Homie Review: Selling Our Utah Home with Homie

It's been over a month now since Derek and I closed on our house in Layton. We sold our home with Homie, a local Utah real-estate company. We've had a lot of questions about our experience, and so I thought it would be best to answer all of those questions in one place. Also, for the sake of the post and everything making sense, I'm going to be real frank and honest with all the numbers.

What is Homie?

Homie is basically a real estate company the helps you sell your home without the help of a traditional realtor. Because there is no traditional realtor working for you, you don't have to pay 3% of your home purchase price to the realtor selling your home, and to the realtor who's client purchases your home. 

Why did you and Derek sell your home with Homie instead of a realtor? 

For us it all came down to the numbers. We sold our house at $284,000 which was only $19,000 more than what we had left on the loan for our home. If we used a traditional realtor, and the person buying our house used a traditional realtor, we would of had to pay $17,000 just in realtor fees, and after all the fees for title insurance, appraisals, and all the other details that go into selling a house, Derek and I would have lost about $5,000 on the sale of our home when everything was said and done. Using Homie allowed us to put money into our pockets instead of taking it out. 

What does Homie Cost?

Instead of charging a 3% fee like most other realtors, Homie charges a flat rate of $1,500. This meant that we saved $7,000+ just by choosing to list with Homie than with a traditional agent. If you want to get an appraisal on your home before you list (which we did), that will be an additional $400. 

What all was included with Homie?

We had a team of real estate agents that helped us decide what to list our home for. They also were in charge of filling out all the paper work, so Derek and I just had to sign the docs when things got rolling. Our home was listed on all the major real estate websites, someone came and took amazing high quality pictures of our home, and they put a sign in our front yard. 

What did you not like about the experience? 

The main realtor that was working with us was hard to get a hold of. There were a couple time sensitive things that needed attention ASAP, and after calling and emailing several times, they didn't pick up. Eventually they did, but it was an hour after the fact and Derek and I had to personally contact the buyer's realtor and speak with them, and put out a couple fires when we couldn't get a hold of our own realtor. But at the end of the day, I'd rather deal with that mess 50 times than lose money on a home sale, so it really wasn't a huge deal. 

Did the people buying your home use Homie as well?

No. The people that bought our home used a traditional realtor, which meant we had to pay 3% of the purchase price to their realtor. You can choose to only list your home on the Homie site, but then only Homie buyers will see the house, and it could take longer to sell. We wanted our house to sell fast, so we listed it on the MLS and major real estate sites, and were willing to pay the 3% to the buyer's realtor to have the peace of mind that our house wouldn't sit on the market for ages. 

How long did it take for your house to sell?

We had an above asking price offer within 6 hours. The sign wasn't even in our yard yet. 

What would have happened if a Homie buyer bought your house? 

If a Homie buyer bought our house we would have only had to pay the $1,500 to list the home, and then another $1,200 for the transaction fee. This would have saved us another $7,000+. 

Would you do it again?

In a heartbeat! We're actually planning on purchasing our next home with Homie because they give you $5,000 towards closing costs, and they also have their own loan program and lenders which I would definitely look into as well. 

There you have it! All the information you probably ever wanted to know about the sale of our home! I know Homie is a little controversial because it takes away business from full-time real estate agents, but that the end of the day, Homie provided us a way to sell our home without losing thousands of dollars. For us it just made sense!

This post is not sponsored.


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