‘Guaranteed cash offer’: His face is on hundreds of NC billboards. Who is Mark Spain?
Driving down I-40 or the Beltline, it’s hard to miss his smiling face, with gleaming white teeth, staring back at you from high above.
“Guaranteed cash offer on your home!” his billboard declares, in big block letters, against a deep-red background. “Mark Spain Real Estate.”
Slightly below in smaller print: “Subject to terms and conditions.”
His face is so ubiquitous in the Triangle and across the state that it has people speculating about his advertising budget and prompted one Charlotte Reddit user to post: “Mark Spain, please just go away!”
That, of course, got us wondering: Who is this Mark Spain? Where did he come from? And why is he so eager to buy your home?
Here’s what we’ve learned. (Mark Spain, who could authoritatively answer those questions, declined to be interviewed for this story.)
Who is Mark Spain?
Mark Spain, 51, is an Atlanta native and a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
He’s also a second-generation Realtor. His father, Terry Spain, founded The Spain Team of Re/Max Realty in Georgia.
In 1997, he took over the family sales team and grew the volume from $40 million to $62 million, Realtor Magazine’s 30 Under 30 noted, and quadrupled the sales force to 13 people, including his brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Debbie.
“If salespeople don’t embrace technology, they’ll disappear,” he said in the interview. “I also think that in the future, fewer people will be doing more of the business. We want to be among them.”
In 2011, he joined Keller Williams Realty to form the “Mark Spain” team before launching his own brokerage, Mark Spain Real Estate, in 2016. It offers home selling services, as well as home buying and renting options.
He lives in Alpharetta, just north of Atlanta, and is married to Lisa Spain, with three children. His net worth in 2023 is at $110 million, according to Wealthy Gorilla.
He also volunteers with the Forsyth County Family YMCA, and leads the Mark Spain Foundation.
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How big is Mark Spain Real Estate?
In 2016, Spain launched his own brokerage, with headquarters in Alpharetta and an additional office in Athens.
The following year, he opened offices in Marietta and Stockbridge and expanded into North Carolina, with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh. That year saw 2,318 homes sold and $550 million in sales.
Today, his firm has over 400 agents with 16 offices scattered around the Southeast. In 2022 alone, the firm sold over $3.8 billion in residential real estate, according to his LinkedIn account.
What is his business model?
Mark Spain is known as an “iBuyer,” short for instant buyer, and is among several players in the market: Opendoor, Zillow Offer and Offerpad, to name a few.
iBuyers use artificial intelligence to determine a home’s value, then buy it directly from the owner in all cash for a quick-and-easy sale.
Mark Spain is best known for its Guaranteed Offer program. To qualify, the homes must be single family, built after 1960, and valued between $50,000 and $650,000. They must also be owner-occupied or vacant, non-distressed, not bank-owned, and not in or near flood zones, according to the company’s website.
While Mark Spain doesn’t disclose specifics, iBuyers typically pay less than market value for homes, sometimes a lot less. They also charge service fees between 5% and 8% of the sale price — but that can be as high as 14% of the sale price, depending on the home and location.
Once a home is acquired by an iBuyer, it can be turned around and sold like any other property.
On average, Mark Spain sells over 57 homes per day, the company’s website says.
With a three-year revenue growth of 233%, the firm ranked No. 103 on Inc. Magazine’s list of the Southeast region’s fastest-growing private companies.
The pros and cons
Instant home-selling solutions, like Mark Spain and Opendoor, have gained traction in recent years, said Derrick Thornton, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Advantage out of Northeast Raleigh.
The business surged during the pandemic chaos and continues to be an option for those looking to streamline the process. It gives sellers fewer uncertainties. It’s also convenient, he said.
“Sellers avoid the hassle of home showings. They also dodge the potential of a buyer getting cold feet or having issues with financing. It circumvents appraisal shortages, and a host of other possible problems.”
On the flipside, sellers can be leaving cash on the table.
According to research from real estate data firm Collateral Analytics, iBuyers cost home sellers about 13% to 15% of a home’s sale price, while agents cost 5% to 7%. That’s a difference of up to $20,000 on a $200,000 home.
“There’s often a price to pay, and it can vary depending on the situation,” Thornton said. “The seller must decide how much they value the convenience.”
Cory Sherman, a broker with Homegrown Real Estate in Durham, said cash offers from Mark Spain and others have their place in the market.
“People buy and sell real estate for a million different reasons. As a result, there are a million different ways to buy and sell real estate,” he said.
But in most cases, better alternatives exist. “If the goal is to net the most money, I would suggest listing it on the open market,” he said.
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