William Raveis Real Estate has become the latest brokerage to launch an iBuyer-like service in Massachusetts amid the tightest single-family housing market in living memory.

Raveis Purchase, as the service is called, will acquire the home-seller’s property for an initial payment of up to 80 percent of its current value, with the intent of allowing the seller to settle any mortgages on the property and make a down payment on a new home.

“This is the ideal time to sell, and Raves Purchase is the easiest way to do it,” Ryan Raveis, co-president of WRRE and president of William Raveis Mortgage, said in a statement.

The company will then prepare the home for resale under a staging and renovation service called “Raveis Refresh.” Once the home sells to a new owner – using a Raveis agent – the original homeowner will receive the remainder of their equity in the home, plus any post-renovation upside and less the carrying costs and service fees. Raveis spokesperson Marni Lane said the typical Raveis Purchase fee is 3 percent, but will be customized depending on the amount of equity a homeowner is taking out. In this way, Lane said, the program is different from typical iBuyer services that pocket the difference in price between buying a home and selling it, with or without renovations.

The aim, Lane said, is to both create additional value in a home and generate more listings for its agents, all of whom can offer Raveis Purchase and Raveis Refresh services to their clients. Raveis, based in Connecticut, has agents in Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York and New Jersey and the service is being offered to customers at all price points, the company said.

“WRRE benefits because the homeowner’s WRRE agent will list the property and help them buy the new property. They also give the option to proceed with a quick mortgage and insurance and ream of real estate attorneys for closing since WRRE has everything under one roof. It also streamlines the process,” Lane said in an email to Banker & Tradesman. “In the end, the goal is to unlock tight inventory and create a more liquid market, and helping WRRE agents address the market’s needs.”

The Raveis Purchase service joins other national players like Zillow Offers and local operations like Lamacchia Realty’s Offer Now program operating on similar models, all aimed at bringing more listings to market in an era of tighter and tighter inventory. Other brokerages like Compass, Jack Conway & Co. and Coldwell Banker offer services that will help homeowners pay for renovations to their property in order to get it into a sellable condition.