First-time homebuyer review! I've been "self-educating" myself on the homebuying process and assessing my local market for at least two years. I attended ONE Houwzer First-Time Homebuyer seminar and knew I had found my "home" with them! It was important to me that I had support readily available to answer my questions and usher my paperwork through a quick, efficient and seamless process. Susan McHale hosted the webinar alongside Casey Hansen, both of whom followed-up that same week to answer any questions I might have. Because the actual mortgage process scared me the most, I worked with Casey for an estimated pre-qualification, and ensured I knew what would come next - from Pre-Qualification to searching within budget, to closing. He walked me through it end to end and a month later, submitted a Pre-Approval Request with Casey. Just a few days later, I read that my friend, Muoki Musau had joined the Houwzer team as an Agent, and Susan so kindly supported my decision to partner with him on the home buying process (thank you, Susan!!!!). The rest is history. Honestly - I am happy to speak to absolutely anyone who wants to hear a first hand, real life experience of what it's like to buy today, the types of negotiations you might find yourselves in, how I prepared for this moment, and speak ENDLESS VOLUMES about the kindness, professionalism, responsiveness and ATTENTIVE NATURE of this entire team. I found a home in 2 weeks, and we closed in 30 days. And despite it's ups and downs, let me tell you, it's the most fun I've ever had. Thank you, thank you, thank you, team! With special love to Casey, Muoki, Susan, Brittany, Ayrlicea (esp. Ayrlicea!!), Fiona, Mia and anyone else I may have inadvertantly missed who just WORKED THE MAGIC while I slept and carried on my day!! read more

Attempted to purchase a home listed by a realtor affiliated with this company. Start to finish it was a TRAIN WRECK. If you like NO COMMUNICATION, being left in the dark, lies, and matthew kalogeras acting like a God.... by all means. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. Ended up passing on the perfect house.... because this outfit CANNOT communicate. read more

Diane continues to be such a pleasure to work with. She's organized, kind, and fully engaged in making sure her buyers feel confident throughout the process. Her professionalism always stands out, and we truly appreciate her communication and collaboration. Thanks again! read more

We sold with Houwzer and Our agent was Howard Smith, best real estate agent ever. He helped us navigate through negotiations, appraisal issues, U&O, last minute walkthrough issues from buyer, not needing to be at settlement in person, help with documents on our New home purchase as well, all like a Boss while being calm, collected, and reassuring.  Need more agents like him. Also got us additional 2.5k for buying and selling with Houwzer. Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! Thanks Howard. read more

Houwzer - Help sell this home - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I refinanced with Houwzer in June or so, it took a very very long time and getting information was like pulling teeth BUT I let it be because the rate was good and I wasn't in a rush. Not great but whatever. With that, I asked the same guy to refinance my father's primary residence. That was where I went wrong. 0 communication, 0 insight, the process was NOTHING like what a normal mortgage process should be (not even like my personal experience less than 1 month prior). I think essentially they are not capable of doing mortgages that aren't simply tied to basic w-2, loop in 1099's, business income, etc. I should have predicted that judging from my personal underwriting experience. That said, if they would just admit that from the beginning life would be a lot easier for everyone! The savings you may get by their low fees could be worth it honestly (it was for me as a single income household with LOTS of student loans ;)) and the rate was awesome. Just be sure to tread lightly, stay on top of it by contacting them literally daily, and just know that you get what you pay for! read more

Houwzer made buying a house seamless! I would recommend Houwzer to anyone, especially first time home buyers, as they are totally zero pressure! Our realtor, Dan, made everything easy! He took the time to explain and re-explain every part of the process. He was there for me every step of the way. He kept consistent communication, while being totally pressure free. He is really great at what he does, and I always felt protected when he was there. read more

