Our Employee Benefit
Homeownership Assistance Benefit for Employer Groups
Employees obtain the unique advantage of exchanging their initial interest rate for a lower one if it becomes available, allowing them to reduce their monthly mortgage without any out-of-pocket cost.
Interest Rate Monitoring
Upon purchasing a home through us, we monitor your mortgage interest rate and track the Federal Reserve.
When the Fed lowers rates, we compare your current rate to the new available rate. If it's lower, we notify you of this change during your first eighteen months of homeownership.
Freedom Financing
For the first eighteen months after your purchase, whenever the Fed lowers rates below your mortgage rate, we calculate your potential monthly mortgage savings opportunity. Upon your approval, we then refinance your loan to the lower rate.
Homeownership Head Start
We lower your upfront property costs by offering a choice of preferred home maintenance equipment, including a lawn mower, snowblower, or gas grill.
The Challenges of Homeownership for millennial Employees.
Homeownership in the U.S. has undergone significant changes since the pandemic. With many employees now working in hybrid and virtual capacities, working Americans have gained newfound flexibility in where they desire to call an office.
Housing Supply Shortage
Throughout the pandemic, housing supply dwindled to 70% below traditional levels, igniting bidding wars, cash offers, and concessions from buyers to ensure their offer was the one being selected.
Fast forward to 2024, and the supply shortage persists, with an estimated 4.5 to 7.2 million shortage in available single-family homes to purchase for Americans as a result of ongoing household formation that is outpacing construction.
Housing Inventory Shortage
Existing homeowners, who typically supply the housing market with inventory, have been reluctant to enter the market. The reason? The mortgage rate lock-in effect. This situation refers to the interest rate gap between what a current homeowner pays on their existing mortgage and the interest rate they would obtain if they sold their home and purchased a new property.
Research underscores the magnitude of this phenomenon: for every percentage point increase in an available mortgage rate from their existing rate, the likelihood of a homeowner selling decreases by 18.1%. With a vast majority of homeowners (89.0%) locked into rates below 6%, the motivation to stay in their homes longer becomes financially clear.
Rapid Home Value Appreciation
In evaluating the overall valuation of homes in the U.S., our best source of data is the FHFA House Price Index. This index measures the movement of single-family home values across the United States.
Examining the most recent FHFA House Price Index (HPI) Report, the index value pre-COVID in January 2020 for single family homes was measured at 280.39 points. As of May 2024, this number had risen to 424.30 points, representing a 50% increase over this four-year period. To consider these statistics from another perspective, the average home in the U.S. is now 50% more expensive than it was just four years ago.
Competition from Investors
19% of all homebuyers are investors. What does this mean for prospective millennial buyers? 1 in 5 homes sold in the U.S. are being purchased by someone who doesn’t intend to live in the home.
The proliferation of institutional buyers of residential real estate and second home owners who purchase property for the sole purpose of generating rental income through Airbnb and VRBO have fundamentally changed the competitive landscape and thought process for owning real estate.
Our Homeownership Assistance Benefit was created for employer groups who are interested in attracting and retaining millennial aged employees who have the option to work hybrid or remote for an organization.
The U.S. labor market is employing more Americans than any time in history while we are witnessing the lowest number of home sales since 1995.
The discrepancy between employment and homeownership shines a spotlight on the economic conditions that warrant an employer group stepping up to make homeownership more accessible for their employees.
Remote work will reach a tipping point in 2025.
By 2025, 32.6 million Americans will be working remotely, an 87% percent increase from pre-pandemic levels.
1 in 5 millennials job hop annually at the cost of $4,425 per new hire for Human Resource departments.
Millennials now represent the largest percentage of home buyers by generation in the U.S. with 38% of all homes sold.
This demographic shift signifies a noteworthy change in the landscape of homeownership.
Only 52% of millennials are current homeowners, representing a significant opportunity for employer groups to support this generation through a new employee benefit.
The Chatter
“I don’t have to worry about interviewing agents or asking around for lender recommendations. They make everything simple and easy."
"Most of our savings are going toward the down payment and closing costs, so it's great to use my employer's benefit to pick out a lawn mower without any additional cost to us.”
"Knowing I can refinance at no cost has given me the confidence to start shopping for a home now, rather than waiting for rates to drop.”
Is your company a good match for our employee benefit?
*The refinance guarantee is dependent on the borrower/s qualifying and that normal underwriting guidelines will still apply. Must purchase a home by December 31, 2025 to qualify for this offer.
Employees receive an eighteen month complimentary refinancing window that begins on the date of home closing. In order to refinance one-time at no-cost, the interest rate must be at a minimum ¼ percentage point lower than the locked-in rate for the same type of loan term (ex. 30 year fixed interest rate).