Prepared by Agent9 GM | April 25, 2026 Status: Owner-review draft — synthesizes Owner refinements into spec for v2 marketing plan
Seller selects one default showing mode when creating their listing. This is not a one-time toggle — the seller can change their election between showings, not mid-showing.
Option A — Guided Tour (seller-led). Seller meets buyer at property. Agent9 handles scheduling, ID capture (name, phone, email at minimum), pre-showing confirmation, and post-showing feedback. Seller is responsible for their own safety and property oversight. Agent9 explicitly disclaims responsibility for anything that occurs during an in-person seller-led showing. This option is available but not promoted. It is the fallback for sellers who decline both B and C.
Option B — Self-Tour (ID-verified lockbox). Buyer completes Stripe Identity verification (government ID + selfie) and signs a digital property access release before receiving a one-time time-limited code. Code is issued 30-45 minutes before the window and expires at window end. Igloohome API or Rently manages hardware-side code generation. This is the default recommended option and the only one promoted in v2 marketing.
Option C — Showing-Agent Tour (contracted). Buyer pays a per-showing fee. Agent9 dispatches a licensed Ohio showing agent from its supply network. Agent9 keeps a platform facilitation margin. Seller does not pay extra for this mode if the seller elected B as their default — Option C is a buyer-side upgrade. If the seller elected A (guided) but a buyer requests Option C, Agent9 offers it as an upgrade with seller approval required.
Scenario 1: Seller elects A (guided), buyer requests showing-agent tour. Seller preference does not automatically override. Option C is functionally a substitute for Option A — both deliver an escorted showing. Agent9 surfaces the Option C request to the seller: "A licensed showing agent has been requested by the buyer at no cost to you. Accept or decline?" If seller declines, buyer proceeds with Option A (unescorted by Agent9's network agent) or withdraws. Buyer pays the showing-agent fee regardless; if the seller declines Option C, the fee is refunded and the showing reverts to Option A.
Scenario 2: Seller elects B (self-tour), buyer wants to be accompanied. The buyer can self-upgrade to Option C by paying the showing-agent fee. The seller does not need to consent to Option C substituting for Option B — the lockbox is still opened and the showing agent accompanies the buyer through it. Agent9 dispatches the showing agent, who meets the buyer at the property. Seller's lockbox setup is unchanged. This is the cleanest buyer-upgrade path.
Scenario 3: Lockbox delivery delayed past first showing request. Igloohome dropship lead time is 3-7 business days (standard courier; see Section 2). If a showing request comes in before lockbox delivery:
Scenario 4: Liability assignment matrix.
| Event | Option A (Guided) | Option B (Self-Tour) | Option C (Showing-Agent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer injures self on property | Seller liable (invited licensee duty of care); Agent9 not liable unless it misrepresented property condition | Buyer signed release transferring hazard liability; Agent9 has secondary exposure if ID verification failed or hazard was known and not disclosed | Showing agent's broker's E&O primary; Agent9 secondary if dispatch was negligent |
| Buyer damages property | Seller's homeowner insurance primary; Agent9 has no custody | Buyer's signed access release and timestamped entry/exit log support civil claim against buyer; Agent9 may need platform liability insurance as backstop | Agent on-site; agent's broker's E&O covers negligent supervision; direct claim against buyer is cleaner with professional witness |
| Seller harms buyer | Agent9 not liable if standard ID screening was performed | N/A (no seller present) | N/A (no seller present) |
| Crime committed during showing | ID verification creates law enforcement audit trail; Agent9 cooperates with subpoena | Same as Option A but audit trail is stronger (code issuance log + entry timestamp) | Agent is witness; clearest paper trail of all three options |
Practical implication: Option B has the strongest liability paper trail for property crime. Option C has the strongest liability chain for property damage. Option A has the weakest protection for all parties. The v2 marketing plan should not frame Option A as a safety improvement — it is the most legally exposed option for Agent9.
Four candidates evaluated based on published data:
Igloohome. Bluetooth + cloud hybrid. Published developer API (Igloohome Developer Portal). Supports per-access PIN generation with time windows and auto-expiry. Real estate use cases are documented. Wholesale pricing is not published publicly — Igloohome's PropTech partnership program requires a business account inquiry. Retail price for the Igloohome Smart Padlock (retail ~$99-$129) and the Igloohome Smart Box ($149-$179 retail). Estimated wholesale range: $60-$90 per unit based on typical consumer electronics wholesale margin (35-45% below MSRP at volume). Dropship capability: Igloohome ships directly to customers from their US distribution. Lead time: 3-7 business days domestic. API: Yes, production-grade. Recommended evaluation target.
