7y
Thank you for taking time to provide us feedback. We are committed to changing the real estate brokerage industry for good – especially when it comes to enriching the lives of our agents. It's disappointing to hear that we were not able to provide that experience during your time at Houwzer. We find constructive feedback value and work constantly to improve wherever possible, and with that in mind, I'd like to address some of the concerns you brought up.
Salary: We always strive to be both honest and accurate in our messaging, and it is most certainly not a lie to say our agents are salaried. All of our agents are classified as W2, full-time employees. We previously used language to the effect of a "guaranteed draw" internally to calculate what buyer agents would make on top of their salary. We recently recognized that this has created some confusion with our buyer agents, and as of January 1, 2019, we are revising our compensation model to reflect a more simpler methodology. All of our buyer agents will make more money in this new model. We also think that the company contribution towards employee benefits is a significant value on top of the salary and bonuses.
Pressure-Free: Unlike the life of a traditional agent where you do not know when you will get your next paycheck, we have always paid our agents regular and consistent salaried compensation. In fact, our base salary compensation in the Philadelphia market is higher than the annual median gross income for REALTORS nationally ($39,800) according to the National Association of Realtors (https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/quick-real-estate-statistics). We believe this provides them the time required to build a client base, while still making a competitive living wage. It also allows them to focus on their clients' goals, not just commissions.
Accountability: As we have grown and added managerial capacity, we have been able to increase the time and resources spent on enhancing structure and accountability. We believe this is a critical component of ensuring that Houwzer can provide a consistent level of service to our clients. We believe that expectation setting and employee accountability is an important part of any organization, especially sales organizations. Our agents have weekly check-ins with sales managers and quarterly and annual goals.
Transparency: We continue to find more ways to increase our transparency, both internally and externally. For example, in the last quarter, we launched Town Hall meetings with the CEO and the leadership team, weekly office hours with the Executive team, and shared an abridged version of the quarterly investor update. We also leverage a business intelligence platform with shared dashboards openly visible in the workspace.
The agent role at Houwzer is not for everyone. We strive to find candidates who will thrive in our system, and although our agent retention rate is one of the highest in the industry, not all agents will make it at Houwzer. We do thank you again for your feedback, and we certainly wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Best,
Mike Maher
Founder, CEO