True disruption starts when one is passionate about changing something that they believe is wrong or could be done better. This is exactly what Maurits Grosfeld did when he noticed that dubious actions could take place in the real estate industry. To make buying and selling processes transparent and fair, he founded House.nl in 2019. His mission has not gone unnoticed because House.nl won the Best Startup Award at the National Realtor Awards in 2021.
What is House.nl?
Established in 2019 and headquartered in CIC Rotterdam, House.nl is a company on a mission. Their goal? To revolutionize the real estate industry by enhancing transparency and fairness in the buying and selling processes. How do they do it? By centralizing all the essential data related to property transactions. Through their platform, House.nl streamlines the bidding process, coordinates property viewings, and schedules meetings with appraisers and other key stakeholders in the property transaction journey. The result? An open and transparent marketplace where all participants have equal access to vital information. House.nl is dedicated to simplifying the age-old, unchanging process of buying and selling homes.
Who are the founders of House.nl?
Maurits Grosfeld embarked on his journey to create House.nl after gaining first hand experience in the real estate industry and observing questionable practices. Within this industry, all critical information is closely guarded by real estate agents, creating a dependency on their services. However, Maurits recognized that by making all information openly accessible, the need for a real estate agent diminishes, unless one is desired, given the often emotionally charged nature of real estate transactions for consumers.
In late 2019, Maurits decided to establish House.nl, driven by a mission to instill transparency and fairness into the buying and selling processes within the real estate sector. To gain deeper insights into the frustrations faced by customers, he conducted a comprehensive survey involving up to 4,500 homeowners and sellers.
What is the key driver of your company’s growth?
House.nl has a national reach and works with several real estate agents, mortgage advisors and appraisers who believe in complete transparency. The ambition for House.nl is to secure a permanent place among the top ten real estate agencies. Ambassadors like Peter Boelhouwer, Professor of the Housing Market at TU Delft, have joined the platform as an ambassador, supporting the way House.nl creates an honest housing market. By creating a platform for consumers and removing information asymmetry, House.nl is growing and disrupting the traditional real estate process.
What is the best innovation of all time according to you?
“From my perspective, at its core, lies communication. It encompasses the evolution from the printing press to the computer and telephone. Also, light bulbs, which replaced candles that were previously employed. Lastly, vaccines. Without the availability of vaccines and vaccinations, our lifespans would likely have been considerably shorter.”
