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% return, 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.

San Antonio had the shortest time to save for a median home down payment compared to the rest of the country in 2025, averaging 1.3 years, according to a Realtor.com analysis.

The big picture: The typical U.S. household needed almost seven years to save for a median home down payment in 2025.

• The median down payment was $30,400 in the third quarter of 2025, up from $13,900 six years earlier.

Zoom in: The median down payment amount in the San Antonio metro area was $5,067 between January and November 2025.

• In 2025, the metro's median household income was $77,385, per the analysis.

Between the lines: The analysis attributes San Antonio's short savings timeline to relatively affordable homes and the area's large military presence. Many buyers who are service members or veterans use VA loans that require little or no down payment.

Stunning stat: San Francisco saw the longest time to save, averaging 36.5 years.

• The median down payment there for the same time period was $245,466.

A 13-year-old San Antonio boy drowned at Boerne City Lake, where divers recovered his body yesterday after an overnight search. (KSAT)

🏀 The Spurs signed forward Julian Champagnie to a multi-year contract extension yesterday. (Spurs)

• Forward Harrison Barnes is expected to sign a one-year, $8 million deal. (X)

🌡️ A heat dome is expected to push temperatures higher across Texas this week, raising concerns for San Antonio's Fourth of July plans. (Express-News 🔑)

🛍️ Japanese retailer Teso Life is planning a location at City Base, marking its third store in the San Antonio area. (CultureMap SA)

San Antonio is getting a bittersweet visit from a plume of Saharan dust.

Why it matters: The dust may create unhealthy air for sensitive groups while also producing striking sunrise and sunset views.

Context: A few times each year, trade winds carry sand from the Sahara across the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf and over Texas.

Driving the news: A heavy plume reached South Texas Sunday evening and is expected to gradually move out of the area today, per the National Weather Service in San Antonio.

Threat level: Fine air pollutants like Saharan dust can reach deep into the lungs and have harmful long-term effects. Exposure to high concentrations can lead to aggravated asthma, an irregular heartbeat and other respiratory problems, per the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Yes, but: The Saharan dust also makes dawn and dusk a sight to behold.

• Dust particles in the sky reflect sunlight and showcase vibrant sunrises and sunsets, meteorologists say.

The bottom line: Did you snap an awesome sunrise or sunset picture and want to share?

• 📬 Reply to this email, and we might feature it in an upcoming edition.

👋 Hi, it's Madalyn! The Spurs season is over, but reminders of the joy the team brought the city are still everywhere.

Zoom in: I had to pull over to snap this Care Bear-inspired mural while driving through the Lavaca neighborhood. It's painted on the side of Pik Nik Foods at the corner of South Presa and Vance streets.

• There's no artist tag, so it's unclear who created the mural, but it definitely made me smile.

The bottom line: Consider this your reminder to shake off the finals blues.

• With another season on the horizon, this mural feels like a fitting snapshot of the optimism that's never hard to find among Spurs fans.