting is information such as photos, fliers, signs and independent inspection reports. The company also recently secured $1.4 million in funding led by Pessoa and Partners Tech 10 Ltd.

The company was founded by Haresh Sangani, Kamal Jain and Eduardo Oliveira.

Sangani, who acts as the chief operating officer, believes the transparency of the process removes much of the unknown for both the buyer and seller that can leave the new owner with buyer’s remorse or the seller with a lower price that he might have gotten.

The biggest change, he said, is that it simplifies what is normally a complicated process despite advances made.

“The complexity of trying to sell a house is still mind-boggling,” he said. “As a consumer in this day and age, people demand and deserve transparency.”

For example, the purchase and sale agreement is two pages, with no contingencies, as all the information has been presented to the buyer up front.

Another part of what makes the process stressful is not knowing if the sale will actually go through or not.

“The transaction itself is risky,” he said. “It can fall apart at any point and the seller or buyer is left holding the bag. What we wanted to do was create more transparency and simplify the transaction, help buyers and sellers better manage the transaction. We treat the buyer as a customer and it reduces friction in the decision-making on the buyer side.”

As part of the process, potential buyers are able to see other bids. While this might seem to take away from the seller, Sangani believes that it will actually make bidders willing to offer more if they know for certain others are interested in paying the same price. The problem with the current process, he said, is that what the seller says about the number of offers, and how much, is not verifiable and therefore not credible for making a house purchase. Additionally, the buyer can miss out on a home they might actually want most because too many unknown factors scared them away from paying the necessary price to purchase it.

“I’m more comfortable bidding more if I know other buyers are genuinely interested and presented to me in a credible manner,” he said. “Not having upfront transparency hurts both sides.”

One of the inspirations for Faira, Sangani said, was his own experience in home-purchasing.

“They were very uncomfortable to say the least,” he said. “We had very good agents, the other side had very good agents. It’s not so much it was a personal thing…I think the system was just not right for the customer. It’s not even right for the agents, because they end up taking a lot of risks. They’re actually just as much a victim, if you will, of the status quo.”

He also discovered that many of the homes he wanted ended up selling at less than the maximum price he would have been willing to pay because no one asked him to revise his bid.

“I knew that the sellers were leaving money on the table,” he said. “I wouldn’t put my top line price in my first bid and end up overpaying. What happens basically, this is kind of tricky, because the industry traditionally has the bad habits of not showing your cards, but in transparency is better as long as it’s done fairly and squarely. What you don’t want to reveal as a seller is that although it is listing at $450,000, you might be willing to take $375,000.”

Though Kirkland’s real estate market is strong, Sangani said that their platform is effective in every market, whether it is slanted in favor of the seller or the buyer.

“Our process starts with the seller and anything a seller can do to engage the buyer more conveniently,” he said. “What we’re building and what we have built is independent of market conditions.”

“If you think about it, it’s not a good idea to start a business only applicable under certain circumstances because as soon as the market turns you’re kind of done,” he added. “But the fundamental economic principles still apply, which is product transparency. “I’m going to help you find the buyer who values your house the most. And you tell the buyer ‘I’m going to help you find the house you like, the one you value the most, based on the all the information upfront. And I’m going to help you compete for the house fairly and squarely so you don’t have buyer remorse.”

However, he also said that the city will offer other opportunities for the company itself.

“Kirkland is a very convenient location around the metro area,” he said. “That’s a large part of it, but I think Kirkland is a very attractive place for hiring people; people who want to work in startups. We really value our ability to be in Kirkland and it’s a very convenient place in terms of restaurants and walking.”

Sangani said they have also reached out to broker firms to provide technology platform along with their own expertise.

“Some customers need an extra layer of service or customization that they (the firms) can bring to the table,” he said. “There’s a lot of interest and engagement in the community to leverage this platform. Our platform works with realtors as well as consumers directly.”

“We’re agonistic as far as who gets disrupted and who doesn’t get disrupted,” he added. “We just want the customer to get a better service.”

The $1.4 million in funding, Sangani said, will not only enable them to hire more employees and focus more on marketing to their customer base, but to them it proved the validity of the concept behind their platform.

“We’re very seasoned professionals,” he said. “Investors are always looking for the right team. That’s something they value. But it was a huge validation as far as what the investment do for the company, a huge vote of validation for our aim to remove complexity, remove risk from the transaction and simplify the transaction. The investors saw there was a need and if you achieve it, there is a huge market opportunity.”

For more information, go to faira.com.