Q: What is happening to the Extra Care program?
The Homebuyer PLUS program will replace the Extra Care program on March 31st. Features that are part of Homebuyer PLUS will be rolled out during the month of March.
Q: I received a discount as part of Extra Care. Will I still receive that?
Some of our Inspectors have historically received a discount for being a member of Extra Care if they met certain criteria (such as uploading all their inspection reports through the HomeGauge Homebuyer Dashboard). The team will be reaching out to any affected Extra Care members with clarity regarding the discount going forward.
Q: What are the key differences between Extra Care and Homebuyer PLUS related to Homebuyer opt-in?
Extra Care requires that all Inspectors first be a member of the Extra Care program. If they were, their Homebuyers would be given an opportunity to opt-in to receive benefits like an insurance quote.
We strongly share the view of our Inspectors that the HOMEBUYER SHOULD ALWAYS GIVE EXPLICIT CONSENT to receive such benefits.
With Homebuyer PLUS, we place the decision to receive an insurance quote in the hands of the Homebuyer. All Homebuyers will be given the option to receive a quote or skip the process entirely. If they skip the process, they will not be contacted.
However, other benefits like security systems and packing/moving services are not always relevant to an Inspector’s Homebuyers. So, as the Inspector, you must activate these features yourself before your Homebuyers can see them.
To do this today requires a request to Support, but soon, this will be replaced with a simple toggle switch in your dashboard. If you do not activate deals such as Security, your Homebuyer will not be offered them, but all Homebuyers will have the choice of an insurance quote.
If you were previously a member of Extra Care, benefits like Security & Moving will remain active for your Homebuyers. If you were not a member of Extra Care, they will be turned off by default in Homebuyer PLUS, and you will need to request that the HomeGauge Support team activate them.
Q: I’m familiar with the experience in the Extra Care program; how will the experience be different for my Homebuyers as part of Homebuyer PLUS?
Homebuyer PLUS picks up where Extra Care left off in some key areas. These include:
- A foundational belief in the Homebuyer’s CHOICE to participate. We do not share their contact information if they do not opt-in to being contacted. Period.
- Quality partners — we vet all partners, including assessing their data handling practices.
- Helping Homebuyers protect their recent investment with home insurance quotes and home security consultations.
We’ve received and reviewed a lot of feedback from Inspectors and Homebuyers who participated in the Extra Care program. That feedback has helped shape the Homebuyer PLUS program. Homebuyer PLUS expands on Extra Care in a few ways:
- We have cleaned up the Opt-in experience to clarify that this is an optional program and can be skipped by the Homebuyer. Support Center HB Opt-in Experience
- We are asking Homebuyers to enter their own account information. From there, we will only use the contact information provided to us by the Homebuyer directly, not the Inspector.
- We have introduced a grace period for Homebuyers who might have consented out of error to remove themselves before being matched with a partner.
- We are improving communication to make it more apparent to the Homebuyer that HomeGauge, not the Inspector, provides these deals, and we are opening up our Support team to help field any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding the program or its advertising partners.
- We have provided a My Offers page that provides other discounts and tools. Based on Homebuyer survey feedback, this was their #1 request following the inspection!
- We have introduced the HomeGauge Partner Promise to all of our advertising partners.