We just sold our house on Capitol Hill for $1.395m with Houwzer and were thrilled! If you are selling a property worth more than $200k then it you have to justify why you would NOT use Houwzer. We spoke to two regular realtors, one of whom was going to charge 5% ($69,750), and the other 6% ($83,700!) both splitting the commission with the buyer's agent. We spoke to Redfin too but were unimpressed by the agent assigned to us, in part because she valued the house at slightly above $1.2m, well below what we believed was the value and indeed what it actually sold for. (As the Freakonomics team demonstrate, the incentive for agents is not to maximize sales price but minimize time to get a deal so that they can move on to the next one and collect another commission.) The agent assigned to us was John Macário and he came out to assess the property and they had an excellent photographer come out who spent 2 hours at the house when, given the price we were paying, I thought he would be in and out in 15 minutes. John spoke with agents of buyers that were interested and held out for 4 weeks until we finally received a full-price offer. We could not have asked for more. Houwzer's charge: just $5,000! To get the other side to play the game, they unfortunately had to offer 2.5% to the buyer's agent, which in this case came to $34,875. The absurdity of the traditional pricing scheme used in the real estate industry with 3% to the seller's agent and 3% to the buyer's agent was brought into focus for us as, while selling our expensive house, we were also buying a very inexpensive ($120k) 1-bedroom condo in Anacostia. Our agent (Natalie Ramirez) was wonderful and had to chase the seller's agent on multiple issues and yet her commission was a mere $3,000. She had to go through all the same steps as the buyer's agent for our house who received $34,875 which seems grossly unfair. I will write a glowing review for her shortly. There should be a flat fee for real estate transactions and $5,000 for each side seems reasonable. (One can argue too that buyer's agents are unnecessary when the listing are all online - they don't exist in other countries such as Australia where the seller's agent shows you the property and does the sales pitch.) I've often noted that you get charged the same at a car wash whether you have a Mercedes or a Kia. It should be the same for selling property and Houwzer offers that, at least on the selling side. read more

Contacted Houwzer Real Estate about a true Flat fee listing, different than what they advertise for For Sale By Owner seller. Couldn't get representative to answer a simple question and asked why when I contacted their agent by email no one bothered to let me know if they could help me sell my home or if they weren't interested just say so. No or poor communication is the first sign of a bad customer service experience, and when doing something as critical as selling a home for a client without it, it's nightmare waiting to happen. There are many upfront and communicative real estate companies that would love to have my business and know how important proper communication is. Apparently, Houwzer a newer company hasn't figured that out yet. Gave them a chance and they dropped the ball bigtime. Thank goodness I didn't trust them with the sale of my house. Yep, not recommended. read more

My first-time home buying experience couldn't have been smoother. I started the process expecting it to take a while, considering I didn't know exactly what I wanted, had no idea what I was doing, and didn't have a ton of money to work with in a seller's market. My agent, Allison, was a gem in that she was informative but allowed me to drive the process. I made it from first showing to closing in less than 3 months and probably would have been much less than that if I had been more active in my search in the beginning. I would recommend Houwzer and particularly my agent Allison in a heartbeat. read more

Our agent Brian was incredibly responsive and kept us informed every step of the way. The buyer's agent was not great and things dragged out with two extensions past the original settlement date, but Brian did everything he could to move the process along and finally got us across the finish line. He was there anytime we needed him and provided great advice throughout the process. Outstanding service! read more

You absolutely get what you pay for. I believe my agent did his best, but he led me off a cliff and I got robbed by my buyer. He did not advise me, a layman who knows nothing about real estate, at all and I made silly mistakes that cost me tens of thousands of dollars. This was an expensive lesson. Don't use Houwser. No bueño. read more

