HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
LEAD ARTICLE
estate market likely represents some form of shared equity.”
When you include second homes, investment and commercial property, the market is formidable. Easily 25 percent of the residential real estate market likely represents some form of shared equity.”
Seattle-based CoBuy does not act as a brokerage or as an investor-owner. Instead, said Hughes, the “platform helps would-be co-buyers determine pre-eligibility, build consensus and get connected with vetted professionals in the real estate value chain.” Professionals can include lenders, real estate brokers, title/escrow agents, real estate attorneys, CPAs and insurance brokers. As the population ages there is often the question of what to do with the current residence, perhaps a larger home. The common choices are selling to downsize and cut costs or the use of a reverse mortgage, but Hughes thinks there may also be a role for shared equity that allows owners to age in place.
PAM HUGHES CO-FOUNDER, COBUY, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
OWN holds a performance mortgage (or deed of trust), so we’re a lienholder on title. There is no monthly rent (or other monthly debt servicing) associated with shared equity.” OWN has a very interesting approach to sale profits. When the property is sold the share due to OWN is based on the property’s appraised value. However, if the transaction results in a sale price in excess of the appraised value then any surplus goes entirely to the homeowner. Co-Buying Given that we live in the Internet era there ought to be a way to help those
Pam Hughes, CoBuy Co-founder, said that roughly 20 percent of the six million or so homes sold in 2016 involved unmarried couples and inter- generational households. “When you include second homes, investment and commercial property, the market is formidable,” she said. “Easily 25 percent of the residential real with an interest in shared equity on a single site and now there is: CoBuy “is an online platform that makes it easier to buy a home with one or more other people -- be it friends, family members, or both.”
Shared equity, said Hughes, “is an ideal way to ‘repurpose’ the large family
9
JULY 2017 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter