Toxic home equity investment scheme? (Article)
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This article in the NYT (paywall free link below) is the first I’ve heard about this “home equity investment” but wow does it sound like a bad idea!!
Financial technology companies, including Hometap, Unlock, Unison and Point, give homeowners cash in a lump sum, based on percentage of the home’s current value, in exchange for a share of the home’s value at some point in the future. Homeowners agree to make a lump-sum payment at the end of the contract term — typically, 10 or 30 years — or earlier if the home is sold.
If homeowners can’t pay in full when the contract terminates, they can possibly take out another contract or mortgage to pay it off. If they can’t, they may be forced to sell their home.
Unlike traditional mortgages, the contracts don’t disclose an interest rate. Rather, homeowners are typically required to pay a percentage of the home’s value, or its increase in value, in a balloon payment at the end of the term. This is risky, consumer lawyers say, because it’s difficult to know what the home’s value will be and, therefore, how large a payment will be due.
In some cases, the terms entitle the provider to a payoff of double the percentage used to calculate the initial payout,
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
And also, there’s nonsense thing as free money.
Good grief.
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