Working with houwzer was a great experience and i would highly recommend my agent Scott Hicks. Scott brings a ton of knowledge and enthusiasm into his job and is clearly very passionate. As a first time buyer with a lot of unusual preferences, i wasn't making things easy, so scotts patience and energy was really the difference between a smooth and pleasant process and what I assume would have been a much more stressful and irritating one had i worked with someone else. Hunting for houses with Scott is an adventure, like a treasure hunt, and he has a talent for walking into places and seeing their potential along with potential issues. I also really liked the houwzer business model because their agents are trained and salaried - so it's like dealing with a collaborative team effort rather than a lone wolf who's just chasing commission to survive. So if there was something scott didn't know, he could just kick the question around the office to see if someone had encountered that situation before. Overall great experience with Scott and houwzer, and would certainly recommend to anyone especially a first time buyer. read more

Our agent with Houwzer was responsive, thoughtful, and knowledgeable. He helped us know when and where to make changes and how to handle the pre-closing back-and-forth discussions. Very pleased with the Houwzer experience. read more

Scott Hicks has been helping me find several properties in Philly that I have been purchasing over the past couple of year. His communication is excellent and attention to detail are much appreciated. There have been several transactions that have saved me money thanks to his wit when writing up the contracts. Highly recommend read more

We used Houwzer to sell our house in Northern Virginia. Chris Kroll was a wonderful agent and our sale went quickly and smoothly. Houwzer's pricing was what drew us in, but the experience would have us come back. read more

Just sold my home today. I thought their model was more self service but I was wrong. I had a 5 star experience with Jorge Santana and can't recommend him enough! They have the buying and selling process perfectly organized. Anytime I had to call they were there for me. read more

I was hopeful this would be a new way to sell our home. Unfortunately, I've now waited over a week from my initial consultation request, have heard from 3 different agents with the following: First agent: After 6 days of back and forth calling/texting (not promptly, either), never heard back about a date for initial consult. It was like pulling teeth to even get this person to respond back to me. Second agent: This is the *actual* excuse we were given: too busy to handle another case. Third agent: Had "great experience with selling in our neighborhood" and would get back to us. Though, he had only sold 3 homes in our area, out of really just a handful total sold, and none of them were in our price range. Disappointing to say the least. read more

We got all the services you get from a traditional agent for a fraction of the cost. Sold our place without a hitch. Well done.

Sellers beware. If you look at the commission model, it is a fixed amount for sellers. The agent I worked with pointed at every little fault in the house for obvious reasons and I believe it is not in the interest of Houwzer business model to put the time and effort to get a good price for sellers. If you look at the commission structure, this business model fits within the range of 250k to 500k houses that fit in to the mold. I got another full service agent with 2 percent both sides who was much more timely and co-operative and its a no brainier going that route. read more

disappointing.... we had hope this truly was a new way to do real estate. but no....dishonest and disruptive was Andrew Gray who came out and spent 2 hours and now changed his role. He was unable to follow up with time frames, wasn't going to show up for the open house, had to tell them multiple times the room count (even after listing it on their questioner and giving them our blue prints to the house and 3 times answered in emails) thankfully they left us out of the contract. I'd rather pay 3% for someone who will show up at the open house. read more

Bought a home and refinanced thanks to Houwzer, whose employees are full time salaried agents. Houwzer got us the lowest rate and the best terms, and my family could not be more fortunate. Highly recommended! read more

An amazing experience from start to finish! Working with Ryan C. and the Houwer team was refreshing. The above and beyond attention to detail, responsiveness, and client mindset was and is unmatched. I highly recommend the entire team (buying and selling and mortgage)! read more

I have been an investor in real estate for over 20 years and have always had an issue of paying a percentage of my hard work to realtors. I was looking for a new way to sell my houses and then came Houwzer. I met with Landon Barton who was able to share the vision of the company and was absolutely NOT high pressure to list my property. He stayed in contact with me until my rehab was done and I signed with Houwzer. I have bought and sold houses for over 2 decades and this was the least stressful listing and closing I have ever had. This company has a streamlined business model that is efficient and every expert in each department was wonderful to work with. I ended up using Houwzer's title company as well, and not only saved money on the listing, but saved money on the closing. Between the listing and closing I saved around $8,000. No babysitting realtors or title companies for the first time in my real estate career. Everything from the pictures to the marketing was a class act. I would recommend any seller or buyer to use Houwzer and definitely use their title company. Thank you to Landon Barton my listing agent, Esha Jones at their title company and all the other employees behind the scenes. I will definitely recommend Houwzer to everyone I know. read more

