HomeGain.com Reviews

Pros

Flexible work schedule and understanding of people with families and personal issues; nice office/nice view; free parking; Peet's is downstairs; ideas get heard and incorporated; some good people.

Cons

Lack of resources; lack of a senior management team; its corporate counterpart, Classified Ventures, doesn't invest in it or care about it (they may actually intentionally be putting it out of business as a tax write off); products and technology are outdated, and because there are no investment money or resources, competitors are crushing any chance it could ever have to rebound.

Pros

Flexible schedule
Some great people
Competitive salary and benefits
Nice office space with view, food court and gym downstairs
Abundance of parking spaces (but not free)

Cons

Promotions and raises are based on brown nosing and not by merit
Company lacks leadership, innovation and resources
Low morale

Advice to Senior Management

Find a General Manager who understands real estate, web technologies, and how to run a business, otherwise, the ship may sink soon.

Pros

Talented, friendly, staff - a number of people I'd worked with across the organization struck me as being excellent people to work with. Friendly, respectful and cooperative. Not much internal competition.
Internal Promotion - in departments with good performance, management was hired internally as opposed to externally. Most external management recruitment was at the senior level.
Learning opportunities - good programs for skills training and industry knowledge.
Casual environment - non-hourly employees have a flexible schedule, relatively low pressure culture.

Cons

Office environment, equipment and software were outdated.
Department communication outside of the silo is difficult - poor coordination of efforts between groups leads to project backlog and lengthy turnaround times.
Managment style is top-down; innovation from the bottom up isn't taken seriously.
Relationship with the parent company Classified Ventures is tenuous at best - it was always a given that they never really understood or cared how the company operated other than as a line item. This lead to senior management taking compromises on quality of service in response to pressure from on high.
Poor morale - shaky economy, below average salary, layoffs and somewhat too vocally disgruntled employees created an environment of low motivation

Advice to Senior Management

Open information would be key, as would a focus on customer service.

Pros

There really was an attempt early on to deliver a true benefit to the real estate clients the company was serving. Most of those clients didn't realize the value of internet leads and expected a lead to immediately convert into a transaction. Over time, smarter customers appreciated the value of the service HomeGain delivered and decent sales representatives learned how to identify which products would most benefit which clients.

Cons

After the company was sold to Classified Ventures, the mentality changed some and the delivery of value seemed less important than the recovery of revenue-- likely because CV paid too much and didn't fully appreciate the nature of the business. The company became much more focused on revenues by any means and consequently became much more of a 'churn and burn' sales organization. Turnover became the norm-- both by employees and customers. Long-term growth and development (of staff and revenues) became non-existent in the search for immediate returns.

Advice to Senior Management

It seems pointless to offer advice here-- it wasn't listened to back then when it mattered and could have made a difference so the likelihood of it being beneficially implemented now seems remote.

Pros

there is some good opportunities for growth depending on your performance and what division or department you are part of. The people there when I was there were good people. The environment is not too strict or cutthroat. people do work together well and the company itself has become more and more innovative and open to ideas.

Cons

there are some communication issues, takes a while to get projects rolling as there is just not enough employees for the amount of work available. some office politics exist as in most companies. lot of people seem to feel uneasy about their job security when times get tough

Advice to Senior Management

keep up lines of communication. no surprises

Pros

Stepping stone to another job, preferably not more than a few months.

Cons

The facilities are outdated. Lack of incentives. Management does not provide any tangible incentives for the employees to work hard. Goals are ambiguous at best.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open to new ideas from lower rank and file employees. The perspective of many employees is that the direction of HomeGain is based upon only one man's vision of what ought to be and that man's name is Louis Cammarosano. He does not have a real estate background like many other employees, however he decides the direction of HomeGain without the benefit of valuable input from many of us.

Pros

None really. The only good thing is that after almost a year of torture I was laid off with a severance. I came to this company with such anticipation; instead I was treated like an idiot and had my job description constantly changed (marketing associate to marcomm coordinator, to database marketing). Managers that I didn't even report to also started delegating work to me so I was there literally from 8am -9pm, weekends also. Not even an offer of comp time. Not to mention all the backstabbing that occurred which got me laid off.

Cons

Everything is a downside. They pay below market standards, have no respect for time off (calls & emails that can wait until you return) they never give bonus or incentives and the only resemblance to a corporate culture is the backstabbing & water cooler talk. No thank you.

Advice to Senior Management

None really. Senior management knows what is going on yet they turn a blind eye. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.