Evergreen Home Loans, a regional independent mortgage bank that last year demonstrated that any mortgage lender can develop its own cash offer product, has expanded the program to six states and lowered fees and down payment requirements.
The CashUp by Evergreen program, which launched last year in Washington state, is now available in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon, the company announced Friday.
Homebuyers using the program — in which Evergreen pays cash for homes on behalf of homebuyers, and then provides permanent financing when it transfers ownership to them — formerly paid a 1 percent loan origination fee, plus other costs like escrow, title and recording fees that typically totaled around $1,400, the company said.
Now buyers will pay a flat administration fee of $1,950 in each state where the program is available. The minimum down payment has also been slashed from 20 percent to as low as 10 percent on a primary residence, a spokesperson for the company told Inman.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, Evergreen is licensed in 10 states, providing loan products including FHA, VA, and USDA loans, as well as conventional and jumbo mortgages and construction financing programs.
Evergreen sponsors 389 mortgage loan originators who work out of 82 branch locations in nine states, including Colorado, Montana and Texas, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System. The company is also licensed to provide mortgages in Wyoming.
In providing a cash offer product, Evergreen competes with a number of “power buyers” — startups like Knock, Homeward, Orchard, Ribbon, Reali and Flyhomes — that help homebuyers compete with iBuyers, institutional buyers and affluent buyers who are flush with cash. More established companies such as HomeLight, Opendoor and Better are also expanding into power buying.
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