Houwzer is a discount real estate brokerage that charges you 1% instead of the usual 3% agent commission.
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Pros
- The 1% agent commission ensures that you retain more of your home's equity.
- Houwzer has a user-friendly dashboard that connects you to your agent.
- Buyers can avail of a rebate if they opt for Houwzer's add-on services.
Cons
- Houwzer's coverage is limited to a few states.
- Their agent team is small and spread thin leading to a risk of miscommunication and mistakes.
- Many Houwzer reviews complain about a lack of personal assistance.
Houwzer is a discount real estate brokerage company. They offer brokerage services for lower commissions than traditional agents.
The company charges 1% at closing instead of the traditional 3%. They also provide multiple services to buyers with compelling buyer rebates. However, these savings may come at the cost of delays, mistakes, and unprofessionalism.
Discount brokerages like Houwzer often have a small team. Their agents handle multiple clients at a time. This may result in a lack of personalized service. So, even after hiring a real estate brokerage, you are almost on your own.
With flat fee MLS listing services like Houzeo, you don’t face such issues. Houzeo’s 5-star customer support guides you throughout the home-selling process.
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Key Takeaways
- Pros: Houwzer charges 1% at closing as opposed to the traditional 3% commission. This leads to substantial savings.
- Cons: Houwzer’s agents are salaried and handle three times more clients than traditional realtors. This may lead to a lack of personal assistance.
- Our Take: We recommend Houzeo over Houwzer. Houzeo offers you lightning fast services and reliable customer support while saving top dollar on real estate commission. Compare Houzeo vs. Houwzer.
Let’s delve into Houwzer.com reviews and their pros and cons to see if they are the best choice for you.
What is Houwzer Real Estate?
Houwzer is a discount real estate brokerage company that offers real estate services at an affordable price. The company has a unique business model where they hire salaried agents instead of commission-based agents.
Houwzer relies on a small team to serve a high volume of clients. So, you will likely be competing with a lot more customers for your agent’s attention. This may lead to less hands-on assistance and other drawbacks.
The company offers a dashboard to track the progress of your listing. However, their lack of communication may make your experience unpleasant.
Moreover, they only offer their services in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. So, people from other parts of America cannot avail of their services.
Is Houwzer Legit?
Yes. Houwzer is a legitimate real estate company founded by Mike Maher and Kevin Baird in 2014 in Philadelphia. The company is licensed in 4 states and Washington D.C.
How Does Houwzer Work?
The process of registering with Houwzer is simple. In the sign-up window, you can select the service you need. Then you have to enter information depending on the service you select.
Sellers
If you want to sell a home with them, you will need to fill in the below details:
- Property Details: Fill in your property’s address and select the features of the house.
- Additional Services: If you need home equity evaluation or want to buy a home with Houwzer, you can select them too.
- Your Personal Information: Add your name and contact information so they can reach out to you.
Buyers
The flow will ask you to enter the below information:
- Zip Code: Provide them with the zip code of the area where you are planning to buy the home.
- Home Type: Select the type of home you want to buy from the given options.
- Other Details: Add your requirements, budget, and other details regarding your purchase. If you want to hire them for other services, you can select them too.
- Your Personal Information: Enter your name and contact information and hit the ‘Let’s Go’ button.
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👉 NOTE: If you want to buy as well as sell with them, you will be asked a combination of questions from the above two flows.
Financing a Home
If you want to finance or refinance the home, you will be asked for the following information:
- The Service: Select from purchase and refinance options to specify your goal.
- Property Details: Fill in the property details including location, budget, and purpose of buying the property.
- Other Details: They will ask you about your credit score, and employment status. If you want to hire them for other services, you can select them too.
- Your Personal Information: Enter your name and contact information and finish the sign-up process.
Once you complete these steps, their representative will contact you via email and call.
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👉 NOTE: Since Houwzer agents are employees working in regular 9-5 shifts, it may become difficult to contact
them outside business hours.
Houwzer Locations
Houwzer is currently available only in four states, as well as Washington, D.C. Their lack of coverage is a dealbreaker for customers who are from other parts of America.
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Houwzer Services
Houwzer has an impressive range of services. They work with sellers and buyers and offer extra savings to those who avail of their bundle service. Houwzer provides mortgage advice and title insurance services as well.
Houwzer for Home Sellers
With home sellers, Houwzer works on a commission basis. While there is no upfront fee, you need to pay a 1% commission at closing. They provide you with agents who take care of everything, from listing to closing and more.
