Earning Amex points for selling or buying a home just got 100,000 points better with this limited-time offer
Earlier this year, we introduced TPG readers to RBN (originally called Real Buyer Network), a real estate referral service that awards American Express Membership Rewards points for buying or selling a house with one of its participating agents.
And today, the company is back with a limited-time offer exclusive to TPG readers, part of Credit Cards Week at the 2021 TPG Awards.
If you enroll with RBN using this link, connect with a participating agent and complete the sale or purchase of a house over $500,000 within 12 months of enrollment, you'll take home a one-time bonus of 100,000 Amex points — worth a whopping $2,000 based on TPG's most recent valuations (view full terms of the offer here).
Note that this is in addition to the standard earning rates with the program. Any RBN customer who sells or buys a house with a participating agent using a common commission structure will earn one Membership Rewards point for every dollar of the final price of the home — an incredible opportunity to snag a ton of valuable points to put toward your next trip.
As an example, let's say that you enroll with RBN today, connect with a participating agent and sell your house for $750,000 early next year (not unheard of in the current real estate market). If your transaction follows a common commission structure for the agents, you'd take home 850,000 Amex points.
Here's a snapshot of what that could get you:
- Nine round-trip flights to Europe in business class booked through ANA Mileage Club
- Seven round-trip flights to Tokyo in ANA first class booked through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 25 one-way, business-class flights to or from Madrid on Iberia from east coast gateways
One of these redemptions is on the mind of one happy RBN customer, Nick Lowman. He closed on a house in California in September, and he took home over 800,000 points by using participating agent Amanda Stanworth. He transferred them to Virgin Atlantic (with a 30% bonus from this fall), leaving him with over a million Flying Club miles.
"We're planning on using these over time to fly first [or] business class to Japan on ANA," he told me via email. All in, he's looking at roughly 10 round-trip flights from the west coast of the U.S.
Meanwhile, TPG reader Anthony Philpott is looking at an even more exotic trip for the 600,000+ Amex points he earned on his home purchase in July. As he tells it:
"One of our life goals is to visit the seven continents. The points we earned through this process will be used towards flights for our Antarctica trip. Our trip is in February 2023, and we plan on flying business [class] from the states to Argentina [with] a 1:1 transfer to a partner airline through American Express. We will spend some time in Argentina visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites and enjoying fine wines before embarking on our vessel to Antarctica."
But most importantly, both Nick and Anthony indicated that working with RBN was easy.
"The process — from beginning to end — was extremely simple," Nick said. Amanda was very experienced in the area they were looking, so she was a great asset throughout the transaction. Once their offer was accepted, Amanda notified RBN and made sure the necessary documents were filed — and the Amex points arrived within a week of closing.
Anthony had a similar experience.
"During the home buying process, RBN checked in weekly to see how everything was going ... to make sure my experience was superb," he said. And his Membership Rewards points posted within just a few days.
Since its launch, RBN has grown from coverage in 52 markets to more than 330 — and counting. In those areas not currently served, RBN allows home buyers and sellers to invite agents to learn more about the program.
Remember too that you don't even need to have an eligible American Express card at the time of purchase. RBN will hold your points for you, and once your transaction is finalized, you can add a card like The Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card to your wallet — and then receive your points.
Of course, there are many great options (other than those listed above) to get maximum value from your Amex points, especially as the world continues to reopen — which makes now a fantastic time to take home a large haul of rewards.
If you're looking at selling or buying a house in the next year (or doing both!), enroll with RBN today and start the process of being matched with a participating agent. You could walk away with enough points for your next vacation — or your next two or three.
For more details on RBN, please check out our guide to the program.