welcome back tapping into your equity in
your home it's becoming easier point is
making it possible for homeowners to tap
into their home equity without taking
out a loan on the home or plunging into
debt with a line of credit point is a
start-up it gives homeowners cash in
exchange for a share of the ownership in
their properties equity the start of
getting a new round of funding eight
point four million dollars led by
andreessen horowitz bringing its total
funding to fifteen point four million
joining us right now to talk about how
it works is the CEO of point
Eddie Lim Eddie good to see it thanks so
much for joining us thank you that's
interesting because you're making home
equity liquid and tradable absolutely so
how do you do it yeah absolutely so
point really came out of personal
experience I was trying to get a
refinance a few years ago is in between
jobs didn't have income and I was denied
a refinance just when I needed the most
so that's when I stepped back and asked
well why is taking on more debt
obligations my only option what kind of
sell some of this equity which sell
shares my home just like I can buy and
sell Apple and Google right so born from
that was point the first financial
technology platform that enables
homeowners to unlock well from their
home by selling us a slice of their
equity and avoiding monthly debt
obligations so you mean you made it you
had a good question during the
commercial break and so what does that
give the person who's buying that home
equity what kind of power does that yeah
I mean you're you're you become
essentially an owner in the home it
doesn't mean you're gonna move into the
person's couch you're gonna tell them
what color to paint their house you're a
passive investor here but what's
interesting is you're going after
business that banks don't want the bank
doesn't think they can make money in
this because the homeowner doesn't have
a good credit score how do you guys make
money if there's that much risk with the
homeowner yeah so what's what's really
transformative here is that this is the
first consumer finance platform that's
aligned with consumers all right the
homeowner when the homeowner does well
that's when we do well if the homeowner
doesn't do as well then we may not get
all of our money back so that alignment
really means that we're building
products tools and educational resources
that help both the both the financial
health of the customer as well as a
property health and if the price of the
home appreciates and I want to buy back
my ownership share I'm going to have to
pay you more but you're saying that's
not a big deal because the house I own
is actually worth more so my incentives
are aligned with your incentives
that's right you your home has gone up
in value you have more well that's when
you pay us more and if your home doesn't
do as well right we may not make all of
our money back and that's where that's
the true it's a a fundamental difference
with lenders is the lenders are always
getting their monthly payment back
regardless of how you are going
financially
congratulations on the funding big
numbers here what are you gonna do with
the money where does that money get
allocated now yeah absolutely so we've
been sought in California so with the
funds we're going to be expanding into
new geographic markets we're going to be
building out more distribution and
channel partnerships we're gonna be
continuing to innovate on the technology
and ultimately delivering great
experiences for our investors and our
customers so if I hire you if I invest
you I let you invest with me do you
determine what decor I have if I want to
take out a bathroom do you have any say
in any of that because it will affect
the value of the house absolutely we're
passive investors so we're maybe a
little bit different than mom and dad
we're the home improvement example is a
great great way to to illustrate this so
there are two ways to think about this
right if you're looking and let's say
Maria is looking to remodel her kitchen
she can come to us do a point financing
we have her lump sum of cash no monthly
payments and she improves the value of
her kitchen alternatively she may decide
go get a HELOC or a credit card loan
then improve the kitchen and when that's
all done her home is worth more and now
she can sell us a piece of that equity
Wow I don't understand why they used you
with the kitchen clearly I'm the one
Thank You Eddie Levin joining us their
CEO of point we've got