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Real Estate Meets Gaming: Learn Prices with Housle

By September 15, 2025Real Estate Pros Show


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Show Summary

In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, Host Leo Wehdeking interviews Doug Weitzbuch, the creator of Housel, a unique daily house price guessing game. Doug shares insights into the mechanics of the game, the challenges of running a tech startup without a tech background, and the importance of user engagement and retention. He discusses his journey from being a TV producer to launching Housel, the need for capital to scale the business, and the significance of building a trustworthy network in the real estate industry.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Doug Weitzbuch (00:00)
    So I’m actually a TV producer by trade and I produced a show for Netflix called Buy My House. And Buy My House is kind of like a shark tank style show where instead of business people, entrepreneurs coming to pitch their new businesses to these investors, we made a show where everyday people like you or myself come on and try to sell our home to real estate investors. And so I spent about a year of my life really deep in real estate.

    Leo Wehdeking (00:00)
    So I’m actually a TV producer.

    style show where instead of business people, entrepreneurs coming to pitch their new businesses to these investors, we made a show where everyday people like you or myself come on and try to sell our home to real estate investors. And so I spent about a year of my life really deep in real

    estate learning about price points and locations and what drives the price of a home, what homes are worth and why.

    Doug Weitzbuch (00:27)
    learning about price points and locations and what drives the price of a home, what homes are worth and why.

    And I made that show for Netflix. And so that’s when I sort of came up with the idea of building Housle. You know, I think that there’s a large portion of society that love looking at different types of homes, learning about price points, seeing the different architecture and interior design of homes in different parts of the world.

    Leo Wehdeking (00:35)
    And I made that show for Netflix. And so that’s when I came up with the idea of building Housle. I think that there’s a large portion of society that loves…

    looking at different types of homes, learning about price points, seeing the different architecture and interior design of homes in different parts

    of the world.

    everyone, welcome to Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host Leo Wehdeking and today I am joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. His name is Doug who’s been making serious moves in the software industry for real estate. Doug, glad to have you here,

    Doug Weitzbuch (02:49)
    Thanks, nice to meet you. Good to be here.

    Leo Wehdeking (02:52)
    Good, good, ⁓ Doug, I think our listeners ⁓ are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching ⁓ your service, yeah, your technology and your software for real estate. Now, let’s dive in. And for people who may not be familiar with what your world is, can you give us a short version on

    What’s your main focus these days?

    Doug Weitzbuch (03:22)
    Yeah, so I built a

    company called Housle. ⁓ H-O-U-S-L-E. Housle is a daily house price guessing game, similar to Wordle, which is a daily word game. This is a house price guessing game. ⁓ every day we feature a new home in a different location, and you get six chances to guess the price of the home. So it’s like a lightweight way of learning about different price points in different parts of ⁓

    Leo Wehdeking (03:44)
    That’s the price of the whole.

    different price points and different parts of.

    Doug Weitzbuch (03:52)
    the ⁓ know, one day we may feature a mansion in Beverly Hills and one day we may feature, you know, a starter home in Boise, Idaho. And ⁓ it’s a fun way to sort of explore real estate and test your real estate knowledge and learn about different markets.

    Leo Wehdeking (03:54)
    One day we may feature a mansion in Beverly Hills and one day we may feature a starter home in Boise, Idaho. ⁓ It’s a fun way to sort of explore real estate and test your real estate knowledge and learn about different

    markets.

    Yeah, what better way to do it than you know with a game now nowadays a lot of people they’re actually building up softwares like this one where ⁓ Where you can learn a lot while you’re still you know, like I Would say playing but at the same time you’re not playing but learning. Yeah having fun Exactly

    Doug Weitzbuch (04:33)
    fun. Yeah, it’s a combo. You’re having fun and learning and you know, it’s very

    lightweight. The game takes maybe a minute or two to play. We have a leaderboard, you know, there is some competition. You see how you do against the rest of the other players. We track your stats daily. How many, you know, the games you get right versus wrong and what guests you typically get it right on. ⁓

    Leo Wehdeking (04:40)
    takes maybe a minute or two to play. have a leaderboard, you know, there is some competition. You see how you…

    you can track your stats daily, how many of the games you get right versus wrong, and what guests you typically get it right on.