Great experience selling my home with Houwzer. My listing agent, Patricia Gesswein was there for me from listing through settlement. Houwzer used the same professional photography company as other realtors for the pictures and video. The wood post for sale sign added curb appeal, so much nicer than the metal prong stuck-in-the grass sign other realtors use. All of that and 1st class service for just $2500. And to my realtor friends...don't be mad at me for taking food out of your family's mouth-you could have brought a buyer and gotten my 3% commission. Overall a new innovative way of selling your home with nothing to lose! read more

We had a wonderful and personalized experience working with Scott H at Houwzer during our home buying process. Scott really understood that we were more interested in a fixer and worked with us to find a house that met our wishlist. It was also great to have all the home buying steps managed in house - made the experience a lot less intimidating for us as first time purchasers. Would recommend their services to anyone looking to buy or sell in the region. read more

Have now used them twice to sell homes and can usually come up with negatives quite easily but honestly cannot with Houwzer. Our agent was direct in a venture where nebulous discussion only leads to difficulty and the process was seamless. I hope Houwzer's model continues to succeed for their sake and home sellers/buyers. read more

We had an amazingly smooth experience buying our first home with Houwzer. Our agent, Scott Hicks, knew what we wanted and helped us find exactly that. He was very knowledgeable about general home maintenance and was very informative when we would go on tours. Scott even found us an amazing first time home buyers grant to help us financially afford our place! Also, when we had some trouble getting the mortgage finalized due to certain issues with our house, Scott guided us through the process of getting repairs done and now we are homeowners! Couldn't recommend him or Houwzer more! read more

I sold my home with Houwzer and was VERY pleased to have saved the seller's commission. Real estate needs business models like this to shake things up, and I'm thankful for Houwzer and the opportunity they provided me to save money. However, being a single, first time home seller, there were many times throughout the process when I felt that my home sale was not exactly the highest priority for the Houwzer team. Luckily, my home was in very good condition with recent updates, in a hot market, and basically sold itself reasonably quickly (3 weeks) for these reasons. This is just a word of caution! The money savings are worth it, however Houwzer may not be the best route for those who expect a very hands on real estate experience and/or those whose homes are not in tip top shape and in very hot markets. I believe the attention needed to sell a home in 1) a tepid market or 2) a mediocre condition home in a very hot market may not be there with this company. read more

This review is for Houwzer agent Diane Winkelman in the Philly suburbs area. Diane is amazing to work with in your search for your next home! She is a genuinely lovely person to be around and an experienced professional. She was patient with us during our months long search from Nov 2019 - July 2020 and she stuck with us through the building and settlement period of our new development home (8 months long!). This was our first new home purchase and Diane was extremely helpful with negotiations with the builder, helping with our options selections, coming with us to see progress updates with the builder, setting up inspections at the pre-dry wall and pre-settlement stages, and just fantastic with keeping the builder true to their word with us. She will fight hard for you - whether you're in a multi-offer situation or negotiating for more included upgrades in your new build! It was bittersweet to get the keys on settlement day because that meant we wouldn't be seeing Diane on a monthly basis anymore, but our beautiful new home is a daily reminder of how happy we were through this new home buying experience with Diane as our guide and advocate. Thank you so much Diane! read more

It was such a waste of time to start the process with the agent and the lender Ray. I had explained the situation to both of them before starting the process and it looks like the lender didn't pay attention at that time. Lender keeps bringing things up that happened 2 years ago. He was so negative about the whole process because he wanted to give me extremely high interest rate so I refused to continue the process with them and I went to the different lender who approved my loan. Don't waste your time with Houwzer because they are only trying to rip people off. read more

Excellent Service for our home sale. Responsive and understood the market and our needs. I would recommend Houwzer to any of my friends.

