Hat tip to Lance!
Roam CEO Raunaq Singh has a bold plan to unlock housing affordability: Connect homebuyers with home sellers who have mortgages eligible to be “assumable,” enabling buyers to take over the existing mortgage, including its presumably much lower mortgage rate.
Back in September 2023, Singh launched Roam, a real estate portal that resembles Zillow.com or Realtor.com. However, Roam exclusively showcases homes currently for sale with loans eligible to be assumable. One of the challenges with assumable mortgages is that, typically, most conventional mortgages are not assumable. However, if specific requirements are met, most loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are eligible.
As of today, Roam’s listing website exclusively showcases homes currently for sale with assumable loans in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Singh says that these eight states represent nearly 50% of the country’s market share of assumable mortgages. The company, a licensed real estate brokerage in these five states, aims to expand to more states, including Ohio, in the near future.
When a seller in those states lists their home for sale, Roam then cross-checks it with proprietary mortgage data. If that mortgage is eligible to be assumed, it’s listed on Roam’s site.
On Roam’s site, you’re asked to fill out a simple questionnaire. Then you’re taken to a portal for your selected market.
This is a very good idea.
There’s value in a 2.25% mortgage. It makes sense to sell to it to the next guy.
I’m surprised this didn’t happen a long time ago.
Prices went up so fast here that a buyer would need a big down payment and/or a seller carryback to make up the difference.
There will be more opportunities in the lower-priced areas where these guys are operating. There won’t be as much down payment required.
And if you really get lucky, you can assume a FHA loan with no down payment if the seller is willing to walk or take a boat or something in lieu of payment.