montgomster

After my HN debut two years ago, PropBox.co has evolved from an advertising platform called ziphomez to a complete MVP SaaS low-flat-fee solution for residential home transactions. What began as a physical model in 1989 that ultimately failed has finally found its digital wings in March 2025. To the 273 commenters who offered guidance, your feedback helped shape our new platform—Thank You. Persistence outlasts failure. The best innovations sometimes take many years to realize fully. Never give up.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36365511 We could not make every change, but we made many. The Hacker News community is a valuable resource for startups. Thank you all for giving back. montgomster

Hello, Givemethekeys. Just wanted to let you know we are in the process of opening the 37 states we left out. If you haven't sold your home, we should be ready for in a week. Check in then. You can reach me at rm@propBox.co Thanks

Hi, jamesgill. We realize not everyone is going to agree early. We think consumers have been trained by the internet to expect things fast, easy, ans cheap. The is a lot of evidence that demonstrates the trend. PropBox will fill a need for many people early because it is fast, easy,and cheap. There is a customer on this thread that is waiting for a photographer before he posts, who will save $100k if the home sells for anywhere near what they believe it is worth. Time will tell, but we are working for a bright future. Thanks for sharing your beliefs. Richard

Keep on truckin'drumhead. When you are doing something you love, it is not work. It's a hobby. ;) Thanks for your comment. Richard

gunapologist99, the forms are built into the product. They are simple forms to read and understand. I have answered thousands of consumer real estate questions and it is apparent by the questions they ask that many consumers are not reading the contracts. They turn to their trusted advisor and ask them if the doc is OK to sign. This is s very poor practice for consumers, brought on in part by the internet. The bulk of consumer do not read Amazon's ToS, or any other site. We don't think we can force people to read them, but if we make the purchase doc simple, and easy to read, they will read it. IMO, PropBox is breaking new ground. There is zero commission. Sellers are paying for an ad that makes the transaction easy by bringing the customers together instead of keeping them apart. A real estate transaction can be a win-win not a tug of war. Thanks for your review and your interest. Richard

Hello,DeLopSpot. Many ToS docs push skirmishes into one state. We are thinking it is easier for the customers to argue in the state the property is located. This is under advisement. The blank line is simply an oversight. Out of curiousity I will ask IT about the non-selectable/non-copyable comment. I suspect it has to do with speed. I am not technical. Thanks for your observations. Richard

Hello, Pathogen-David. Lots of good feedback here. It is a minimum viable product and as we grow we will likely consider all of your comments. I may not make them all, but we will consider them all. I am not an engineer so they decide on what is best for the platform. For example, load speed is super important it has to load in a fraction of a second, I don't exactly, but they a benchmark they don't want to be over. Thanks for taking the time to think about us. Richard.

Hello joshuawithers. Thanks for giving me a chance to respond. If an australian owns a home in the U.S. they are a potential customer. Or if they live in Peru and want to buy a home in the US, they are a potential customer. You are correct that we only offer it in the United States. Thanks for your comment. Richard

Hello, madsbuch. I feel the same way. Not so much about me, but I think in many cases young and enthusiastic cannot compete with old, patient, and experienced. Thanks for your comment. Richard

Hello, cutemonster. Yup. You can when you enjoy what you do it is not work. Go for it. Richard

Hello, yaseer. Thanks for your comments. Actually,here is my linkedIn profile.[1] I have had a wonderful life to date. Like everyone else, wonderful achievements and devastating disappointments. Life comes at us hard sometimes. For me I have always believed I did the best I could with the information I had available. So when something bad happens, its never the end of the world, so it isn't the event that is important, it is how you respond to the event that is important. I'm happy to wake up in the morning and realize that I am just a small grain of sand on a very big beach.Thanks for asking. [1]https://www.linkedin.com/in/dearmontydotcom/

Hi,yuvalkarmi. Thanks for weighing in. I appreciate it. Richard

Hello ris58h. We wanted to make the front page of Hacker News. In studying the rules and the comments and reading the tips they offer. They stated that many readers like social type comments for a bit of diversion. I don't see it as click bait. I am 77 and soon to be seventy 78. One of comments I get regularly at home is "What! I've never heard of someone you age starting a business." I see a lot of my friends with a lot left to offer that are forced into retirement by the company, or by family members. I feel that PropBox is a product thats time has come and I hope if it works it will inspire other senior to follw a dream. The title size is limited, and I felt the social message had a better chance of 1st page. Thanks for giving me a chance to explain by sharing how you felt. Richard

