Homie, a new kind of e-commerce realtor, comes to Idaho

A new sort of real estate firm has opened an office in the Treasure Valley. The company is Homie Real Estate, which charges a flat fee of $2,500 to sell a house instead of a commission. On the buyer end, the company offers up to $2,500 of incentives toward closing costs, new furniture, or a home improvement.

Homie started as a flat-fee realtor in the Salt Lake City area in 2015 and added mortgage origination in 2017. The company expanded into Arizona in 2018. Since then, the company secured $23 million in Series B financing in early 2020, according to trade newsletter Housingwire, to expand into Nevada, Colorado and now Idaho.

Homie founder and CEO Johnny Hanna has had his eyes on Idaho since starting the company. He went to college in Idaho and intends to retire here. “I went to Ricks College just as it was making the transition to becoming the third BYU campus,” Hanna explained. “I was in the first graduating class for BYU-Idaho.”

Hanna’s business model is to sell a home for a flat fee regardless of home price. The company generates its income through higher sales volume and bundling all the home-selling services under one roof to cut overhead and sell at a discount.

Organizations like the Idaho Housing and Finance Association recommend that buyers shop multiple mortgage originators, and Hanna agreed: “Yes, we recommend that our buyers shop mortgages. That’s because we are confident that we can save our customers the most money. We’re a realtor and a mortgage company and a home insurance company and a title company. We do it all. That’s where the wow-factor comes in. We can save customers money because we’re a one-stop shop.”

To date, Homie has been expanding one state at a time. “Real estate requires local experts that really understand an area,” Hanna explained about how the firm expands. “We started in Utah and nailed down our business model first. We now have over 300 agents in Utah, from Logan to St. George, though most are in Salt Lake City. Because real estate is a local thing, when we expand we do it market-by-market.”

Homie opened in Boise in the last week in January with five agents and had already made several sales by the end of the first week of February. The company is also selling homes for free in Idaho during a limited-time introductory period. “We will be focusing on Idaho for now before moving on to opening an office in any other state,” remarked Hanna.

Homie provides a fixed number of set services for its flat fee: a for-sale sign, a professional photographer, the listing itself and a realtor to handle paperwork and offers. Because of the higher selling volume, the service doesn’t include the hand-holding and interference running that an agent on a full commission provides.

A buyer or seller who is comfortable with a more do-it-yourself model will like the cost savings. A new seller who doesn’t know what it takes to prepare a home to place it on the market may prefer a more traditional realty model. Homie’s flat-fee model is only one of the several new discount realty models that have been moving into the market as residential real estate moves more nto the age of eRealty with online notary services, online mortgage apps and e-closings. Idaho doesn’t yet allow for all the features possible of these electronic services.

Until then, internet-savvy discount realty firms like Homie will continue to move the carve out market share. For customers comfortable with the brave new world of e-commerce, Homie has a money-saving service some will want to try. “Our experience from our customers inquiries to-date has shown us that Idahoans are more interested in us than in any other state where we already do business,” Hanna said.