You saved up for your first home.
With your family investing alongside you, you can buy more.
Same down payment, same mortgage. Your family invests in a Tufa Home Fund, and the fund invests in your purchase: the extra bedroom, the better neighborhood, the shorter commute.
Same $25,000 down payment. Same $400,000 mortgage. At 80 percent loan-to-value, mortgage insurance is not required.
What it means for you.
- You own the home: Your name on the title, no co-owner. You decide when to sell or refinance.
- Nothing monthly: No payment on the fund’s share, and nothing grows over time.
- When you sell: The fund receives its share of the home’s value from the sale, the same way your mortgage is paid off at closing. You never pay your family anything; their investment is in the fund.
- If prices fall: The fund’s share falls with them. You are not personally liable for it, except in narrow cases of fraud, intentional waste or misapplied insurance proceeds.
How it works, from your side.
Your family opens an account and names you.
You can see what they have made available, so you can plan.
You get pre-approved with a participating lender.
You apply and qualify on your own income and credit. The fund gives your lender a letter saying how much it will invest beside your mortgage.
At closing, the fund invests alongside you.
It invests next to your mortgage and your down payment. Your family receives shares in Tufa First Home Fund at the same moment.
You own the home.
The fund receives its share when the home sells or when the homeowner chooses to settle early. A refinance to lower the rate leaves the Shared Appreciation Agreement in place. Nothing changes until the home sells or the homeowner settles early, apart from the uncommon cases described on the fund page.
The same financial outcome, in a home worth $75,000 more.
The fund’s share of the $500,000 home is 15 percent, so your share is 85 percent: $425,000, the same as the home you could have bought on your own. When prices move, your equity moves exactly as it would have in that home. You live in the larger one.
| On your own, $425,000 home | With your family, $500,000 home | |
|---|---|---|
| If homes rise 10 percent: | +$42,500 | +$42,500 |
| If homes fall 10 percent: | −$42,500 | −$42,500 |
Illustrative. Your equity is your share of the home’s value less your mortgage balance. Excludes selling costs.
Questions buyers ask first.
Who is this for?
First-time homebuyers buying a primary residence, with at least 5 percent of the price from their own savings, a home that appraises for at least the purchase price, and a participating lender.
Bringing it up with your family.
About one in five first-time buyers has help from relatives or friends. Most people just don’t talk about it.
Most people start with a call, not a link. If it helps, here is one way to say it:
There’s a way you could help me buy a home without giving me the money. Look up tufafunds.com.
Tell us about your purchase.
Tufa is not open yet. Share where you are buying and who is helping.
This is an expression of interest, not an application. The lending entity is licensed in select states, and Tufa is not yet open.