Special Programs

About Us

First time home buyer program: One of the key ‘problems’ we see in real estate is that first time home buyers – who are generally the least knowledgeable segment of new homeowners – generally receive the lowest quality real estate support from a consumer education, professionalism and ethics standpoint.

As a result working with first time home buyers is a big part of what we do at HausAngeles, and we have developed a systematic program to help us properly support and educate those clients who have never purchased a home before in the US.

Our first time home buyer program starts with a consultation with each first time home buyer. This consultation has two objectives: to help document and refine the client’s home search criteria and to help assess the ‘gap’ in the clients’ knowledge on key housing and real estate topics.

In addition to focusing on helping close any identified knowledge gaps throughout the home search and transaction execution process, we strongly recommend that each of our first time home buyer clients attends one of the 8 hour first time home buyer seminars offered by HUD certified pre-purchase counseling agencies in Los Angeles.

We maintain a calendar of upcoming first time home buyer seminars sponsored by HUD certified counseling agencies in LA and would be happy to provide you more information including a schedule of upcoming seminars.

Opportunity for all: As part of our socially responsible mission, HausAngeles created a scholarship program – entitled “Opportunity for All” -- for residents of Los Angeles public housing. The program is funded by the donation of 10 to 20 percent of HausAngeles’ real estate commissions and is administered by HACLA (the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles), which owns or administers approximately 50,000 units of Section 8 and Public Housing for the City of Los Angeles.

Per Ray Mathoda, co-founder and CEO of HausAngeles and also a HACLA commissioner:
“After spending one-on-one time talking to both children and adults who live in public housing because of my role with HACLA, I realized that many of these residents – who live right in our ‘back yard’ – have access to very little opportunity in comparison to other L.A. residents. Since we conceived of HausAngeles as a socially conscious company, we decided that donating a percentage of our commissions in a manner that would create tangible impact in our own community would be a great way to give back.”

“Real estate commissions grow proportional to the transaction size, so we have decided to donate 10% of our commission for transactions under $1 million, 15% for transactions between $1 and $2 million, and 20% for transactions above $2 million. We are hoping this program will appeal to buyers and sellers who will view this as a way of creating a real opportunity for those in need, without having to reach into their own pockets to do it.”

Any individual, family, or organization that sells or purchases residential or commercial property in Los Angeles can opt into the program. When the transaction closes, HausAngeles donates a portion of its commission towards the creation of the scholarships, the first round of which will be given in early 2010. Scholarships will be awarded after the completion of a competitive application and review and selection process, which will be jointly conducted by HausAngeles and HACLA. Any resident – child, youth or adult – of a City of Los Angeles public housing development managed by HACLA is eligible to apply.

“Helping Hands” HR Mentor Network: Here is what our co-founder Ray Mathoda, a former head of HR for a 10,000 employee organization – said in her blog describing the free HR Mentor Network founded by her for individuals impacted professionally by this crisis and in need of some resume feedback and career advice.

This initiative is not officially a part of HausAngeles (although it is in line with our philosophy), but we are highlighting it on our website so the below network can help as many people in need as possible.

“Every American can and should be a part of the solution to the historic housing and economic crisis our country and people are currently grappling with. This is my strong personal view as well as a key founding principle behind my real estate company HausAngeles, and is a view that is shared by most everyone around me both at work and at home. The truth is that until America is back on its feet and stronger economically, there will be millions of Americans (possibly up to 5 or 10% of our population) who need different types of help….but this number will be far smaller than the number of Americans (likely 90 to 95% of our population) who are in a position to help…in some way, big or small, monetary or non-monetary. So if we can help connect those with the ability and willingness to help with those that need this help….we can accelerate the path to economic recovery in a manner that isn’t dependent on the government “bailing everyone out”.

It is with this spirit that I have founded “Human Resources (HR) Helping Hands”: an all volunteer, free network of professionals with HR experience who want to donate their time and talents to help fellow Americans (e.g., those that have lost a job recently) in need of advice and support with respect to their job and career transitions.

As a former Chief People Officer for a 10,000+ employee organization, I have worked with many Human Resources professionals and know that “HR people” are helpers and empathizers by nature. Many HR professionals really want to help those impacted by this crisis, particularly given the large number of people experiencing job loss right now, but don’t have an easy way to get connected with these individuals in need. Enabling this “connection” is what HR Helping Hands is all about.

In the few days since I made the decision to create this network, I am already inspired by the enthusiasm and response from my HR colleagues and friends. Susan Cline, my former (fabulous) assistant at Indymac Bank, has agreed to be the “administrator” of this network…purely in her “free time” (i.e., during the evenings after she comes home from work). Key current and former Indymac HR leaders – Annissa Deshpande, Jennifer Pikoos and Marie Therese Wynne – have also joined the network, as well as agreed to be part of the core team that helps to build and manage this network (again, all in their personal time).

The network is “live” so if you are an HR professional (or know one) who would like to join and help, please email Susan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Alternatively, if you have a friend or acquaintance who could use an HR mentor…connect them with Susan to help them get an HR professional mentor assigned.

In order to keep the process simple (since this is an all-volunteer initiative), we are asking the HR professionals for the following minimum support for each mentee: an email or phone resume consultation/feedback session, and a 30m or more job and career advice session. Mentors can decide to do more and mentee’s can ask for more help…but we will leave this up to them to discuss and resolve.

More about HausAngeles: