Houwzer, a real estate brokerage and homeownership platform powered by proprietary technology and an all-W-2 labor model, has announced that entrepreneur and investor Jonathan Zabusky will join the company’s board as executive chairman.
The company said Zabusky, most recently president and director at GrubHub Inc., will act as a “co-pilot” with Founder & CEO Mike Maher to help drive the next stage of growth at Houwzer, which pulled in $118 million in equity and debt as part of a Series B funding round earlier this year.
Zabusky said he is “incredibly excited” to join Houwzer's board. “I’m energized by our mission to elevate the home-buying and selling experience to become more fair, transparent, and seamless,” he said. “Houwzer's robust suite of integrated tools, products, and technology, coupled with a deeply engaged and aligned team of expert agents, facilitates a more enjoyable and productive real estate journey for its clients."
Zabusky previously led Seamless as CEO before merging it with GrubHub. After the merger, he led corporate strategy and development, product, marketing, and corporate and restaurant sales as GrubHub president. During his tenure, he successfully integrated multiple strategic acquisitions and played a pivotal role in the company’s initial public offering. Zabusky also is founder and managing partner of Bounce Ventures LLC and serves as an adviser and director to a portfolio of venture and private equity-backed companies in the U.S. and Israel.
"Jonathan brings a wealth of strategic growth experience to the team,” Maher said. “As we continue building on our momentum, he will play a critical role in fine-tuning our approach and ensuring we continue to prioritize resources to accelerate growth and market share. I couldn’t be more excited to work alongside an entrepreneur as successful and thoughtful as Jonathan.”
Houwzer also announced the recent hiring of Andrew Daley as chief marketing officer. Daley brings two decades of high-growth experience in highly competitive environments, helping companies differentiate their brands across a range of industries including mobility, real estate, and travel.
Most recently, he led marketing for Hana, a CBRE company that redefined the flexible office space experience. Daley has also served as global head of marketing for Zipcar, and in key marketing functions for Starwood Hotels, Reebok, and several online travel and startup brands.
“The real estate industry is ripe for disruption and the incumbent model is broken,” Daley said. “Houwzer is realigning the incentives more fairly between the broker, the agent, and the client, so that everyone wins. The end result is a better, faster, smarter way to buy, sell, finance, and insure homes.”
Founded in Philadelphia in 2015, Houwzer has eliminated the percentage-based commission pricing for listings and rebuilt the brokerage model around the customer, creating a one-stop shop for real estate, mortgage, title, and insurance. Its $5,000 flat-fee listing model empowers sellers to maximize their profit — saving an average of $15,000 in commissions, while still providing a full-service experience via technology and expert, salaried agents, the company said.
Houwzer has helped clients buy and sell more than 4,000 homes with a cumulative sales volume of nearly $2 billion, saving home sellers $35 million in brokerage commissions, the company said.
Houwzer says it is the only real estate company operating on an all-W-2 compensation model across all of its salaried agents and mortgage advisors, and that it also is the industry’s first B Corporation real estate brokerage.