Hello, givemeethekeys. You are right on. We received many similar comments and you will start seeing big improvements in the message in the coming weeks. What would you think of a calculator that tells you what you should price your at to have it sold in ___ days? Check us out in six months and see how we're doing. Thanks for chiming in. Richard

Hello, dangoodmanUT. I have responded to this directly above in a couple different ways. We want to begin with accurate data. We have two customers so far and we are talking to others. We are patient and have a long runway if we need. Lets look in six months. Thanks for weighing in.Richard

michaelmior.You are correct, for the most part. If the only way to make the business work was to manipulate the customer we would not be doing PropBox. We believe being transparent with our customers is the way. I'm curious if you spent any time on PropBox, because it does exactly what you suggest it must do. We promote the buyer and seller working together with commomly shared data to reach the common goal - a successful transaction. Take a peek if you have time and tell me what you think. PropBox.co Thanks fro yoru comments. Richard

Hello,johnnypangs. We planned on launching empty. When I started my first real estate company, unlike the typical method many new real estate companys use, which is to hoard and pocket inventory while they are still with their soon to be former company, so they can open with inventory, I began with zero inventory. Let's see what happens in the coming months. We have one now, soon to be two. lets see what it look like in six months. We believe we can be successful independent of the industry. As an insider and an operator very few consumers understand the financial risks associated with real estate. All service businesses are far risker than people realize. Doctors, lawyers, car mechanics, auto sales, and many others. the problem is asymmetry., where the seller knows a lot, and the customer knows litte.

Hello, sverhagen. I am not understanding your comment. But allow me to address what I sense you mean. PropBox is not the past - it is the future, today. We don't want "any data" we want accurate data. We want the best data. I cringe at the thought of " make it up if you have to." We do not think it is AI dependend. We will watch AI for awhile and experiment a bit with it. If it actually works for us we will incorporate it. For us one of the problems with AI and real estate is there is so much inaccurate, misleading, harmful content out there we don't want to contaminate our material.

Hello,Waterluvian. I missed your comment, sorry. Still have a few to reply. If I understand your initial statement, to me it means incompetence drives innovation. You are correct that many start small and grow over time. The difference here is this platform is has been built to handle volume and we can handle a larger area because the feature are built into the site.So we are starting small by only opening in 13 states to interate. When we see an accelerating adoption we will likely open much faster. This all assumes customers like what we are offering. We shall learn soon enough. Thank you for your comments.

OJFord. GP? not sure what that stands for. It sounds like you think we should charge more. If you looked at the platform, curious what would you pay for the ad as a seller?

moneywoes, I mean any kind of broker, legacy, cut rate, flat fee MLS. Our flat fee is purchasing an ad. The ad page is unique. It is interactive and the customers are in full control. They negotiate directly online and close online. Our fee is for furnishing both customers an ad that creates a transaction.

Davewasthere. In our tiny test market the yard sign produced all 4 buyers. The sellers all came from word of mouth. We think the 100 will be enough for people to see it works. 1000 is closer than 100 but may not be close to critical mass. We have a long runway and we are patient. as long as we see it growing and accelerating we will get there.

sokoloff, on the point about the second negotiation on the inspection. The industry has this backwards. We recommend the per-purchase inspection for several reasons. 1. It takes the liability away from the seller stating what the condition is and moves it to the inspector. 2. by sharing it with the buyer before they make an offer you save them a bit of money, earn some trust as showing transparency, and 3. eliminating the stress of the second negotiation 10 days before closing and no one is available to fix a problem. You are making your home easier to buy. The easier you make it for the buyer, the faster you will sell and the better your price will be. Most buyers want a home in great condition.