    Doug Weitzbuch (05:47)
    We have the ability to share your score socially. So there’s a social element. You know, if you’re a realtor and you have certain

    Leo Wehdeking (05:47)
    We have the ability to share your score socially, so it’s a social element. You know, if you’re a realtor and

    Doug Weitzbuch (05:54)
    real estate friends that are, if you’re an investor and you have investor friends, you can create little micro communities and with your friends share your score. And it’s like a fun way to like stay in touch with people that you like talking real estate with, share your guys’ scores each day. We have a premium version if you want to play extra games each day, can unlock an archive of like almost a thousand games, things like.

    Leo Wehdeking (06:16)
    Alright cool cool and in what mark markets are you operating right now?

    Doug Weitzbuch (06:23)
    Well, we feature homes really across the world. would say like 96, 97 % of the time we’re featuring homes in the US. But every once in a while, I think it’s fun to feature property somewhere else outside of the US. ⁓ primarily it’s US based. And then we intentionally feature homes ⁓ in all different markets. The coast to the middle of the country, Hawaii up to Alaska, Florida, you name it.

    Leo Wehdeking (06:24)
    Well, we feature homes really across the world. would say like 96%, 97 % of the time we’re featuring homes in the US. But every once in a while, I think it’s fun to feature property somewhere else outside of the US. But primarily it’s US based, and then we intentionally feature homes.

    in all different markets, know, the coast to the middle of the country, Hawaii, up to Alaska, Florida, you name

    it. And we’re also always intentionally trying to homes with different price points, you know, just to keep it fresh. You know, I think the version of the game is not as fun if every single time you’re looking at a home that’s, you know, seven, eight, $10 million. It’s fun to see a home, you know, that’s under a million every once in while.

    Doug Weitzbuch (06:52)
    And we’re also always intentionally trying to feature homes with different price points, know, just to keep it fresh You know, I think the version of the game is not as fun if every single time you’re looking at a home That’s you know, seven eight ten million dollars like it’s fun to see at home You know, that’s under a million every once in a year all that kind of stuff,

    Leo Wehdeking (07:14)
    stuff you know start home investment property things

    Doug Weitzbuch (07:14)
    you know start home the investment property things like

    Leo Wehdeking (07:16)
    like that. All right love it love it man actually that’s pretty good. Now Doug what something that really caught my attention about you all right and and the way that you’ve been able to do your business it’s with your with you I believe it’s a game right it’s the Daily House price guessing game can you tell us

    Or be a little bit more specific. I know that you gave us an overall about it and everything But it will be great for our listeners You know if you could dive ⁓ in a little bit more and explain exactly what can you do and what cannot you do with? And what you cannot do with the game?

    Doug Weitzbuch (07:57)
    Well yeah, I’ll give you little backstory.

    So I’m actually a TV producer by trade and I produced a show for Netflix called Buy My House. And Buy My House is kind of like a shark tank style show where instead of business people, entrepreneurs coming to pitch their new businesses to these investors, we made a show where everyday people like you or myself come on and try to sell our home to real estate investors. And so I spent about a year of my life really deep in real estate.

    Leo Wehdeking (07:59)
    So I’m actually a TV producer.

    style show where instead of business people, entrepreneurs coming to pitch their new businesses to these investors, we made a show where everyday people like you or myself come on and try to sell our home to real estate investors. And so I spent about a year of my life really deep in real

    estate learning about price points and locations and what drives the price of a home, what homes are worth and why.

    Doug Weitzbuch (08:26)
    learning about price points and locations and what drives the price of a home, what homes are worth and why.

    And I made that show for Netflix. And so that’s when I sort of came up with the idea of building Housle. You know, I think that there’s a large portion of society that love looking at different types of homes, learning about price points, seeing the different architecture and interior design of homes in different parts of the world.