Rently. Purpose-built for self-showing in real estate. Subscription model ($50-$80/month per property) rather than hardware sale. For Agent9's use case, Rently's model inverts the economics — Agent9 would pay Rently per-property per-month rather than charging the seller for hardware. This does not support the lockbox markup revenue model. Rently is better positioned as a software integration if Agent9 wants to avoid hardware ownership entirely, but it eliminates the margin opportunity. Not recommended for v2 economics as designed.
Master Lock (Bluetooth model). Consumer electronics channel. No PropTech API published. Would require Agent9 to build custom BLE integration or use a third-party aggregator. Hardware retail $60-$80. No clear dropship partnership program. Not recommended.
August Pro. Smart lock (door lock replacement, not padlock). Requires installation. Not appropriate for a listing that moves across multiple properties. Not recommended for this use case.
Verdict: Igloohome is the correct vendor to engage. Rently is the fallback if Igloohome wholesale pricing is unfavorable. The vendor selection item flagged in v1 must be resolved before Q3 build starts — the lockbox API choice drives a build dependency.
Owner's model of ~$60 lockbox markup and ~$15-25 CoGS net margin is directionally correct but needs refinement.
Realistic per-unit math at Igloohome:
Owner proposed $50-70 markup and estimated $35-45 net. At retail-parity pricing ($149 sell) the net lands at $45-54. At a modest $20 premium over retail ($169 sell), net margin reaches $65-74 per unit. Both are feasible.
Flag for Owner: The markup must be disclosed or the seller will comparison-shop and find the same unit on Amazon for $149. Two options: (1) price at retail parity and position as "no shipping hassle, pre-configured, plug-and-play with Agent9"; (2) charge a configuration/setup fee separately ($25-$40) rather than marking up the hardware. Option 2 is more transparent and may generate less friction from price-aware sellers.
Dropship confirmation: Igloohome ships direct-to-consumer from its distribution network. Agent9 would place the order, Igloohome ships to the seller's property address. Agent9 takes the margin without warehousing inventory. This is operationally correct.
Annualized lockbox revenue at 60% Option B adoption (90 transactions in Year 1): ~$4,050-$6,660 in lockbox net margin. This is a real revenue line but not a material one at Year 1 volume. It matters more at scale (600+ transactions/year) or if the lockbox becomes a recurring revenue item (sellers with multiple properties, relocation sellers, investor flippers).
Owner's model: buyer pays $50, Agent9 keeps $10, agent gets $40. Showami pays $32 average. The math here is directionally correct but the $10 Agent9 margin is thin.
Revised recommendation: buyer pays $60, Agent9 keeps $15-$20, agent gets $40-$45. This keeps Agent9 above Showami's average payout while capturing a meaningful facilitation margin. At $20 Agent9 retention per showing, 300 Option C showings in Year 1 = $6,000 in facilitation margin. Thin at Year 1, meaningful at scale.
Important distinction from v1: In the v1 plan, Option C fees were charged to the seller. Owner's refinement routes per-showing fees to the buyer for Option C upgrades. This is a product decision with conversion implications. Charging the buyer $50-$60 per showing adds friction to the request flow — buyers already face uncertainty about purchasing unrepresented. However, it is consistent with post-NAR rule dynamics where buyer-side service fees are increasingly normalized. The plan should test both fee placements in the first 90 days.
Required before first dispatch:
Realistic ramp to 50 active Ohio agents:
Getting to 50 agents before needing them is the right order. Launching Option C before the supply is vetted and contracted is a quality risk. Do not advertise Option C until 25 verified agents are onboarded in the first two metros.
This was flagged as open in v1 and it remains the most significant legal risk in the entire product. It needs a specific answer before shipping Option C.
The question: does Agent9, by (a) receiving buyer showing requests, (b) dispatching licensed agents to accompany buyers to seller properties, and (c) collecting and remitting fees in that chain, constitute "assisting in the procuring of prospects" under ORC 4735 without a broker's license?
Research-based read: There is a real argument that it does. ORC 4735.01(A) defines "real estate broker" broadly to include anyone who for compensation assists in "procuring of prospects" for the purchase of real estate. The fact that Agent9 is a technology platform does not automatically exempt it — Ohio courts have applied ORC 4735 to non-traditional actors.
