HomeLister Profile

“HomeLister is an online home selling platform that has enabled thousands of home sellers to save over $77.5 million in home equity. HomeLister has reinvented the home selling process, giving homeowners more control and savings than ever before. Sellers are guided through the entire process through an online dashboard: from creating their listing and publishing it to the local MLS to executing contracts and working with buyers to close a deal. They are able to choose from various tiers of online support, ranging from just getting the home up on the MLS and other real estate search sites to customized support from a real estate expert throughout the entire real estate process.”

“HomeLister was built to empower home sellers to take control of their home sale by charging a low flat fee — and not a percentage of the sale price — so they can keep more equity at the end of the day.”

“Venture capital. The company announced a Series A of $10 million in June 2022 and raised a seed round of $4.5 million in 2020, totaling $14.5 million.”

“More than 50, working remotely. These include licensed agents around the country.”

“When I was selling my condo in Tribeca in New York City, I did a lot of the legwork, including comp research, pricing strategy, and preparing my home for showings. Yet I worked with a traditional real estate agent who ultimately walked away with 6% of the sale price for just a few hours of work. I knew there has to be a better way. My background was in software engineering and real estate development, and I was able to team up with my co-founder Jennifer Stein, a real estate lawyer and broker, to launch the company to help home sellers retain more of their home equity.”

“It was born from the fact that we wanted people to list their homes in a different way, so we just started referring to it as ‘The Home Lister,’ and it stuck because it really said what we did. Eventually, we dropped the ‘the’ and just started calling it ‘HomeLister.’”

“My dad and grandfather were both small business owners, so when I saw something that should exist and felt was a good idea, starting it myself seemed like the next logical step. This is the third real estate company I’ve been a part of starting. With HomeLister in particular, though, I just couldn’t believe it didn’t exist, and I felt like it should, so I made that happen.”

“Real estate is the largest asset class in the US. Disrupting an entrenched legacy industry such as real estate was always going to be an uphill battle. Not only did we have to convince investors that we could do it, but we also needed to convince homeowners that they didn’t actually need the traditional real estate agent to sell their homes for top dollar. And also that the paperwork for selling a home wasn’t nearly as complicated as one would expect.

We faced social media backlash from traditional agents who felt threatened by our flat fee model (as opposed to a percentage of the sale price). Even convincing some investors was a challenge, but we ended up with those who were fully behind our vision.”

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“Full funnel marketing approach targeting users at various points in their customer journey, led by digital marketing campaigns.”

“Home sellers in the United States (currently in 18 states) with average home values between $250,000 and $3 million.”

“Conversation rate, customer acquisition cost.”

“Choose your investors wisely and make sure their values and vision align with yours. For example, do they believe that a legacy industry like real estate can be disrupted? These are the investors that will go to bat for you and help you scale and grow your company.”

“Be honest, be transparent, and as a leader, strive to understand what your team needs to thrive. Promote innovation and initiative, empower others, and assure the well-being of all around us.”