Applying for a Home Equity Investment: A Step-By-Step Guide

At Hometap, our goal is to help you access your home equity as easily and quickly as possible — while also keeping you as informed as possible throughout the process. Here’s a breakdown of how to apply for a home equity investment (HEI), step by step, from beginning to end.

How to Request an Investment Estimate from Hometap

From the Hometap website, you’ll request an Investment Estimate. Before you begin, you’ll want to keep the following in mind:

1. You must have at least 25% equity in your home
2. We don’t invest in properties in irrevocable trusts or properties held in LLCs
3. Not all who apply will qualify for an Investment

The Estimate will take you less than two minutes to complete from start to finish, and the process looks like this:

Once you’ve completed your request for an Estimate, you’ll receive a verification email that you’ll need to open and verify before we continue onto the next step. This tells us that the email address you entered is legitimate, and is one that you have access to.

At this point, you can continue right on to the application if you choose. However, we pair you with one of our expert Investment Managers as soon as we receive your Estimate request, and he or she will be in touch with you promptly to talk through next steps. You’ll need to connect with them before moving forward in the process.

If it looks like there might be a mutual fit, we will put together an Investment Estimate with detailed terms specific to your home, including the maximum potential Investment amount. Please note that if you’re approved for an Investment, you can take less than the maximum amount. This Estimate is also not a final number, and if your Application is approved, the exact figure will be presented to you in a final offer. You’ll review the Investment Estimate with your dedicated Investment Manager, who will guide you and answer any questions you have throughout the entire process.

Complete Your Hometap Application

If you choose to work with Hometap after you’ve received your Estimate, you’ll complete your online Application, which you can do on your own or on the phone with your Investment Manager. It will look a little something like this:

Here are some of the details we’ll request:

• Legal name
• Social security number (which you provided when you requested an Estimate)
• Mailing address
• Employment information
• Historical background (disclosure of any past foreclosures, bankruptcies, etc.)
• Other applicants (anyone else on your home’s title)
• Details about property (HOA, additional liens, etc.)

We’ll also provide you with a list of documents you’ll need to share with us. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Your government-issued ID
• Your most recent mortgage statement
• Your full homeowners insurance declaration (all pages included), as well as any homeowners association (HOA) documents, if applicable

Once you have the documents ready, the entire Application should take no longer than 10 minutes. Next, Hometap will review your Application to determine if we can proceed with the due diligence process toward an Investment in your property.

Secure a Home Appraisal

We’ll order an objective third-party appraisal to determine the current market value of your home. Depending on your specific property, we may use an in-person appraiser or a virtual automated valuation model (AVM). We’ll base our Investment Offer on this value and use the full appraised value. We do not adjust this value.

Confirm Your Homeowners Insurance

In order to move forward with an Investment, you must have an active homeowners insurance policy. If you don’t have a current policy, we work with insurance partners who may be able to get you covered quickly. You will add Hometap as a named insured to your homeowners insurance policy.

Proceed to Due Diligence

Our team will perform what we call due diligence — this includes reviewing your home’s title and tax information — to make sure there aren’t any outstanding items that might prevent us from making an Investment.

Review the Final Details

If approved, we’ll present you with the final Investment amount, a full breakdown of fees, and final proceeds. Once you accept, we’ll schedule the signing together.

Schedule Your Signing

At signing, Hometap documents are signed and notarized (a process quite similar to closing a mortgage). Hometap then records two of the documents with the appropriate town, city, or county registry.

The Hometap Option Documents include:

• Option Purchase Agreement: The legal agreement between Hometap and the homeowner, in which Hometap agrees to give you cash in exchange for granting Hometap an Investment in your property. This agreement also contains the agreed-upon terms of the Investment, and describes Hometap’s and your obligations.
• Mortgage and Security Agreement: This grants Hometap a lien on the property to secure Hometap’s Investment and outlines your obligations under the Option Purchase Agreement. It gives Hometap certain rights, such as the right to sell or foreclose on the property in the event of a default scenario, if you do not meet your obligations in the Option Purchase Agreement.
• Consent of Spouse (if applicable): If you are married and your spouse is not on your home’s title, this document is completed by your spouse to consent to the Investment and Hometap’s lien on the property and is required by the respective state in which your property is located.
• Notice of Right to Cancel: This notifies the homeowner of the right to revoke the agreement within three business days after signing, and explains how to do so. It’s important you spend the time you need to understand the documents and feel good about the process. Once signing is complete, the money is wired directly to your bank account after three business days.

Receive Your Funds

Once you’ve signed all the important documents, your funding will be on its way via wire transfer or check. The funding will arrive after a required three-day rescission period. Typically, you’ll receive the funding within three days of the end of the rescission period, but it could take up to ten business days, depending on details such as your bank.

Start Achieving Your Financial Goals

Once your funds are in-hand, use them for whatever you’d like!

After Your Investment

Our team is here to support you throughout your Investment journey. You can read up on tips for managing your Investment on our blog, and you can expect to hear from us periodically via email to check in to see how things are going. Of course, if you have any questions, you can always reach out to us at homeowners@hometap.com.

You’ll have full transparency about your settlement amount at any given time during the Investment term, with access to a settlement calculator and lots of other resources in your account.

Even once you’ve settled your Investment, you’ll have free access to the Home Equity Dashboard, where you can get tips personalized to your home and financial situation, calculate average costs and return on investment for common renovation projects, and more resources and tools to help you make the most of homeownership.

Ready to get started?