Landis opens the gate to home ownership

The Future. Startup Landis just raised $165 million to increase access for renters to become homeowners and, in turn, save money on the same properties that they were renting. With so many Millennials wanting to own homes but unable to afford down payments, Landis may be a great bridge to transitioning to ownership.

Clear the weeds

A startup called Landis wants to turn home renters into owners.

• Landis, which underwrites loans for prospective homeowners and provides tools for financial literacy, raised a $165 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital.
• Additional investors include Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, Will Smith’s Dreamers VC, Signia Venture Partners, and founders from major companies like Plaid and Instacart.
• The company typically works with renters who can’t qualify for mortgages because of either poor credit, lack of savings for a down payment or debt.

Landis uses a proprietary underwriting tech to determine whether clients can afford mortgages in the next year or two. Once approved, the company purchases the home and rents it out to the client, while also giving them a step-by-step playbook on how to save and and take over the mortgage.

You get a home, you get a home, you get a home

Landis plans on using the new round of funding to expand its footprint (currently 29 cities in 11 states), hire more employees, and improve its UI. To that last point, Landis also has an iOS app called Homeownership Coach, which works as a dashboard for money management. It’s now free for everyone to download.

Founders Cyril Berdgo and Tom Petis were inspired to create Landis after realizing that renters were flushing their money down the toilet — like paying $1,700 for rent, when the same place would have a mortgage of $1,000.

Berdugo said “people with low-to-moderate income don’t have access to services that wealthier people have, and we are trying to bridge that gap by providing financial literacy and services to get them mortgage ready.”