One investment. Two outcomes.
A family member buys a home and owns it outright. The family holds shares in a fund. Both come from a single act of capital, structured through an account.
The account
A family opens a Tufa account and funds it, over time or in a single step. The account holds the capital until it is needed.
The family names a designated buyer, the person they intend to help buy a home. The buyer has read-only visibility into the account. They cannot withdraw from it or direct it.
Until the purchase, the capital remains the family’s. If the buyer does not purchase, the account is returned. Nothing is committed to a home until a home is bought.
The purchase
When the designated buyer is ready to buy, they apply for a standard first mortgage and qualify on their own income and credit. The purchase proceeds the way any home purchase would.
At closing, the account balance converts into shares in a Tufa fund. The fund places an appreciation-based second lien on the home, alongside the first mortgage. The second covers part of the purchase price.
The buyer owns the home outright, as the sole person on title. The second has no monthly payment, no interest, and no effect on how the buyer qualifies.
Here is what that looks like on a $500,000 home.
The family is issued shares in the fund at closing. Not a claim on one house.
The risk the fund takes off the buyer’s shoulders is the risk the family chooses to take as an investor. That is not a catch. It is the design. Here is what the family actually holds in exchange.
The shares
At closing, the family is issued shares in the fund. Not a claim on one house.
The fund holds appreciation-based second liens across many homes. The family’s shares represent a share of the whole fund, diversified residential exposure, rather than a stake in the specific home their family member bought.
The family did not buy a piece of one house. The family invested in a fund that participates in residential value across many homes, and helped someone they care about buy a home in the process.
Repayment
The second is repaid when the home is sold, refinanced, or paid off. At that point the fund receives a share of the home’s value, set at origination.
There is no monthly payment before then, and no interest accrues. The buyer carries a normal first mortgage and nothing else.
If the home has appreciated, the fund’s share reflects that. If it has not, the fund’s share reflects that too. The family participates in residential value, in both directions.
These figures are illustrative and are not a prediction of returns. The fund’s share is set when the loan is made and varies by purchase. At sale, refinance, or payoff, the fund is repaid its share of the home’s value at that time, which may be higher or lower than the amount invested.
What this changes
A gift leaves the family permanently. An account, and the shares it becomes, stay with the family. The capital keeps working.
An account is a holding the family can plan around. Helping one child does not have to mean treating another unequally.
No co-ownership, no shared title, no restriction on selling or refinancing. The family holds fund shares. The buyer holds the home.
Standard mortgages. A regulated fund. A family member who owns their home, and a family that stays invested.
Tufa is not yet available. This describes how the platform is designed to work.