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First-time Raleigh homebuyers gain a leg up brick by brick.
Longing to buy a house but sweating the dough you need for a down payment? We hear you. Unless you stumble upon a fortune or inherit a large sum, it can take years to save up for a traditional 20% down payment (*immediately goes to buy lottery tickets*).
Enter Ownify, which recently launched in Raleigh with the goal to bridge the gap of homeownership by introducing a new low-barrier-to-entry option that provides first-time buyers with the opportunity to own a home with as little as a 2% down payment.
Despite the Triangle being one of the most educated areas in the country—with the notion that higher levels of education typically translate to higher salaries—homeownership is still out of reach for many in the area. Regardless of a stable income, saving up a large sum is challenging—yes, even if you skip the guac at Chipotle.
“What we’ve built is effectively an equity-based path to ownership rather than a debt-based path,” says Ownify CEO and co-founder Frank Rohde.
The company challenges the idea of buying 100% of the home with borrowed money and instead supports the idea of living in a home and buying fractions of it at a time.
“Let’s say your house has 10,000 bricks, and on day one you buy 200 bricks,” Rohde explains. “That’s your down payment—so 2%. The way our program works is every month you make a payment that effectively has two pieces: One piece buys more bricks (so on average 13 bricks per month), and the other part of the payment pays rent on the bricks you haven’t bought.”
Since consumers are buying the home “brick by brick,” there’s no negative equity—meaning buyers aren’t ever underwater. … Ownify also places its customers, known as “Ownis,” as cash buyers, making them highly attractive to sellers—ones who oftentimes close in just two weeks.
The ownership model also promises “no surprises” by covering property taxes, insurance and any repairs, which gives homeowners peace of mind that they won’t be slapped with any unexpected costly expenses.
The idea is that at the end of five years, Ownis will have built roughly 10% of the home’s equity, which can then be used as a down payment on a traditional mortgage. If that unexpected inheritance does roll in, users can buy out the remaining equity at any time. Rohde looks at it as “an on-ramp for first-time buyers.” American dream: unlocked.
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