The company told workers that it’s stripping its brokerage business of employees, but it will still do referrals to outside real estate agents and contractors.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A billboard for the real estate company Homie, along Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City on Wednesday November 22, 2023. The company is shutting down its real estate office, according to an employee.
Homie — the Salt Lake City-based real estate technology company that promised to cut costs for homebuyers by offering a flat fee to sellers — is stripping its brokerage services and ending employment for its real estate agents.
The move comes after years of turbulence — a difficult housing market, layoffs of hundreds of workers, changing leadership — and a promise from chief operating officer Jeremy Back, who took the job in February, to staff that the company was “more secure than ever,” according to an employee who described hearing the pledge from Back in meetings.
The employee and their colleagues, including all of Homie’s remaining real estate agents, were told Tuesday that the brokerage is being shut down, the person said. The Tribune has agreed to not name the employee, who fears retaliation in the industry, but confirmed they are employed at Homie.
An attorney for Homie said the company is not “shut down,” and some people may be offered work as contractors, but all agents will lose their W2 employment status. Title and lending teams are unaffected.
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.
“This affects a lot of people,” the employee said — both employees and customers. “People put their trust in Homie.”
Back did not immediately…