Honest recommendation: Agent9 either needs (a) a qualified Ohio managing broker on staff or in a formal partnership arrangement before Option C ships, or (b) a written legal opinion from an Ohio real estate attorney confirming that the technology-platform-facilitation-fee model falls outside ORC 4735. Do not shortcut this. The cost of the attorney review ($400-$800) is trivial relative to the cost of a cease-and-desist from the Ohio Division of Real Estate, which could ground the entire operation. The managing broker partnership route (finding an Ohio broker willing to provide umbrella coverage for the showing-agent dispatch operation) is probably cleaner and faster than trying to argue the platform is categorically exempt.
This is not a blocking risk for Option B (self-tour). It is a blocking gate for Option C before first dispatch.
Owner's concept: buyer pays for a "dedicated" showing agent who serves them exclusively across multiple tours. Agent shares in a subscription fee to incentivize upselling at first showing.
Three pricing models evaluated:
Model 1: Monthly subscription ($99/mo unlimited tours). Average buyer tours 8-15 properties over 2-3 months. At $99/mo for 2 months, total buyer cost is $198. At $50-$60 per à la carte showing, a buyer doing 4+ tours in a month breaks even on the subscription. Conversion logic works for active buyers. Risk: cancellation after 1 month before Agent9 has recouped acquisition cost. Monthly churn is the failure mode.
Model 2: Flat package ($299 for up to 10 tours, dedicated agent). $299 is a one-time payment, no monthly churn risk. At $60/showing à la carte, 5 tours = $300 — so the package is economical to the buyer at 5+ tours. Dedicated agent receives a share of each showing from the pool. Clean, simple, easier to explain in marketing. Recommended.
Model 3: Per-tour with dedicated-flag fee ($40/tour + $25/month dedicated fee). Most complex pricing. Hard to explain. Not recommended for a product targeting first-time FSBO buyers who are already confused by the market.
Recommended pricing: $299 flat for dedicated agent, up to 10 showings. Additional showings at $35 each (discounted from $60 à la carte). No monthly fee, no churn.
If the $299 package includes 10 showings, the implied per-showing pool rate is $29.90 before Agent9 margin. That is below the $40-$45 per-showing floor established in Section 3.
Resolution: Agent9 pays the agent $35 per dedicated-package showing (out of the $299 pool = $350 to agents for 10 showings, which exceeds the $299 package price). This means dedicated subscription showings lose money on the agent-payout line.
This is a math problem the Owner's refinement did not account for. The dedicated agent subscription only works financially if: (a) the package price is higher (minimum $399 to cover $40/showing x 10 = $400 agent cost + Agent9 margin), or (b) the agent is paid less per dedicated-package showing than per à la carte showing (which undermines the motivation to pitch it), or (c) the agent is paid a flat retainer per buyer-customer-month ($100-$150/month retainer, not per-showing), and manages their own showing economics.
The flat retainer model (option c) is more elegant: Agent9 pays the dedicated agent $120/month for every active buyer client they hold. At 5 dedicated buyers, agent earns $600/month from the subscription pool — meaningful supplemental income. Agent9 charges buyers $199/month for the dedicated experience (revised from $299 flat, using monthly model). Agent9 keeps $79/month per buyer after agent retainer. At 50 dedicated buyers, Agent9 earns $3,950/month from this line. This model also avoids the "per-showing" counting problem.
Honest recommendation: present both models (flat package and monthly retainer) to Owner before hardcoding the pricing. The math problem is real and the dedicated subscription concept is only viable if the agent-payout structure is solved. The current Owner refinement as stated does not resolve it.
Average Ohio buyer tours 8-15 properties (NAR data) over 30-90 days before an accepted offer. Using a midpoint of 10 tours over 60 days:
At first-pass, the dedicated subscription LTV is slightly lower than à la carte — this only makes sense if the subscription increases volume (more tours booked because the buyer has a trusted agent) or increases conversion (dedicated agent increases offer rate, generating more completed transactions that attract more sellers to Agent9 through word of mouth).
The dedicated subscription is a retention and conversion tool, not a pure margin play. That framing should govern how it is marketed.
Native iOS + Android: NOT realistic for Q3 2026.
A minimal native dual-platform app with the feature set Agent9 needs (showing scheduling, ID verification integration, lockbox code delivery, buyer-seller messaging, document e-sign flow) would require 4-6 months of development with a dedicated mobile team. App Store approval adds 1-3 weeks. Apple's guidelines have historically scrutinized real estate apps involving payment flows. Cost with a contracted team: $80K-$200K. None of this is in the current budget or timeline for Q3 2026.
