Hometap from a Leader’s Perspective: What Factors Help Businesses Hit a Home Run?
Hometap, founded in 2017 and situated in the Boston region, is a fast-growing company run by a leadership team with a track record of success. Hometap’s mission is to make homeownership less stressful and more accessible, therefore alleviating the all-too-common sense of being house-rich but cash-poor. Since December 2019, the company has more than doubled its state count, increasing its overall access to nearly 57 percent of United States homeowners. Hometap’s major rivals include Point, Unison, and Unlock.
Their home equity investment product gives homeowners a quick, easy, and transparent option to access the equity in their house without having to take out a loan or sell. Hometap gives debt-free cash in return for a piece in their home’s future value, all without any monthly payments or interest for the life of the investment. The company allows individuals to get more out of homeownership and life by combining financial innovation and best-in-class customer service.
Hometap is frequently acclaimed with a slew of prestigious awards. In the last two years alone, Hometap has received two honors in the previous two years, two in 2022 and seven in 2021. The most prominent of which is Hometap was voted 29th out of 100 Small/Medium Sized Companies’ Best Company Outlook 2022, and its leader won the Best CEO 2021 award.
The Original Idea and the Fateful Meeting of the Leading Brains of Hometap
The story began when a young man called Jeff Glass was growing up in Brooklyn in a two-bedroom apartment with his family, while many of his classmates, whose parents concerned much about money, lived in homes. That “house-rich, cash-poor” realization has been with him for such a long time, longer than he expected. Decades later, Glass met Max Campion, who later became a co-founder of Hometap. Campion understands the difficulties Glass’s family has faced in the past and draws on the valuable insight that many young up-and-coming Americans with solid income suffer similar difficulties.
Jeff was a serial entrepreneur who was always seeking for investors for one of his businesses. Investors provide money to entrepreneurs in exchange for a small stake in the company. This is money they are hoping will increase, but it is also conceivable that the company could fail and they will lose it. Meanwhile, homeowners, who have real, tangible assets, need to borrow money to do things in life. As a result of increased debt, concern, and stress, the American Dream can often resemble an American Nightmare.
It didn’t make sense to either Jeff Glass or Max Campion: why couldn’t someone treat homeowners like CEOs of their own families and invest in the future worth of their home? That got them thinking about starting a company to resolve that concern. And Hometap was created to address those unresolved relevant issues.
Misconceptions about Hometap in Comparison to Its Rivals
Hometap, unlike a lender, offers homeowners a clever new financing alternative for tapping into their home equity without incurring debt. They invest alongside homeowners, offering cash now in return for a piece of the future value of their house in a period of ten years. Hometap’s investing technique does not need monthly payments or a guaranteed return on investment.
While competitors such as Unison will only work with homeowners with higher credit scores, or Point, who wants to be repaid with the investment plus a total share of the home’s current value, rather than just an agreed proportion, Hometap restricts the impact of credit score on homeowners’ ability to qualify. This allows homeowners to know how much money they will have to pay off the investment till the end.
Point, Unison, and others may opt to discount the value of homeowners’ property when making the initial investment offer in order to manage risk and protect the company against losses in the value of their home. As a consequence, homeowners may receive less than they require. Therefore, Hometap elected not to engage in risk-limiting changes to the value of their customers’ houses.
Hometap isn’t for every homeowner. While Unison, Point gives customers up to 30 years to settle their agreement, Hometap only limits this period to 10 years. you’ll need to either buy out Hometap’s portion of your equity, refinance, or sell your home in that period. Therefore, Hometap is best for homeowners who don’t plan on being in their home for very long.
Despite such contract payment term, Hometap still offers customers a larger investment range. In case you need a large investment: Then Hometap’s your answer as you can get up to $600,000, while Unison’s limit is slightly less at $500,000. In case you need a small investment: Hometap’s also your best bet, since it has a minimum investment of $15,000 in comparison to Unison’s minimum investment of $30,000.
Financial Successes of the Big Guy in Fintech
Even though Jeff Glass declined to reveal revenue specifics, he shared that in the first 10 months of 2021, Hometap made four times as many home equity investments as it had during the same time period in 2020. He said the company “more than tripled” its revenue growth that calendar year and more than doubled its employee headcount to 140 in the same time frame. “We expect to more than double, or perhaps triple again, next year as well,” he told in an interview. “We’ve grown 14 consecutive quarters quarter-over-quarter, even right through the pandemic.”
Like some other companies, Hometap also chose to call for financial support, and also successfully brought in a huge investment. In 2018, the company successfully raised $12M in series A funding, and just a year later again successfully raised $100M in series B funding.
The company uses $20M toward company operations, and the remainder will go toward a pooled investment fund where accredited investors can fund Hometap’s home equity investments.
In 2021, Hometap continues to successfully raise $60M in a venture round funding type. In 2022, they secured capital commitments of $245M to its latest institutional asset investment fund from Bain Capital and Group 1001’s Delaware Life Insurance Company, and other of its affiliated insurance companies.
What Is Hometap’s Work Culture That Is So Appreciated
Hometap is always on the list of companies with the best working environment thanks to the clear and specific setting of the core values of the business. “At Hometap, we believe that culture is contagious,” said Jeffrey Glass, CEO of Hometap. “We established core values early on that include transparency, owning one’s work, trust, and dependability, and we aspire to maintain them as we grow. It’s a privilege to be acknowledged for a culture that makes coming to work fun and rewarding.” This is succinctly conveyed by the following statement: “We’re good neighbors: We’re all on the same team; helping each other means helping the company succeed.”
Indeed, one of Hometap’s core values is to be a good neighbor, and they instill this value through the work they do both in and outside of the office. Being present, polite, and supportive of team members is of the essence at the office. The company’s annual volunteer day with a local Boston non-profit group, Heading Home, to help low-income families transition from shelter to permanent home each summer is one example of how this principle is implemented outside the office.
Loraine Hillyer, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Hometap, stated that the company works hard to ensure that the day-to-day culture reflects its core values: everyone comes to work eager to give it their all, they’re respectful, collaborative, and they’re ready and willing to troubleshoot problems together. She further stated that Hometap is a work environment that provides you with the tools you need to succeed while also giving you the space and trust to get the job done. Finally, nothing motivates her more than being in the company of people she knows are accomplishing great things.
What the Current Jeff Glass Would Say If He Met Himself Years Ago
After many years of experience in the business field, Jeff Glass has drawn for himself valuable experiences that no one has ever guided him before. In an interview, he gave some entrepreneurial lessons that he wished he had been told before launching his business.
#1. Success Comes from Intelligence, Hard Work and Perseverance
As an entrepreneur, he appreciates ongoing attempts of self-improvement and the perseverance in facing business obstacles. He also used his own career as an example, highlighting that prior to his current success, he had numerous wins, losses, and lucky breaks. However, he has always remained confident in his decision, learned and gained more experience, and also be grateful for some luck.
#2. The Difference between Success and Failure Can Be So Razor-Thin
To him, the line between success and failure in business seems so unpredictably thin. There would be a period when if the wind blew in the wrong way, the business would come to a halt, but if it blew in the proper direction, the company would be able to restart. As a result, he urges entrepreneurs not to be too proud of themselves when things are going well, and not to be too hard on themselves when things aren’t working. Try to steer your company in the proper path while staying within your means!
The Bottom Lines
Hometap has been working hard to cement its place in the hearts of homeowners all over the United States. We can see from Hometap’s narrative that success is made up of various aspects, including ideas, core values, companions, and luck. The company’s current success appears to be propelling the next generation of entrepreneurs in the fintech area.
