How HousePlant Works

1. Get Ready to Buy.

Getting ready to buy a home? Research locations and prepare your budget. Determine how much you need for your down payment (often 20% of the total amount of the home) and start saving. We recommend saving and equal or larger amount than what you plan to borrow from others.

For example, if you need a $40,000 down payment, try to save up $20,000 and then create a HousePlant ask to crowdsource the additional $20k.

2. Create Your HousePlant Ask.

Tell your unique story by creating your own custom Ask page. Add photos and details about your home-buying goals, then share online just like other crowdfunding sites. Next, share your unique Ask page far and wide on social media. This is how friends and family will find out about the opportunity to make you a social loan offer with customized terms such as amount, payback timeline, and interest rate.

3. Gather Social Loans (& gifts).

Get excited as family and friends make you social loan offers and gift offers! Borrowers are notified about every offer made and have the opportunity to first fully review the proposed terms, then choose to either Accept or Decline each offer. Once you both agree on terms and sign (congrats!), we'll generate and share a finalized PDF record with both of you.

Currently, once you have an Agreement on HousePlant, you and your lender will make arrangements to transfer the loan or gift using the transfer method selected in your agreement (Venmo, PayPal, Bank Transfer, etc.). More info on transfers here.

4. Enjoy the power of a stronger down payment.

Once you have an Agreement on HousePlant, all parties will have a PDF document outlining your terms in either a Simple Loan Agreement or a Gift Acknowledgement, depending on the terms you agree to. You can provide this document to your mortgage broker if requested! Transfer the funds as soon as possible, ideally 60 days or more before you start a mortgage approval process so that the funds are ‘seasoned’ and are more likely to be accepted in a mortgage broker’s review of your accounts. Remember that all types of loans, including social loans, will still factor in to your Debt-To-Income ratio, so make sure you have your HousePlant Loan Agreements and Gift Agreements ready to share with your broker.

Another benefit of social loans is their ability to take a sting out of rising interest rates. The larger the down payment, the less you’ll pay in interest (and the significance of this only increases as interest rates rise. Plug different down payment amounts into our calculator to see what the difference of a larger down payment could make for you!).

Next, work with your realtor to start submitting offers with your competitively larger down payment! Your dream house is waiting for you!

5. Pay back your social loan with peace of mind.

Did you know that most friend-to-friend and family loans today have absolutely no documentation?! This leads to misunderstands, missed payment, and strained relationship Don’t let this happen to you!

When you use HousePlant, asking for social loans or gifts is easy and all agreements are throughly documented including agreed-upon loan amount, simple interest rate, payback preference (monthly installments or lump sum) and payback deadline. Borrowers can pay back their social loans using the method preferred by the lender, and lenders can be confident in having proper records.