Douglas Elliman parent company, Vector Group’s PropTech investment venture, New Valley Ventures, has invested in proptech company, Humming Homes, a New York-based tech-enabled home management service.
Humming Homes, founded by Adeel Mallick, CEO, Kyle Carnes, Head of Operations and technology entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, Chairman of the Board, is creating a new category of end-to-end home management. It has built a tech-enabled solution for single family homeowners with a digital-first experience, offering a dedicated in-person home management team with a single point of contact, 24/7 support, and employs data and insights to avoid reactive and expensive home maintenance issues.
“New Valley Ventures is dedicated to investing in new tech-enabled services that will benefit real estate agents and their clients and customers,” said Dan Sachar, Managing Director of New Valley Ventures and Vice President of Enterprise Innovation for Vector Group.
“We are in the midst of a rapid demographic shift in home buying as well as unprecedented demand in second home purchases across vacation markets and primary homes in dense suburban neighborhoods. As more home buyers, especially millennials, reach their peak home buying years and are increasingly interested in purchasing single-family homes, the home management market will need to rapidly evolve. Not only does Humming Homes meet the needs of this demographic with a service centered on a best in class mobile consumer experience, but it provides our agents another tool in their toolkit to share with their clients that ultimately eases the burden of managing a home.”
For many would-be homeowners, the idea of owning a home can be overwhelming. While a valuable investment, homeownership comes with great responsibility, including annual home maintenance and improvement costs that are often unaccounted for. There are limited resources today to help first-time homeowners through the transition of renting to single-family homee ownership.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with New Valley Ventures and the Douglas Elliman team. Their belief in our product and service validates our mission to transform the lives of new homeowners and power agents with a key offering in a competitive selling processes,” said Adeel Mallick, Co-Founder and CEO of Humming Homes. “We’re excited to begin this partnership and get to work.”
“We are thrilled about New Valley Ventures’ latest investment in Humming Homes as it provides another essential partnership that leverages technology for the Douglas Elliman agent toolbox,” said Scott Durkin, President and COO of Douglas Elliman.
“While Humming Homes has made a successful debut in their first New York market — the Hamptons — we plan to roll it out to several of our other home markets, so whether someone is buying a house in Greenwich, Miami, Palm Beach, LA or Aspen, Humming Homes will set them up and take care of everything from helping you move in, getting your HVAC system fixed or installing a new roof.”
Humming Homes will be working with Douglas Elliman to launch in additional adjacent New York cities including Greenwich, CT, Westchester and parts of Long Island in the coming months as well as the South Florida Region which includes Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, later in 2021.
Vector Group is a holding company with two major businesses: Liggett Group LLC and New Valley LLC, including Douglas Elliman. Bennett S. LeBow founded Vector Group in 1986. Howard Lorber serves as president and CEO.
Earlier this month, the company was part of a $1 million funding round in Dallas-based startup Rechat, which offers software tools for residential agents. The deal came a month after the Vector Group announced the launch of its tech investment vehicle.
