Zillow says a new online service makes selling your home a lot easier. But at what price?

Saying it wants to take the hassle out of house sales, Zillow this week launched a service that allows Sacramento homeowners to sell their house – at a market price – with a little more than a click of a mouse on the online real estate giant’s website.

Zillow is the second major player to launch the online home sales service in the capital city. Opendoor, a San Francisco-based company, set up shop in Sacramento last fall. Both companies are billing themselves as the internet-era alternative to the traditional real estate model where homeowners hire real estate agents and home inspectors and showcase the house with an open house.

Instead, Zillow Offers representatives said they will offer a market price for the home and allow the homeowner to stay in the home up to 90 days after the sale. Zillow, the Seattle-based company known for its public database of home listings and price estimates, says it then absorbs the risk of reselling the house itself, likely after sprucing it up.

“We’re really excited to bring this service to the California state capital ... and take the friction out of a stressful experience,” Zillow Brand President Jeremy Wacksman said in a press statement.

Zillow moved into the “on-demand” online home purchase market nationally last year in numerous cities, including Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Austin and Portland, Ore., as well as three California cities: Riverside, San Diego and Sacramento. It plans to launch in Los Angeles next year.

Some local real estate agents and appraisers say they believe the new internet sales model has a niche in the Sacramento market, but several said they doubt that it will topple the old model. That’s because many sellers will prefer to offer their homes to the entire buying market to see if they can get multiple offers and a higher price than Zillow or Opendoor may offer them.

Fees for Zillow, Opendoor

Zillow and Opendoor also charge homeowners a variable service fee that can be slightly higher than the typical 6 percent fee real estate agents charge. That fee is based in part on the company’s estimate of how hard it will be to resell the house.

A Zillow spokeswoman said the company’s studies show that many consumers find home-selling stressful and are open to ways it can be simplified. “I don’t think people would have been ready for this five years ago, but consumer expectations are changing,” Jordyn Lee told The Sacramento Bee earlier this year. “Now, people want an on-demand experience, to do things with a click of a button.”

Both Zillow and Opendoor send home inspectors to check houses before finalizing deals. Both say that can happen in a matter of days. If home repairs are needed, the companies adjust their asking price. Both companies will work with real estate agents, but sellers and buyers don’t have to.

Zillow and Opendoor then resell the house by allowing potential buyers to view the house on their own without needing to meet a real estate agent at the house or go during an open house. Instead, viewers enter using a smart phone app that unlocks the house’s front door.

Opendoor, in an email, said the Sacramento arrival of competitor Zillow Offers indicates the new business model is growing roots here.

“The increasing number of options in Sacramento is validating consumer interest in this new approach ... this will only continue to grow,” Opendoor spokesman Patrick Mahoney said. His company currently has 64 homes on the market in Sacramento and is under contract to buy another 33, he said.

But traditional real estate industry members say Zillow and Opendoor could find it difficult to make their business model work during a period when house prices are no longer escalating rapidly. Appraiser and Sacramento real estate analyst Ryan Lundquist said he thinks sellers will get more money for their home using a real estate agent and offering the home to all potential buyers.

Zillow and other online home buyers will have to buy at a discount, he said, if they intend to make any money by putting the home right back on the market for resale. “We’re in a place where consumers are going to have to decide between convenience and profit,” he said.

He acknowledged a potential benefit to all home sellers. The arrival of the new companies “will likely push traditional real estate brokerages to work hard and make things more seamless on their end too.”

The California Association of Realtors in a recent email to The Bee said online businesses appear focused on sellers who want a quick buck.

“Convenience-based platforms may help sellers who need to unload their property in exchange for a quick buck, but there is no substitute for the unparalleled value of a Realtor,” CAR’s Jared Martin wrote. “Buying or selling a home is usually the largest, and often the most complicated, transaction a consumer will ever make, and a Realtor can help them navigate through the process.”