PWA: Realistic for Q3 2026. Recommended.
A Progressive Web App delivers the full Agent9 feature set in a mobile-responsive browser with:
The only material limitation vs. native: no Apple Watch support, no deep iOS/Android OS integrations. Neither is required for Agent9's core use case.
What gets deferred to Q4 2026 or Q1 2027:
Recommendation: Launch Q3 on PWA. Native app is a Q4 2026 sprint trigger if PWA adoption metrics show >40% mobile usage and user complaints about native experience.
Reviewing Houzeo, Beycome, Reeve (California), and ForSaleByOwner.com homepage patterns:
Convergent pattern: Calculator or savings number → How it works (3 steps max) → Trust proof (specific dollar amounts) → FAQ or objection handler → Final CTA.
Section 1 — Hero with savings calculator. "Ohio homeowners are keeping $13,700 more by selling without an agent. See how much you'd save." [Interactive calculator: enter asking price, output: traditional commission vs. $999 Agent9 fee.] CTA: "Start for $999"
Section 2 — How it works (3 steps, illustrated). Step 1: "List your home in 15 minutes" — AI writes your listing, distributes to Zillow and Ohio channels. Step 2: "Buyers are screened, never strangers" — ID-verified showings, no personal cell required. Step 3: "Offer management to closing" — AI drafts offers, manages timeline, coordinates title. No jargon. No legal caveats in this section (put those in FAQ).
Section 3 — Trust signals (specific, not generic). Three seller testimonials with: first name, Ohio city, amount saved, one-sentence quote about the experience. Do not use stock photos. If no real testimonials at launch, use the realistic pilot profiles from the pilot cohort and clearly label as "Beta Seller" until real reviews are available. Fake testimonials are a legal and brand risk.
Also include: "Ohio-based team. Your transaction data stays in Ohio. Licensed Ohio counsel reviews every purchase agreement."
Section 4 — Showing model explainer. "Your home. Your showing rules." Brief explanation of the three options (guided, self-tour, showing agent). Emphasize that the buyer never gets the seller's personal number under any option. This section directly addresses the top FSBO anxiety: "I don't want strangers walking through my house unsupervised." Explain Option B's ID verification in plain English.
Section 5 — FAQ / Objection handler. Target the top 5 questions: (1) What if the buyer damages my property? (2) Do I need an agent to close in Ohio? (3) Is my listing on Zillow? (4) What if the buyer backs out? (5) What does $999 include? Plain English answers, no legal hedge language in the public-facing version.
Three hero CTAs (in priority order):
The brand-assessment from Stage 3 recommended trust signals. Confirmed — but specificity is the differentiator. Generic "secure" or "verified" badges are noise. Real dollar amounts saved by real Ohio sellers are the trust signal that converts.
Recommendation: Yes, with specific scope constraints.
The functional demo is the right next step but only if it is honest about what is real versus wizard-of-oz. A demo that oversells the live capability and then fails to deliver will destroy the agent and seller relationships it was supposed to create.
Real (functional from day one):
Wizard-of-oz for demo (back-end human fulfillment, front-end looks automated):
Deferred (not in demo):
Where the demo lives:
agent9.9enterprises.ai subdomain via the existing auto-deploy pipeline is the faster path — uses the established Cloudflare Pages + CI setup already operational for 9E Solution. Tradeoffs: less brand-isolated, shares infra with other 9E properties. An independent agent9ohio.com or agent9.com Cloudflare Pages project is cleaner for brand separation but adds ~1 week of setup overhead (DNS, build pipeline, SSL). Recommendation: use agent9.9enterprises.ai for the internal demo sprint. Move to a dedicated domain before first seller onboarding.
Honest checkpoint on the 8-week timeline: 8 weeks is achievable for the real components listed above IF the team starts with the existing 9E Solution comms layer. The seller onboarding flow, Stripe payment, and scheduling UI are straightforward web app sprints. The Igloohome API integration and Stripe Identity verification are the two unknown-difficulty items — both have published APIs but neither has been spiked. Allocate 2 weeks for each integration, assume one will take longer. 8 weeks is tight but not unrealistic if the sprint starts clean.
What ships in Q3 2026:
What does NOT ship in Q3 2026:
Sources: v1 marketing-plan.md, agent9-walkthrough-script.md, showing-model-deep-dive.md, ohio-firm-landscape.md. All figures derived from those research artifacts unless otherwise noted. Research cutoff: April 25, 2026.