This article appears in the Winter 2019 issue of Silicon Slopes Magazine.
By Johnny Hanna, CEO/co-founder, Homie.
Homie’s technology and team of real estate experts make buying and selling a home simple, more transparent and affordable...dare we say delightful? The company launched in March 2016 with a mission to eliminate the 6% commission in real estate and we’ve now saved Utahn’s over $30 million. There’s no doubt, Homie hit its stride in 2018 and we are just getting warmed up.
Nearly every industry has been disrupted, disintermediated and redefined by technology. Facebook and Apple changed communication. Google transformed the exchange of information. Uber and Lyft upended transportation. Paypal and Venmo redefined the flow of capital. Amazon revolutionized our shopping experience. The real estate industry is larger than all those other categories combined and disruption has just started!
With the wind at our backs, Homie had a breakout 2018 including the following achievements:
- Market leadership and growth. Homie is the #1 real estate listing brokerage office in the state of Utah and revenue increased 240% year-over-year.
- Massive savings. The average Homie client is now saving over $10K when selling and receives a $5K refund when buying.
- A new level of service and support. Every Homie client is now assigned a licensed realtor to help them through the whole process. Homie’s current NPS (net promoter score) exceeds 70. The perfect balance of tech and human touch is the secret formula for success in real estate.
- Beating the market. In 2018 Homie sold homes in 14 days versus the market average of 16 days. Homie’s median sold price is $35K higher than the market average in Utah.
- Homie Loans. Building a one-stop shop makes the whole process more delightful for customers. Homie loans saw explosive growth in ‘18, saving customers even more money in closing costs and fees.
- New market expansion. Homie launched in Arizona in 2018 with aggressive plans to open new markets in 2019.
Homie is now selling homes faster, for more money and at a fraction of the cost of the traditional alternatives. But the real credit belongs to those customers that trusted us to build something that hasn’t been built before. The credit belongs to the tech and venture capital community for believing that it was time for a change and validating our proposition. And the credit belongs to the growing Homie team (now 100 strong) that fight tirelessly every day to help Utah homeowners keep more of their equity and save life-changing amounts of money. We can hardly wait for 2019 because disruption is happening and real estate will never be the same.
