Power-buying firm Ribbon expanded into two new markets this week, announcing the launch of its Michigan operation on Monday and its Illinois operation on Thursday.
Homebuyers and sellers in both states will now have access to the firm’s cash offer program.
“Rising mortgage rates are deterring or stalling many buyers’ dreams to purchase a home,” Shaival Shah, the CEO and co-founder of Ribbon, said in a statement about the firm’s Michigan launch. “Without accessibility or affordability, buyers, sellers, agents and lenders are all impacted. Ribbon’s mission is to make homeownership achievable for all.”
In Michigan, Ribbon will partner with Amerifirst Home Mortgage as its local lender and in Illinois it will partner with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, powering Fairway’s CashReady program.
“An all-cash offer that is guaranteed to close, providing our clients the option to buy before selling their current home, means our buyers don’t have to wait until they sell to begin looking for their next home,” Michale Facchini, a branch manager at Fairway, said in a statement. “It’s a big win for both buyers and sellers.”
Katie Lawrence, a branch manager at Amerifirst, added: “RibbonCash Offers give Amerifirst loan officers another competitive resource—which triples local homebuyers’ chances of winning their bids—to respond to the market and better serve client needs.”
Ribbon is now operational in 17 states, and the firm says that it plans on expanding to half of the U.S. by the end of 2022.
However, the firm has had its fair share of struggles. In late July, Ribbon laid off 136 employees, citing the shifting market conditions.
“The market conditions exposed areas that need improvement across our product and team to evolve with the changing consumer,” Shah wrote in a statement at the time. “I am ultimately responsible to all those decisions and this decision, as a result. The next phase of Ribbon will be more agile. We needed to define the team and systems to make this plan happen with operational excellence for the next several years.”
