Many products brand themselves as “shared equity” or “shared appreciation” but do not resemble Homium as a loan or an investment. These home equity investments (HEIs) are opaque and can be complicated to understand, and are difficult to execute and scale for originators. By pursuing returns much higher than historical home price appreciation, they are often designed to avoid certain regulatory and tax consequences that would prevent them from being a loan to extract more profit from a homeowner. They are structured to accomplish this in a variety of ways, but common ones include a purchase option contract with a multiplier in shared appreciation, writing down home value on day one (by as much as 25%), and with minimums and default rules that box in homeowners and guarantee a high cost of capital.
Homium is fair, transparent, and simple to understand and execute at scale. The product is designed to be a non-extractive, mass market solution that works for all homeowners who qualify. Homium Shared Appreciation Loans are titled loans which conform to state and federal regulatory requirements. Our loans are offered to consumers by licensed lenders and originators who have an established customer base and credible market presence using familiar processes and technology.
Homium uses fair and simple terms:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, home equity accounts for approximately 49% of the net worth of homeowners in America. Yet for many, borrowing against the value of their home to start a new business, support their family, fund an unexpected expense, or invest in their health or education has become fraught with difficulties.
Homium unlocks this enormous economic potential for millions of American homeowners. We put institutions into direct partnership with homeowners by pooling home equity in a core institutional asset class designed for institutional portfolios.
Homium is a way for institutional investors to partner side-by-side with working families to bolster homeownership and middle-class wealth creation, while reducing housing inequity and displacement. Any homeowner who has built up home equity who does not want to make monthly payments can benefit from the freedom and simplicity of a Homium loan.
Our prime borrowers include folks looking forward to investments or spending in retirement without adding additional loan payments. Recent studies have shown that 40% of first time homebuyers receive assistance from their families in buying their home. Homium can fuel this transfer of wealth between generations while keeping people in their homes at their existing budget. Other use cases include energy upgrades and other home improvements, allowing homeowners to realize cost savings from efficiencies right away.
Governments and communities benefit as well. Housing markets are extremely fraught for regular homeowners, where they compete with investors for limited housing stock. Homium lets institutions invest alongside homeowners instead of displacing them and turning neighborhoods into rental properties. Homeownership increases middle class wealth creation and improves and maintains neighborhood cohesion and social identity.
Homium uses the latest in mortgage lending, record keeping, and digital settlement and coordination technology to deliver a loan and investment experience at the minimum cost with maximum transparency and value. Homium utilizes a digital transfer agent and patented underwriting and securitization process to standardize tokenized interests in the Homium pool of loans. This lets investors see straight into the pool from the moment funds are deployed, and to instantly reconcile and value the underlying home equity. Homeowners receive a lightning-fast, simple loan process that cuts out the middleman.
