Agent A-Team or Solo Superhero? Finding the Right Real Estate Partner for Your Selling Journey in Wildwood Florida
When it comes to selling your home in Wildwood, Florida,…
January 29, 2024
Homie is an online real estate brokerage service that allows sellers to sell their homes for a lower commission.
Table of Contents:
How much do Homie agents make?
Is buying with Homie worth it?
Summary
What Is Homie Real Estate?
Homie is a real estate company that has set out to find ways to make buying and selling homes more affordable to all. It all started in early 2015 when the founding members started building a technology that allowed them to streamline real estate transactions. The result was thousands of dollars saved for customers in both fees and commissions. As the process became more transparent both buyers and sellers were able to work with their licensed team of agents and experts to save more money. They were also able to get all of the support that they needed through their team. This business model has allowed home to grow in the past 7 years and it now has a team of over 400 people all of whom share a common vision regarding transforming the real estate market.
Homie was named by its co-founder Mike Peregrina, and the name had a great significance for two reasons. Firstly, it was a term of endearment used by him and his friends growing up, and secondly, it was a variation on the word home. In the company’s own words “To us, Homie is more than a name – it means having each other’s backs and standing up for people that need our support.”
The company works in specific areas and they have dedicated real estate agents to assist those looking to buy or sell within the areas that they work in. Your dedicated realtor that you will find through Homie will handle each part of the real estate transaction in the same way that a normal realtor would. This includes handling all of the closing paperwork for the purchase of your home. To make the entire selling and buying process even easier, they will also assist you with finding service providers for everything, including home inspections and moving. They do this by having a dedicated list of service providers that anyone is free to browse and choose from.
Therefore, Home in every way that counts is fully a real estate company that can help you with purchasing or selling your home. Homie currently operates in 5 cities, for those located in one of the following areas homie could be the new way of selling and buying your new property.
Cities that Homie operates in:
- Utah
- Phoenix
- Las Vegas
- Boise
- Denver
How much do Homie agents make?
Homie agents will get paid a different amount for the sale and the purchase of a property. If a Homie realtor is representing the seller of the property then what they will receive is a $3,500 flat fee. This is the rate that Homie has set up for the sale of properties. What makes this extremely different from using one of your local real estate agents is that it is not a percentage and as such regardless of the property you are selling you will be called to pay the same fee for it at the end of the day. When it comes to the buyer’s realtor, the fees work slightly differently. When the seller lists their home for sale with Homie they are called to pay the BAC ahead of time. This means that they will need to pay the buyer’s agent commission of 3% just to be able to put the home up for sale. What makes this process slightly different and redeems this idea of paying ahead of time is the fact that after the sale of the property 50% of the BAC is returned back to the seller. This means that essentially the commission rate for the buyer is 1.5% and not 3% which is the standard fee.
- For the seller’s agent, there is no commission rate
- The seller’s agent receives a flat fee of $3,500
- The Buyer’s agent commission is paid during the listing of the home
- The BAC is 3% but 1.5% of that is going to be returned to the seller after the sale of the house.
Based on this information the amount that a home agent will make will greatly vary depending on the number of sales and purchases that they can assist with. More sales will mean higher commissions and thus higher earnings for the homie agents.
How Does Homie Work?
How Homie works will vary based on whether you are the seller of a property or the buyer of one. In general, the process that Homie uses does not differ greatly from what one should expect to find in regular real estate offices.
For the buyer, the process will be completed in five simple steps.
1. Start looking through all of the available properties that fit the criteria of what you are looking for. Where possible book tours using the homie website.
2. Homie offers two services that allow you to shop with more confidence. Both the Homie Loans and the Homie Cash are options for those wishing to have a stronger guarantee that they will be able to purchase the houses that they are considering
3. Tour the homes both online and in person. Your local Homie Agent will be there to assist you with finding properties that are right for you and will not waste your time looking at other properties.
4. Put through your offer and beat the other offers that a seller may have. This is perhaps the hardest part of this entire process, as others can outbid you or drive the prices of the homes that you are looking to purchase much higher than you had initially hoped.
