Homa brings AI-powered homebuying to Texas
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AI-powered real estate platform Homa has expanded into Texas, promising buyers rebates of up to 2% of a home's purchase price.
Why it matters: The company promises buyers a chance to offset closing costs by returning much of the buyer's agent commission.
The latest: Homa launched in Florida in May 2025 and entered Texas this month. Its first Texas deal, a $324,000 Austin home, is expected to net the buyer a 2% rebate, CEO and co-founder Arman Javaherian tells Axios.
How it works: Homa pulls home listings from the same multiple listing service, or MLS, databases as sites like Zillow and Redfin.
- It then pays local agents hourly for showings. A concierge team gathers disclosures and answers questions, and in-house agents negotiate offers.
- The company acts as the buyer's brokerage. In a typical transaction where the seller offers a 3% commission to the buyer's brokerage, Homa says it keeps about 1% of the purchase price as its fee and credits the remaining 2% to the buyer at closing.
- Homa also uses AI to estimate rebates, summarize documents and answer buyers' questions, while licensed agents negotiate every offer.
Between the lines: Javaherian says he founded Homa after noticing buyers did much of the legwork themselves while still paying traditional agent commissions.
- "Then an agent would come in and make sometimes $30,000 in commission," he says.
- He says the 2024 National Association of Realtors settlement made buyer-agent costs more transparent, creating demand for alternatives.
Zoom in: Javaherian says Texas was Homa's first market outside Florida because it had the largest waitlist and is a buyer's market.
The other side: Texas Realtors chair Jennifer Wauhob tells Axios AI is a valuable tool, but many consumers still want one agent guiding them from start to finish instead of being handed off between specialists.
- "I always tell my clients, 'You search, but I research,'" she says.
The bottom line: Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Policy Center, tells Axios Homa is "a step forward" in using AI to lower homebuying costs, but said buyers' preference for traditional agents could slow adoption.