DealShield is presently solely out there to brokers and customers in California, however co-founder and CEO Michael Chien stated the corporate hopes to show DealShield right into a multistate providing by the tip of 2026. Chien stated Rhino will first give attention to states going through local weather threat challenges.
In keeping with Chein, Rhino and DealShield had been created out of a need to create a greater expertise for these in search of property insurance coverage. It additionally places a device within the palms of actual property brokers to make sense of property knowledge, enabling them to raised inform and serve their purchasers.
Deal fallout spurs motion
In 2025, the California Affiliation of Realtors reported that one in six members had a deal fall out of escrow as a result of the customer was unable to safe property insurance — double the share of Realtors who confronted this problem in 2023.
DealShield analyzes location knowledge, hazard threat, disclosure packets, inspection experiences, photographs and different associated supplies to provide an “Insurability Report.” This gives brokers and their purchasers with info on premiums and insurance policies. In keeping with the corporate, in early testing, DealShield helped two-thirds of householders in high-risk areas discover property insurance coverage choices outdoors of the California FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of final resort.
The insurability experiences present brokers and customers with an evaluation of property options that might influence a property’s insurability, together with the age of the roof, location hazards or materials hazards. If an agent or their shopper requests an insurability report or insurance coverage quotes, they don’t seem to be required to acquire a Rhino insurance coverage coverage.
“We expect utilizing DealShield places us ready to be probably the most environment friendly dealer a shopper might work with, however it’s not a requirement to make use of us,” Chien stated.
Brokers can onboard themselves into the DealShield platform. They’re presently capable of search addresses free of charge inside the platform, however Chien stated ultimately they plan to cost for the service.
“Now we have quite a lot of each listing agents and purchaser’s brokers utilizing the product to teach their purchasers. The itemizing brokers are utilizing it to establish issues which may must be changed or repaired to make the home extra insurable and doubtlessly simpler to promote,” Chien stated.
Whereas the product has solely been out there to pick out brokers by a beta testing program, the suggestions to this point has been constructive.
‘Tedious course of’ made smoother
Heather Gowdy, an actual property agent with Twin Oaks Actual Property in Walnut Creek, California, stated that looking for insurance coverage quotes is usually a “tedious course of.”
To make issues simpler for her and her purchasers, Gowdy has just a few insurance coverage brokers she sometimes works with. However by DealShield, she stated she’s capable of see insurance coverage quotes and insurability dangers inside minutes.
“I feel that it’s superb to have the ability to present potential sellers and consumers with this info as a result of the insurance coverage a part of a transaction could be such an unknown,” Gowdy stated.
In a market that’s presently very aggressive, Gowdy stated having the ability to entry this info rapidly, permitting her consumers to submit an knowledgeable provide on a property in a well timed method, may very well be a giant benefit.
Moreover, as an inventory agent, Gowdy stated having the ability to present this info to potential consumers upfront is a giant benefit because it allows each the vendor and the customer to set real looking expectations going into any potential transaction.
“The vendor then isn’t shocked {that a} purchaser backs out due to the cost of insurance, or the customer isn’t shocked that they should exchange an outdated wooden shingle roof to acquire cheaper insurance coverage,” she stated.
Wanting forward, Chien stated he hopes to launch DealShield for brokers in customers in areas going through flood, hail and even wind harm threat.
