Roam – a platform for purchasing a home with an assumable low-rate mortgage included – recently announced it secured a $1.25 million seed round and has officially launched its service. And Roam helps buyers purchase a home with a mortgage as low as 2%, resulting in a monthly payment that is less than half of a traditional mortgage at today’s current rates.
Keith Rabois at Founders Fund led the seed round with additional investment from Eric Wu (Opendoor co-founder), Ryan Johnson (Culdesac CEO), and #ANGELS Founding Partner Jana Messerschmidt. And the company welcomes Tim Mayopoulos, former CEO of Fannie Mae, as a senior advisor. And Eric Wu and Keith Rabois joined the board, bringing over 40 years of real estate experience to the team.
With mortgage rates soaring past 7%, their highest level in decades, Roam provides a much-needed solution to the home affordability crisis. And Roam helps homebuyers secure home loans as low as 2% through the mortgage assumption process. The assumable mortgages are a type of home loan that allows a homebuyer to take over, or assume the existing mortgage terms from the seller. All government-backed loans (e.g., FHA and VA loans) are eligible for assumption by law – comprising about one-third of mortgages in the U.S.
Roam provides sellers, buyers, and real estate agents in today’s challenging housing market. And sky-high rates have priced first-time homebuyers out of the market and drastically limited the pool of qualified buyers, making selling a home more difficult. Both inventory and home sales have declined to their lowest levels in over a decade.
For homeowners with an assumable mortgage, Roam offers a differentiated marketing advantage with personalized marketing material to attract more potential buyers and better offers. And Roam advertises their listing to qualified buyers through the Roam website, the only platform for buyers to easily search and discover homes with an assumable mortgage today.
For buyers, Roam offers the only destination to help them easily find available homes with low-rate assumable mortgages and manages all aspects of the assumption process on their behalf. And on average, Roam buyers save up to 50% on monthly mortgage payments compared to buying a home with a traditional mortgage at today’s rates.
Roam provides these benefits for sellers, buyers, and agents:
1.) Discovery – Roam enables homebuyers to easily search for homes with mortgages eligible for assumption. And other digital real estate platforms lack this functionality.
2.) Simplicity – Roam manages the assumption process on behalf of sellers, buyers, and agents to help them have peace of mind that they will close on time. And Roam manages all the operational details and provides customers with a hands-free experience.
3.) Transparency – Roam keeps buyers and sellers updated on the status of their mortgage assumption with an easily accessible dashboard and timely communications. Without Roam, this assumption process is opaque and time-consuming, often requiring buyers to fill out forms with pen and paper and fax documents to the lender.
Roam’s service is now available in GA, AZ, CO, TX, and FL and will expand to new markets soon.
KEY QUOTES:
“Assumable mortgages are one of the most undervalued assets in America. We started Roam as a way for homebuyers to take advantage of the assumable mortgage opportunity and increase access to affordable rates so that more Americans can realize their dream of homeownership.”
— Raunaq Singh, Founder & CEO of Roam
“This wave of immobility has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Roam to bring a much-needed solution to consumers and the housing market.”
— Tim Mayopoulos, former CEO of Fannie Mae
“Roam has an opportunity to touch 30% of all U.S. real estate transactions in the market and provide a solution to the most important problem buyers face today, affordability.”
— Eric Wu, co-founder of Opendoor
“With mortgage rates north of 7%, Roam offers buyers the most affordable way to purchase their next home. Though the housing environment is marked by immobility today, Roam can 2x the volume of transactions by pulling forward moves from customers that may have otherwise been on the sidelines.”
— Keith Rabois, Partner at Founders Fund