    Leo Wehdeking (08:34)
    And I made that show for Netflix. And so that’s when I came up with the idea of building Housle. I think that there’s a large portion of society that loves…

    looking at different types of homes, learning about price points, seeing the different architecture and interior design of homes in different parts

    of the

    learning about what homes cost in different parts of the world. And so I kind of packaged it up into this really fun game where each day, if you go to Housle.House, where you download our mobile app on iOS or Android, each day when you log in, or you don’t even log in, you just hit play, we feature a home. And it starts with one picture, and you

    Doug Weitzbuch (08:55)
    learning about what homes cost in different parts of the world. And so I kind of packaged it up into this really fun game where each day, if you go to howsle.house, where you download our mobile app on iOS or Android, each day when you log in, or you don’t even log in, you just hit play, we feature a home. And it starts with one picture and you

    learn the state, okay? That’s all you get for the first guess.

    Leo Wehdeking (09:18)
    Learned the state. Okay, that’s all you get for the first guess Okay

    Doug Weitzbuch (09:22)
    a picture of the exterior and the state. So you’re looking at it, you can zoom in and look at some of the details. Maybe you can figure out how old the house

    Leo Wehdeking (09:30)
    the houses, maybe you can figure out the size, you want to do math equation, be like I think that this is probably 400 square foot, it looks like it’s 2500 square feet, I’m gonna guess a million dollars. So you get your first guess and then the game says if you guess too high or too low and then next clue. You then see a second

    Doug Weitzbuch (09:30)
    is. Maybe you can figure out the size. Maybe you wanna do math equation. Be like, think that this is probably 400 square foot. It looks like it’s 2,500 square feet. I’m gonna guess a million dollars. So you get your first guess and then the game says, if you guess too high or too low, and then next clue. You then see a second photo.

    Leo Wehdeking (09:51)
    photo, usually it’s inside, maybe it’s the backyard.

    Doug Weitzbuch (09:51)
    Usually it’s inside, maybe it’s the backyard. And we then tell

    you the city that the house is in. You get more detail, you see more of the home. Maybe there’s some other element that’s revealed. You make your second guess. And so on and so forth through a series of six, a total of six pictures. Each picture gives you a new clue. We reveal the square footage, we reveal the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, we reveal the lot size, we reveal the year it was built, things like this. And by the end, at some point, you either,

    Leo Wehdeking (09:55)
    we then tell you the city that the house is in. You get more detail, you see more of the home. Maybe there’s some other element that’s revealed. You make your second guess. And so on and so forth through a series of six, a total of six pictures. Each picture gives you a new clue. We reveal the square footage, we reveal the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, we reveal the lot size, we reveal the year it was built, things like this. And by the end, at some point

    you either get it right or by the sixth guess you don’t get it wrong.

    Doug Weitzbuch (10:21)
    get it right or by the six guests, you don’t get it wrong. I mean, if you don’t get it right,

    Leo Wehdeking (10:25)
    We reveal what the answer is and you kind of get to the end results

    Doug Weitzbuch (10:25)
    we reveal what the answer is and you kind of get to the end results page.

    Leo Wehdeking (11:05)
    Alright, alright. That’s actually not easy to come up with an idea like the one that you did. Alright, that game, actually what I’m gonna do is that I’m going to download it after we finish the podcast and I’m gonna start trying it to see… You should play it right now! I will, I will, I will.

    Doug Weitzbuch (11:21)
    You should play right now.

    Leo Wehdeking (11:25)
    I will. ⁓ So Doug, what has been the key to keeping your business running smoothly so far?

    Doug Weitzbuch (11:34)
    that’s a question. know, you know, kind of jumping into the tech space with no tech background is a challenge, you know, like going into a new part of business that you’re not necessarily trained on or an expert in is difficult. ⁓ so I’ve, you know, I’ve had various challenges along the way. I’ve had good software engineers and tech partners who’ve built it very cleanly and smoothly for me. So like from a technical standpoint,

    the game functions really smoothly and cleanly, which is important, that people don’t have any kind of glitches and, you know, flaws when they play. So that’s important. That’s taken a long time to sort of make sure that it’s flawless in that regard. So yeah, but, you know, being a young new company, know, finances are always difficult, you know? So, you know, I kind of built the game as like an MVP. I don’t know if you know that phrase, like a minimum viable product.

    Leo Wehdeking (12:03)
    game functions really smoothly and cleanly, which is important. That people don’t have any kind of glitches and flaws when they play. that’s important. That’s taken a long time to make sure that it’s flawless in that regard. So yeah. But being a young, company, finances are always difficult. So

    kind of built the game as like an MVP, I don’t know if you know that phrase, like a minimum viable product.

