As home prices continue to rise in Austin, one home-selling startup is working to save buyers and sellers money.
Door takes away real estate agent commissions and charges a flat fee instead. Alex Doubet created the company about two years ago.
"Door actually started with a personal experience," Doubet said. "My Mom sold her house and she paid 6 percent commission, which was a little over $53,000, and that made me realize that this space is broken. There's no reason to charge people that much money."
Doubet did away with Realtor commissions. His company instead charges a flat $5,000 fee for its services.
"Anything over that $5,000 that your Realtor's getting, they're going to cut that back to you in a rebate check," Anne Marie Bitman said.
Bitman recently bought a home through Door. She purchased her home for just under $800,000, paid the seller's agent 3 percent and then paid her agent the flat fee. In total, she said she saved about $19,000. So what's in it for the Realtor?
"The average Realtor makes $30,000 to $40,000 a year and we pay our agents more than that," Doubet said.
Doubet believes it's a win-win. Realtors are not dependent on making a sale and buyers can bank more money.
"I think Door has found a formula that works," Bitman said. "It allowed me to put that money towards home renovations."
Doubet said Door's Realtors do everything you'd expect them to do like taking pictures, staging homes, creating virtual tours and hosting open houses. Since launching in late 2015, Doubet reports Door has grown 430 percent, selling more than 400 homes.