The company told employees that it’s ending its brokerage business, but will still do referrals to outside real estate agents.
Real estate agents have until the end of the month to transfer their licenses and wrap up any pending contracts, or transfer them to a to-be-determined new brokerage, the employee said. Staffers also will lose their benefits at the end of the month, they said, while severance is still being negotiated.
Employees were told Homie would not shut down completely. It will help refer prospective homebuyers to real estate agents, but will no longer employ those agents.Homie’s flashy billboards along Interstate 15 mocked the real estate industry status quo: “Agent charging you $30,000 to sell?” one read. “Eat my shorts.”
“ business model is the same as any other real estate brokerage that’s been around for decades,” Mike DelPrete, a real estate tech strategist and scholar-in-residence at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in November, reacting to news of more layoffs. “I’ve looked at and studied and talked to dozens of companies around the world that are doing this exact same thing. And they never get anywhere.