    Doug Weitzbuch (12:33)
    And I’m now looking to, you know, get an influx of capital and develop new features to the game, make a more localized version of the game. So imagine someone in, you know, Cincinnati or in Miami is interested in buying a home in their area, rather than just playing the daily

    Leo Wehdeking (12:33)
    And I’m now looking to, you know, get an influx of capital and develop new features to the game, make a more localized version of the game. So imagine someone in, you know, Cincinnati or in Miami is interested in buying a home in their area rather than just playing the daily.

    Doug Weitzbuch (12:52)
    domestic or global game across the whole country or world, we can make a hyper localized version. So.

    Leo Wehdeking (12:52)
    domestic or global game across the whole country or world, we can make a hyper-localized version.

    So someone who’s looking for a home that’s in the $700,000 to $1.2 million range in Miami, in these few neighborhoods, we can also turn that into a game. So rather than just browsing Zillow, we could gamify it and show you different homes, let you guess it, and sort of make the home sourcing process fun as well. Exactly.

    Doug Weitzbuch (13:00)
    you know, someone who’s looking for a home that’s in the $700,000 to $1.2 million range in Miami, in these few neighborhoods, we can also turn that into a game. So rather than just browsing Zillow, we could gamify it and show you different homes, let you guess it, and sort of make the home sourcing process fun as well.

    Leo Wehdeking (13:22)
    That’s actually great, Now, Doug, every operator that I know has a moment where things got real. Maybe a deal that went sideways or a time that they had to pivot real fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments? I know that probably, well, you building a game, you found yourself at a time where, I don’t know, maybe you thought that, OK, it’s not going my way.

    Okay, I need to change this. Do you mind sharing one of those moments?

    Doug Weitzbuch (13:57)
    Yeah,

    I so I had an article written about me in Business Insider and then a bunch of other outlets picked it up, New York Post, ⁓ several other media outlets picked it up. And so I got this major influx of players to the game. And ⁓ what’s interesting is a few things. Just because someone comes to the game and plays once,

    Leo Wehdeking (14:18)
    interesting is, just because someone comes to the game and

    plays once, doesn’t mean that they’re gonna love the game and fall in love with the game and come back every day, Exactly. might have just wanted to check it out once and then say, hey, this isn’t for me.

    Doug Weitzbuch (14:24)
    doesn’t mean that they’re gonna love the game and fall in love with the game and come back every day, right? They just might’ve, they might’ve just wanted to check it out once and then say, hey, this isn’t for me. So

    I had tens and tens and tens of thousands of people come into the game and then slowly, like I just was watching the daily analytics of how many people I had and it was just tapering off and tapering off. And I was like, wow, this is so interesting. It’s new for me to like.

    see analytics of people playing a game that I built. I was really like, you know, watching the numbers just go down kind of slowly day over day over day, you know, is tricky and you know, that’s not obviously ideal. And so I had to figure out how to get these numbers back up. And really, that’s like a constant battle, you know, of marketing and business. It’s like, how do you get your company in front of new people and

    Leo Wehdeking (15:00)
    Watching the numbers just go down kind of slowly day over day over day is tricky and you know, that’s obviously ideal and I had to figure out how to get these numbers back up and really that’s like a constant battle You know of marketing and business. How do you get your company in front of new people?

    Doug Weitzbuch (16:01)
    You know, we don’t have deep pockets. So how do you get in front of your people in a cheap and effective way? And how do you find the right people, the right target market? And these are things that, you know, I’m constantly

    Leo Wehdeking (16:02)
    know, we don’t have deep pockets. So how do you get in front of your people in a cheap and effective way? How do you find the right people right target market? These are things that you know, I’m constantly

    constantly working on on a daily basis and you know just trying to continue to scale the game and scale the number of people.

    Doug Weitzbuch (16:12)
    working on on a daily basis and, you know, just trying to continue to scale the game and scale the number of people playing.

    Leo Wehdeking (16:21)
    Yeah, okay. That’s actually the kind of stuff that people do not talk about enough. So let me ask you something, ⁓ What are you most focused on solving or scaling next?

