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Armed with $20 million in new equity funding, real estate agent and lender technology platform HomeLight has expanded its flagship “Buy Before You Sell” product to all but four U.S. states, the company announced Monday.
Described as a Series D extension, the latest funding round was led by Zeev Ventures, which also took the lead in HomeLight’s 2022 Series D. Other participants included Stereo Capital and Menlo Ventures.
Drew Uher
“We are deeply focused on building the tools and technology that solve the hardest problems that lenders face today in closing transactions,” HomeLight founder and CEO Drew Uher said in a statement. “So far, the response to Buy Before You Sell has blown away our expectations and we’re thrilled to add so much value to both our lender and agent partners as well as their clients.”
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A 2023 Best of Proptech Inman award recipient, Uher launched HomeLight in 2012 as an agent matching site with backing from Google Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Innovation Endeavors and other investors.
HomeLight ventured into mortgage lending with the 2019 acquisition of digital mortgage lender Eave but has exited the business in favor of partnering with mortgage lenders and real estate agents to provide its power buyer and cash offer services.
“By stepping out of [mortgage lending], and by letting the agents’ preferred lender do the mortgage, we are no longer creating friction between the agent and the lender,” Uher said on Aug. 1 at Inman Real Estate Connect Las Vegas. “We can actually leverage the lender as a channel.”
HomeLight’s 2022 Series D allowed it to acquire cash offer provider Accept.inc — a deal that the company claimed at the time made it the largest “agent-focused” cash offer provider in the U.S.
Today, HomeLight says it’s partnered with over 10,000 loan officers and 28,000 real estate agents to offer Buy Before You Sell in 46 states and Washington, D.C. — everywhere but Alaska, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.
The 40 lenders currently offering HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell product include wholesale mortgage lender The Loan Store and retail lender Luminate Home Loans, a subsidiary of Luminate Bank.
Based in Minneapolis, Luminate Home Loans also does business as NEO Home Loans, employing or sponsoring 456 mortgage loan originators who work out of 67 branch locations around the U.S., according to records maintained by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System.
Lisa Shapiro
“With Buy Before You Sell, we were able to accomplish my buyer’s goal: submitting a non-contingent offer, pulling equity out now for the down payment at closing, and only having to move once, with no rent payments in the middle,” NEO Home Loans Senior Mortgage Advisor Lisa Shapiro said, in a statement. “It was a very smooth process. Other programs have either cost more or didn’t communicate well; at HomeLight, everyone has been incredibly thoughtful, efficient, and communicative.”
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