Houwzer provides some standard services to home sellers, like:
- Listing on MLS with syndication on other real estate websites
- Home valuation
- Professional photography and a 3D online tour
- Negotiations with buyers
- Contract consultation
- Direct mail advertising
- Closing coordination
- 🚩 Stay Alert: As a home seller, you will work with a different agent at every step instead of one dedicated agent.
Houwzer for Home Buyers
Houwzer helps home buyers by guiding them through the home-buying process. As a buyer, you will have a dedicated agent to work with. However, the company does not offer any commission to their agents at closing. Hence, you may not get the services you expect from traditional agents.
Buyers get the following services from Houwzer:
- Access to the Buyside® platform. It is a platform where buyers can see the properties before they hit the market.
- Home tours with local agents
- Negotiation with sellers
- Paperwork assistance
Other Services by Houwzer
In addition to the above services, Houwzer also provides the following services:
- Mortgage Services: You can enlist Houwzer’s mortgage advisor services to buy a new home or refinance your current home. They will help you obtain discounted rates from mortgage lenders and take care of your application procedure.
- Title Services: Houwzer launched its own title company, Houwzer Title, in 2018, through which they offer settlement services to home buyers and sellers.
- Bundle: For using their mortgage advice or title insurance services, they give you a rebate of $2,000. However, if you use both, the rebate increases to $2,500.
- 🚩 Stay Alert: Houwzer has not disclosed the prices of mortgage advice and title insurance services on their website.
👉 Why Title Insurance is So Expensive: Is title insurance digging deep into your pocket? Watch the video to know how you can make it affordable!
How Much Does Houwzer Cost?
Houwzer charges a 1% commission to sellers at closing. You also need to pay a 2.5–3% buyer agent commission. So, with Houwzer, you will spend around 3.5–4% of the home sale price.
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👉 NOTE: To know the details and prices of Houwzer’s additional services, you need to contact their representatives. This will make it difficult for you to evaluate their services without sharing your information.
Are Their Pricing Competitive?
Houwzer charges a 1% commission at closing instead of the 3% traditional real estate commission. It might look like a steal, but you must compare their price with other alternatives to paint a clear picture of your savings.
Flat fee companies like Houzeo and Beycome provide you with better services at a lower price. Houzeo’s Gold Plan, for instance, offers you an MLS listing, 5-star customer support, and stellar technology for $379.
Hence, despite charging less commission, Houwzer is not the most affordable way to sell a home. Flat Fee companies like Houzeo will help you save a top dollar while providing you with all sorts of features.
Houwzer vs. Houzeo
Houwzer offers professional services but is overpriced and fails to provide personal assistance. That means, even after paying a hefty amount, you end up fending for yourself. Moreover, they are only licensed in four states and Washington D.C.
On the other hand, Houzeo excels in the real estate industry in every aspect. They offer the best combination of maximum savings and 5-star customer support. Their advanced technology makes the home-selling process easy and efficient.
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👉 Houzeo Reviews: All You Need to Know about Houzeo.com!
Houwzer Real Estate Reviews
Houwzer has a 4 out of 5-star rating on Yelp with 44 reviews and a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Google with 382 reviews.
While we found many positive customer reviews for Houwzer real estate, their negative reviews depict some common complaints. Houwzer’s bad reviews are often regarding their unprofessional customer service and lack of personal assistance.
Houwzer Positive Reviews
✅ Brenda is satisfied with their services and customer support.
We sold our home within 10 days with Houwzer, our agent Dan Robinson was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and always available to answer any questions or concerns that we had. We highly recommend Houwzer for your real estate needs and especially if you are listing your home for sale. Our experience with Dan Robinson and Houwzer was wonderful.
Source: Yelp
✅ Kevin is happy with the savings and trusts the company.
A great experience from beginning to end. I loved the Houwzer dashboard showing me the current status of the entire selling process. My agent was super helpful and knowledgeable, and I felt very reassured and confident that all my needs and concerns were being addressed by the Houwzer team. This was my first experience selling a home, and I would definitely choose Houwzer again in the future.
Source: Google
Houwzer Negative Reviews
❌ Kristi, in her Houwzer review, highlighted their agent’s inefficiency.
Houwzer’s title company is slow with response. The closer was late to closing and rude during the closing process. They were inefficient with the process. He told us we would be done in 30 minutes. It took two hours for closing and the sellers net proceeds were not sent to their next closing for even longer, and they are relying on that money for the closing in the home they are purchasing.
