Adena Hefets, the co-founder & CEO of Divvy Homes, a Proptech company on a mission to make homeownership accessible to everyone, notes that the firm is introducing DivvyUp, which will help clients prepare for homeownership with confidence.
Since Divvy’s founding in 2017, they’ve been committed to making homeownership more accessible.
More than 1,000 of their residents have reportedly become homeowners through Divvy’s rent-to-own program.
Earlier this month, Divvy revealed that it’s taking a major step in advancing their mission with the launch of DivvyUp – which is described as the comprehensive homeownership preparation program designed to “help aspiring homeowners get mortgage-ready.”
Throughout the Summer of 2023, the firm’s management says they spoke with many current and former Divvy residents, partner agents, and past applicants who decided “not to move forward with Divvy.”
They also claim to have surveyed 2,000 non-homeowners to understand their pain points and hesitations as they “were considering how to prepare for homeownership.”
Through these conversations, the firm claims it “took away a few insights that helped shape the DivvyUp program.”
According to a blog post by Divvy, no matter one’s financial status or background, “purchasing a home is a massive undertaking with many confusing and stressful steps.”
For first-time buyers, it’s even more overwhelming – “especially if they still need some time to prepare financially.”
While most Americans want to own a home, many are “unsure of their homebuying timeline.”
Divvy’s blog post mentioned that over half of aspiring homeowners think it’ll “take more than 3 years to afford a home.”
With the rapid rise in interest rates over the last couple of years, this timeline has “been extended for many Americans – and understanding or shortening that timeline seems like an impossible feat.”
The blog post from Divvy noted that credit-related issues – either derogatory marks or generally low scores – are “the leading reason for mortgage application denial.”
Additionally, 50% of aspiring homeowners say “they need to improve their credit score to get ready to own.”
The firm noted that they see this at Divvy today, too, with the majority of application denials “for their rent-to-own program being linked to credit scores.”
With these takeaways in mind, they also understand that some aspiring homeowners “may want to prepare for homeownership outside of their rent-to-own program.”
So, they wanted to “create something new that could live alongside what they’ve already built and let them serve even more aspiring homeowners.”
DivvyUp will be a subscription-based web application that will help aspiring homeowners “prepare for all aspects of homeownership, with the end goal of getting approved for a mortgage and becoming a homeowner.”
When you enroll in DivvyUp, you’ll complete an onboarding questionnaire that “will help them understand both your homeownership goals and financial situation.”
Based on this information, they’ll calculate your unique homeownership readiness timeline “to show you how ready you are to own a home.”
You’ll get insight into the different factors that drive your timeline (e.g. down payment savings, credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and more) so that you know “which areas you need to improve as you prepare for homeownership.”
Over time, your readiness timeline will “change as you work to improve these factors.”
If you want to know how to shorten your timeline, you can use the homeownership readiness calculator and “see exactly what you need to do to reach your goals.”
You can also simulate how actions “such as paying down loans or saving more each month can help you reach homeownership sooner.”
In addition to your homeownership readiness timeline and assessment, you’ll also “get a detailed look at your credit report – straight from TransUnion, one of the leading credit bureaus.”
You’ll see the many factors that “drive your credit score (e.g. payment history, credit usage, and more) so you’ll know where you need to improve.”
Each month, based on your readiness timeline and credit report, you’ll receive a fresh set of personalized recommendations to help you “make progress toward your homeownership goals.”
These recommendations will “be a mix of credit-related items, and financial tips to help you build better spending and saving habits.”
Divvy says that they “understand that growing down payment savings and improving credit requires you to have cash available.”
With basic credit monitoring services lacking personalized recommendations (but no shortage of credit card offers) and credit repair companies costing upwards of $200/month, they say that they “wanted to be different.”
DivvyUp, just like their rent-to-own agent program, is another way to still “work with clients who can’t get approved for a mortgage just yet.”
At no cost to the real estate agents, the agents can “passively nurture clients and let them help them get ready for homeownership.”
As an agent, if you bring customers into the program, they’ll send them right back to you once they’ve reached their goals and are ready to start shopping for their dream home.