You get what you pay for...I was completely underwhelmed by their agent and so-called service. Would never use them again...

I recently purchased a house with Paul from Houwzer. He was very knowledgeable on the area, market and, buying process. I would highly recommend Paul to anyone looking for an agent. read more

This company, represented by June Piper-Brandon in the Maryland area, is not to be feared- unless you are a competitor. I researched all the agencies that provided selling services less than 5% (RedFin the best known) and Houwzer was one I hadn't heard of. I read everything I could find on the company and decided I should meet with someone. The commission levels for real estate are ridiculous, especially since so much is done on-line and not in an office. A market disruption is badly needed and Houwzer is proving they are doing it and doing it so well you would be a fool with your money to go elsewhere. The standard argument is those who charge 3% and higher give you service you won't find with a company like Houwzer. I promise that Houwzer ( June and her team) will likely- very likely- outperform their competition. This is full service, June is copied on every one of your questions. You aren't signed by an agent and then a team member takes over most of the contact with you. She has high contact level with her clients. This is not an overstatement: 5 star knowledge and recommendations , follow through, organization and handholding! read more

Our agent Danielle consistently went above and beyond for us, even before we were ready to buy. She took hours of her time at any point of the day to talk with us, teach us, and ensure we had the information we need to make the best decisions for our future. She represented the Houwzer Organization well enough to convince me that Houwzer is the future of the real estate industry. Danielle was set up for success by having partnerships that were accessible and self-organizing. Houwzer is much like Vanguard in that it will change the industry for the better by focusing on the client rather than personal profits of small groups of owners. read more

We bought a south jersey home with Erika Arruda late in 2020 it was a seamless, enjoyable experience and we found the perfect home in a very competitive market. Couldn't be happier with the service Houwzer overall provided us! read more

Amazing service and great savings without missing any support whatsoever. Great concept, I am putting the $20K I saved to good use for me and my family! Thanks Houwzer!! read more

My Mother sold her home with Houwzer and had an amazing experience! They took great quality professional photos and the virtual tour was phenomenal. They marketed her home through the MLS, all the real estate sites online and Facebook. Once the home was under contract, she received great guidance and advice every step of the way until settlement. She also saved nearly $20,000 in the sale of her home! We couldn't be happier! read more

I had an awesome experience with these people. I honestly don't think they made a penny on me, but their business model works like that. Maybe they score, maybe not. It didn't matter from a service standpoint. I got a premium level of service from top to bottom. They sold my home quickly, like the first day, and represented me zealously until my home settled. I worked with Trish. A true professional. Haven't heard of them? Call them and see what I mean. read more

I worked with Jorge Santana to sell my house, and Chad Eason to buy in the same neighborhood. Jorge made the selling process seamlessly easy and provided excellent advice. He answered emails promptly and even picked me up at my job and drove me to a notary when I had a limited lunch break! All of this was happening right after his baby was born, which just makes the whole thing even more remarkable! This was my first time selling a house, and I was extremely pleased with the price we landed, the lack of commission, and the professionalism of Houwzer. Jorge gave very clear guidelines on getting the house ready for photos and the open house, and didn't waver when I tried to push back: I think this advice made the sale go more smoothly and even ended up making my move easier since I had already decluttered! Chad was similarly easy to work with and a tireless advocate. We were determined to buy in an neighborhood with a lot of demand, and Chad helped us find a home that we love, on a block that could not be better. We ran into a few hurdles: unexpected damage to the house, a timeline that made made some the peak activities happen when we were out of town . . . and Chad put in the extra work to make everything happen. If you want to work with a pleasant, genuine, hard-working team and save money in the bargain, Houwzer is truly the realtor to choose. read more