    Doug Weitzbuch (16:36)
    Well, I’m looking to bring in some capital into Housle. ⁓ I believe that Housle has the ability to educate the next generation and also be a great way for companies to engage with clients. ⁓ You know, it’s been proven that daily games are an incredible way of engaging and retaining your community. And so I think Housle is the perfect opportunity for any brand out there that’s in the real estate community to sort of

    Leo Wehdeking (16:38)
    to bring in some.

    was wondering how you did.

    generation and also be a great way for companies to engage with

    you it’s been proven that daily games are an incredible way of engaging and retaining your community. And so I think Housle is perfect opportunity for any brand out there that’s in the real estate community to sort

    of leverage Housle and sort of attach their brand and name to it and engage with their community on a daily basis and then sort of funnel them into their ecosystem.

    Doug Weitzbuch (17:05)
    leverage Housle and sort of attach their brand and name to it and engage with their community ⁓ on a daily basis and then sort of funnel them into their ecosystem.

    Leo Wehdeking (17:18)
    Wow, that’s actually big. It’s big man. Especially when you got everything in place. Okay, the only thing that you know you’re ⁓ missing I would say or lacking ⁓ it will be you know like bringing more capital so that you can actually scale at the level that you want, right? Yeah, that’s right. All right, all right. Now Doug, I know that a lot of people are

    Doug Weitzbuch (17:40)
    Yeah, that’s right.

    Leo Wehdeking (17:45)
    A lot of people listening over here, they’re either earlier in their journey or they might be looking to level up. ⁓ And I think that they’ll definitely benefit from hearing this from a person like you. So when it comes about growing up your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

    Doug Weitzbuch (18:09)
    ⁓ That’s a good question, leveling up my network. I I think being very transparent in your business dealings and in your conversations generally, you never know what connection or person you know could lead to something else. So I think being completely transparent and honest in all dealings, business and social sort of personal are incredibly important because

    Leo Wehdeking (18:15)
    think being very transparent in your business dealing and in your conversations generally, you never know what connection or person you know could lead to something else. So I think being completely transparent and honest in all dealing with business and social, sort of personal, are incredibly important because…

    Doug Weitzbuch (18:37)
    I don’t

    Leo Wehdeking (18:37)
    I don’t know, I feel like the world is smaller than we think and you can get connected to someone that could change your outlook and your business quickly and easily. think you’ve got to not be afraid to ask for a favor when you need one. And if you are trustworthy and sort of honest in all your different interactions and dealings with people, I think they’re going to be more open and willing to help.

    Doug Weitzbuch (18:37)
    know, I feel like the world is smaller than we think. And you can get connected to someone that could change your outlook and your business quickly and easily. I think you’ve got to not be afraid to ask for a favor ⁓ when you need one. And if you are trustworthy and sort of honest in all your different interactions and dealings with people, I think they’re going to be more open and willing to help when you ask.

    Leo Wehdeking (19:07)
    Yeah, actually that’s something you cannot fake which is being real, being honest, being reliable, you know. That’s something that will build up relationships eventually, you know. And I believe that not only in this space that we’re having but everywhere, know, relationships are everything. And like you said, yeah, sometimes we think the world is ⁓ smaller than what it is or bigger than what it is. ⁓ That’s good, man. ⁓

    Alright, before we wrap up, Doug, if someone wanted to reach out to you, you know, or connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more a little bit what you’re doing, what is the best way for them to reach you out?

    Doug Weitzbuch (19:51)
    Probably on LinkedIn. My name is Doug Weitzbuch. If you google or if you find, you know, my name on LinkedIn Doug Weitzbuch, Housle, H-O-U-S-L-E. That’s a good way. My email address is doug at Housle.House. If you want to DM me, you can reach out.

    Leo Wehdeking (19:52)
    leaked in my name.

    Alright, perfect, perfect man. Well listen, I really appreciate your time, your story and also your perspective. We need more people or more entrepreneurs like yourself doing it the right way. So thank you very much for being on the show and for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, just make sure you’re subscribed.

    Alright, we got more conversations with operators ⁓ like Doug, okay, who are out there building real businesses. Alright, until then, see you on the next episode.

    Doug Weitzbuch (20:41)
    Thanks Leonardo.

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