5. Closing on the house once you have an offer is going to be extremely quick and easy. Homie will connect you with a mortgage, insurance, and closing service. Through a combination of these, you will be able to close on your new home with confidence.
For the seller, the process will be completed in 4 steps.
1. Listing your home is going to be the first and perhaps the most important step that you will need to take if you want to set your property. Homie is going to assist you with getting professional photos done and with creating a custom value report for you.
2. Marketing your home is equally important to list it, which is why your Homie agent will ensure that your listing is promoted on many different public platforms including:
- MLS listing
- Adding a for sale sign
- Social media marketing
- Hosting Open houses
- Manage viewings in the Homie app
3. Once you have started receiving offers for your property your agent will be there to assist you with all of the necessary paperwork and with preparing the negotiations for you. All of this will be available for you to see in the app.
4. Closing on the house sale is the final step, but it is a step that has never been easier than it is now with Homie since they will handle the paperwork and you will reap the benefits of saving a large amount on the sale.
Is Homie a Public Company?
Homie is currently still a privately held company as it is backed by Venture Capital. There is no indication that the company will go public any time soon as it is currently noted to have 13 investors that have funded the project.
Does Homie Save Money?
Homie will save the seller quite a good chunk of money. The reason for this is twofold. On the one hand, the seller’s agent’s commission will drop from 3% to a standard flat fee of $3,500. Unless the property that you were selling had a value of less than $117K, then that standard flat fee will be a reduction on whatever amount you would have normally been called to pay. If those savings were not enough then the fact that 50% of the buyer’s commission is also returned to the seller after the sale of the house, will surely convince even the skeptics that financially homie is a great option. Essentially what is a 1.5% commission for the buyer’s agent and $3,500 for the seller’s agent selling a home has never been more affordable than it is with Homie.
How Much Does Homie cost?
The seller will be called to pay both the fee for their agent as well as the commission for the buyer’s agent. Essentially what that will mean is that they will be called to pay $3,500 for their own agent and then a commission of 3% for the buyer’s agent. Normally, the buyer’s agent commission is 50% refundable which helps drive down the costs for the sale of the property.
Is Buying with Homie Worth it?
For the buyer, the reality of the matter is that whether they go with Homie or not will make little difference. This is because essentially the process of finding their ideal home will be the same. This means that they will need to view listings, arrange for viewings, and put offers through for the house that they are most interested in. While the seller is bound to save a lot of money from the overall transaction that will come about with the purchase of the property, the buyer has very little incentive to use Homie over any other available real estate service.
Are Homie Agents Realtors?
Homie is not a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) platform instead the company employs fully licensed real estate brokers that are both experienced and professional. Their years of expertise in the field are what drives them to be able to both find the perfect home for the buyers as well as find the perfect buyer for the seller’s home.
Their realtors are usually handling multiple transactions at once something that could be viewed as both a positive and a negative. On the one hand, having multiple clients means that they are able to complete more sales and therefore gain more experience, but on the other hand, it could mean that they are overworked and unable to pay the proper attention required for the sale of the property that is brought to them. Still, Homie can be a great and affordable option for all of those looking to purchase or sell their home.
Currently, their licensed real estate agents can help you with your home purchasing and selling plans in the following cities:
- Utah
- Phoenix
- Las Vegas
- Boise
- Denver
Does Homie use the MLS?
Homie promotes their listing using MLS. This helps drive a bigger audience and traction to your home and will help it sell much faster than if the listing was posted on one single privately owned website. Apart from MLS Homie also uses several other tools to ensure that your home will find the right buyer fast.
Where does Homie operate?
Homie currently operates in 5 cities in the USA. While its reach is not yet far and wide there are plans for the company to expand further than those 5 cities. Currently, those in Utah, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Boise, and Denver are able to use Homie for all of their home purchasing and selling needs.
Summary
Homie is an online real estate service that allows sellers to sell their homes at a lower commission rate than what would normally be available to them. By streamlining the process for both buyers and sellers, Homie has created a service that allows the transactions to be completed much faster and with certainty. From arranging for the listing to handling the paperwork to finding reliable partners for home inspections and moving, Homie cost-effectively does it all, which is the reason that so many sellers and buyers are choosing to use the service when that is available to them.
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