When Homie hit the Utah real estate market, it was claiming it would shake up the industry. But in 2023, rounds of layoffs reduced its workforce from 600 to around 40. What happened?
A billboard for the Utah-based home buying company Homie along Interstate 15 in Sandy, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022.The Utah real estate business came on the scene in 2015, aiming to disrupt the real estate industry and how people traditionally buy homes. However, a series of layoffs have led the company from having 600 employees to likely around 40, according to anonymous sources who talked to The Tribune.There are a couple of factors.
However, the rising interest rates and competition from cash-rich investors has slowed down first time homebuying, affecting how much business Homie was bringing in. In 2022, Homie announced it laid off 28% of its staff. Sources also told The Tribune that more recently, some agents switched from salaried to contract workers.Homie is what’s called a “proptech” or a property technology company that uses digital platforms or automation as part of its business strategy.
Mike DelPrete, a real estate tech strategist and scholar-in-residence at the University of Colorado Boulder, claims that Homie’s business model isn’t that different from any other real estate brokerage that’s been around for a long time. Homie agents are still helping the homebuying process, but are just charging a flat rate fee rather than a percentage of the home sale price.
DelPrete said there have been very few actual innovations in the real estate industry. These include electronic signatures and Zillow’s “zestimate” that allows anyone to see the value of a home and online listings.Sara Edelman, the vice president of marketing for Homie, told The Tribune that the company “has secured capital from its existing investors, confirming its ongoing dedication to helping customers save money in this difficult real estate market.
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