JonathanAizenIn our latest Meet the Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Jonathan Aizen of Closing Time (prior Geek Estate coverage). I met Jonathan via his co-founder of Closing Time, Paul Knegten, whom I had coffee with several months ago while in New York.

Here’s a bit more about him, from his own mouth…

1) What do you do?

I’m the founder and CEO of Amitree, the creators of Closing Time, where we’re working on making it easier and less painful for buyers during the home buying process. I am also a mentor at 500 Startups and Upwest Labs, and I work with many startups in an advisory capacity. Before this, I founded a company called Dapper that was sold to Yahoo! in 2010.

2) Why do you do what you do?

When I went through the process of buying my first home, I was amazed at how great the tools were for helping me search for properties. Between those tools and my agent, I had a great experience. However, when my offer was accepted, it was as if I walked off the edge of the Internet. Suddenly, I had to manage all of my tasks and work on post-its, in text files, and through random emails. Did I already send my W-2 to my lender? Have I already reviewed the title report? When should I tell my landlord I’m moving out? Who knows!?

As if it weren’t stressful and challenging enough to go through the closing process, I felt as though I lacked my own toolset to help me stay on track (my agent was amazing, but even so, I wanted to be able to log into something every day and see what I had to do). This experience led me to found Amitree so that we could build Closing Time. Now buyers can answer plain-English questions about themselves and their transactions and be led through their closing process and beyond with the help of a completely tailored and customized checklist that conforms to their unique situation. Does the HOA for your new condo provide homeowner’s insurance? If so, we’ll remind you to get evidence of coverage from them for your lender. Are you buying a TIC in San Francisco? We’ll help you navigate the complexities of fractional ownership. I’m doing what I do so that today’s homebuyers can go about purchasing their new homes with peace of mind, transparency, and ease.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

I’m excited to be part of a movement that’s bringing homebuying into modern times. The last market upturn gave us indispensable tools like Zillow and Trulia for finding real estate, and I’m proud to be working amongst the many entrepreneurs and companies that are part of the next wave of real estate technology, which is destined to simplify the process of buying and selling real estate. There is, without a doubt, a new wave of innovation in the real estate technology space, and I believe we’re only getting started. From fantastic companies that are working to make transactions paperless to new and creative tools for buyers, sellers, and agents to collaborate, we’re only scratching the surface of what technology is going to do for buying and selling homes. It’s extremely exciting to be a part of this new era in the real estate space.

I am also a new father with a four-month old son, so I’m pretty excited about that too 🙂

4) What’s next for you?

We’re currently working to ensure that Closing Time accurately tailors itself to every real estate transaction by building coverage for each individual market in the United States and capturing the kind of information that will allow us to recognize the key elements of each person’s unique situation.

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Beyond making it easier and less stressful for homebuyers to buy their dream homes, I’m passionate about helping other founders and entrepreneurs better understand and realize their visions. I’m honored to work with many talented individuals who see a way to improve the world around them and aren’t afraid to pursue it.

Thanks to Jonathan for sharing his motivations and current projects. If you’re interested in connecting with Jonathan further, you can find him on Oh Hey World and LinkedIn.

We’ll be featuring other real estate tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. If you are an entrepreneur in the real estate vertical (past or present), and want to be profiled, please sign up for an OHW account and add “real estate tech entrepreneurs” as an interest on your profile — then shoot me an email (drew at ohheyworld).