Source: Google
❌ Another Houwzer review on Yelp given by Tanya depicts their lack of personal assistance.
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.
Source: Yelp
Houwzer Pros and Cons
Houwzer eliminates the traditional ways of selling homes. The company is helping homeowners save on real estate agent commissions. However, you need to evaluate the pros and cons before you make the decision.
👍 Pros
Houwzer offers several benefits to homeowners who are willing to put in the effort to save agent commission. The key advantages of selling with Houwzer are:
- Commission Saving: Houwzer provides you with an affordable way to sell a home by charging a 1% listing commission instead of 3%.
- Buyer Rebate: If you avail of their add-on services, you will be eligible for a buyer rebate.
- Houwzer’s Dashboard: You can use this dashboard to chat with your agent and track listing progress.
👎 Cons
We also found certain dealbreakers with Houwzer.com during our research. Some key drawbacks of working with Houwzer are:
- Lack of Personal Assistance: Since their agents are salaried, they handle multiple clients at once. This results in a lack of personal assistance.
- Lack of Transparency: Although Houwzer has disclosed its 1% commission for home sellers, they have not disclosed the prices of its other services.
- No Control Over Listing: Unlike many other real estate websites, you can’t list directly through their website. You can only register with them and wait for their call to proceed.
- Disappointing Customer Support: As many Houwzer reviews suggest, their customer support is disappointing and lacks professionalism.
- Limited Coverage: Houwzer Inc. serves only in Florida, Maryland, South Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.
- Risk of Miscommunication: Houwzer does not align you with a single agent. You have to deal with multiple agents at different stages of the home-selling process. This can easily lead to miscommunication.
Alternatives to Houwzer.com
- Houzeo: Houzeo brings cost efficiency and advanced technology together. It is a 100% online MLS listing website with 5-star customer support. Moreover, Houzeo covers 47 states and DC, offering near-nationwide coverage.
- Redfin: With Redfin, you get quality services at a discounted price. They also ask for a 1% commission at closing but offer better services. However, Redfin’s reviews also highlight the lack of guidance and support by their agents.
- ListingSpark: ListingSpark offers a 100% online platform to sell your home. They also provide professional services to simplify your home-selling experience. However, they are overpriced as compared to other flat fee services.
Other Options You Should Consider
- Sell to iBuyers: iBuyers make an offer on your property within 24-48 hours and can close within 7 days. Most iBuyers like Opendoor and Offerpad are also known to offer the fair market value (FMV) of your property. If you’re wondering how to sell your house fast, iBuyers can be a great option.
- Sell FSBO With Flat Fee MLS Services: Flat Fee MLS websites will help you list and sell a house by owner and save thousands in listing agent commission. Many Flat Fee MLS websites will make your listing live within 24-48 hours. They provide maximum exposure, professional services, and paperwork assistance.
- Sell to “Cash for Houses” Companies: Unlike iBuyers, “cash for houses” companies help you sell your house as-is fast. They can even close within 7 days or on any date you choose. Cash-for-houses companies also make cash offers for homes outside metro areas or in difficult-to-sell locations.
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Should You Consider Houwzer Real Estate?
We recommend listing with Houzeo instead of Houwzer. Houwzer may seem a convenient option to save on the listing agent’s commission. However, there are certain drawbacks associated with them.
Their brokers fail to provide the personal assistance that you would expect. Further, Houwzer’s limited coverage may make it difficult for many Americans to avail of their services.
On the other hand, Houzeo will help you save top dollar on commission while providing everything you may need in your home selling process. They are an ideal option for sellers who need guidance in their real estate transactions.
Houzeo’s stellar technology, exclusive platforms, and excellent customer support will make your home-selling experience a breeze!
👉 Houzeo Pricing: Check out Houzeo’s pocket-friendly listing packages for home sellers.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the major Houwzer's complaints?
Houwzer's complaints are primarily focused on their lack of professionalism and personal assistance. Their agents handle multiple clients at once, which may lead to their absence at crucial stages of home selling.
2. Can I contact Houwzer's agent anytime?
Since Houwzer's agents are salaried, it might be difficult to contact them out of business hours.
3. Is Houwzer worth the money in 2023?
No. With several services providing more savings for sellers, it is clear that investing money in Houwzer isn't worth it. If you want to save money and avail a better customer support, check out the best discount real estate brokers.
4. Where is Houwzer's headquarter?
Houwzer's headquarter is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
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