Hello, Conductr. We now have one in Denver, and one waiting for a photographer on Seattle. The Seattle person is in this thread. He has a two million dollar home. If he is right, and the home sells, he will save $100K. Several more assking questions. We didn't expect to have any for a month or two. It will ramp up, slowly at first, tben begin to accelerate and scale. Hopefully. Doing a few things behind the scenes to throw a little gas on the fire.

hello, gravypod. In the bootstrapped MVP, we lack the capital and therefore manpower to intergrate a vetted home inspector, but we recognize the need and ifand when we get some scale, it will attract human resources and capital. Your thought is spot on. Thank you.

Hello runako. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. If PropBox existed when you experienced your last transaction, I believe the concerns you had at that time would not have existed. The giant water repairs would have been exposed prior to the time you made the offer. PropBox recommends a per-sale home inspection, and requires the seller to complete a seller condition report. PropBox also provides all sellers with a range of value like other sites do today, but the seller shares that information upfront to the prospective buyer. PropBox is an advertising platform so there is no stopping a seller from getting help if they have a question the platform hasn't already answered. We are hopeful the seller will have a pre-sale home inspection, professional photography, and we require a seller condition report. Here is how I summarize what will happen and why:

PropBox believes transparency builds trust. Trust between buyer and seller has been absent in real estate for over 100 years. Astute home buyers will recognize your advertisement's value and respond favorably to your efforts. You empower the buyer to decide to go ahead when you share information upfront that they would only see after they made an offer, if ever, in a typical transaction. They avoid the cost of a home inspection, and they learn the condition from an independent professional trained to find any flaws, as opposed to you accepting the liability. They review your condition report, which helps them understand what to expect. They can act with confidence because of your efforts.

You benefit with a greater chance they will make an offer because they have seen the virtual presentation, know the condition, and communicate with the people who know the house and neighborhood best. You will likely receive a higher offer and enjoy a far lower risk of issues post-closing. You are leading the effort to make a real estate transaction fast, simple, inexpensive, and valuable to both parties.

Hello, UniverseHacker. Good question. MLS is part of the problem. It could be more efficient; anybody with a license can join, and one of only two choices currently available to consumers. The other is going for sale-by-owner. PropBox is a brand-new advertising alternative that removes all the pain points. It is fast, accurate, simple to use, and inexpensive. For example, I write a syndicated weekly Q&A real estate column. I have answered thousands of consumers' most pressing questions over 12 years. One of my learning experiences is that when I get a new question, it is easy to discern that many people don't read the contracts. Why? Because the contracts are so long and difficult to understand, customers turn to their trusted advisor and ask, " Well, <name of agent>, what do you think? Should we go ahead?" The majority of agents will reassure them to proceed. So they ask a person with a significant conflict for permission. This is a big mistake. At PropBox, we are trying to correct this by making the form simple and easy to read. For example, the basic offer-to-purchase has over ten thousand words in my home state. The PropBox basic offer-to-purchase has just over one thousand words, written in easy-to-understand language that meets all the legal requirements in the state. Our legal counsel has agreed that it is legal. Now a customer can read it and understand it. This short and easy read will improve a buyer's confidence and avoid depending on someone else's opinion. It also minimizes the chance of a future misunderstanding for the seller. Our customers will recognize and appreciate this simple fix.

Thank you for your comments, Tom. There are many high value homes in Seattle. If a home sells for $1m the savings are $60k less about $2000.00 for the ad plus a home inspection and a Photographer. If a home sells for $2m that is $120k! We believe there will be many people with high end homes that will try PropBox. If they are not computer literate, they can pay their kids, neighbor, co-worker or a close friend to place the ad, install the yard sign, hold an open house, show the house, etc. If the ten to twelve hours of "Work" holds as we add more homes, a million dollar homeowner would earn almost $5000.00 per hour. I am not aware of any part-time jobs that have that pay rate.

there is an existing organization many people are unaware of; The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents [1]. In my opinion, this is because they gave up the listing commissions in favor of the buyer. They cannot work in a real estate office that takes listings. It appears to me that these folks are the closest thing to perfection for a buyer. Their stance is the conflict of interests in representing both side is not acceptable. There problem is very few agents have that dedication, so they are hard to find. If I were buying a home and didn't know about PropBox an exclusive buyer agent would be my choice. [1]https://naeba.org/