NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Better Mortgage, a digital mortgage company working to improve access to home financing through transparency, honest guidance and zero commissions, today announced the launch of a new initiative with Airbnb. Airbnb hosts who list their primary residence on Airbnb can now use that income to qualify for a refinance on that home, specifically.
Homeowners who list some or all of the rooms in their primary residence on Airbnb will now be able to include the home-sharing income they earn from the platform when they apply to refinance the property on Better.com without re-categorizing their home as an “investment property” – a property-type that comes with higher interest rates. Including Airbnb rental income to support a borrowers Debt-to-income ratio (DTI) potentially qualifies them for better financing terms and bigger savings on both a rate/term or cash-out refinance.
“At Airbnb, we’ve been able to help many reimagine the home as an asset, a destination, and a contributor to the community,” said Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer says. “Today, some of the nation’s largest financial institutions understand that Airbnb is an economic empowerment tool that can generate important income for families, and they are working to recognize this.”
How to Apply with Airbnb Income:
In order to use their Airbnb rental income to refinance, homeowners will need to provide their “Proof of Income” statement from Airbnb, in addition to having claimed their home-sharing income on their tax returns. Better will use the average earnings from the last 24 months. If a customer has just 12 months of income in the past 24, Better will use 75% of the average.
“Expanding access to home finance for a new generation of homeowners requires the mortgage industry to acknowledge that Millennials earn differently than generations past,” according to Better CEO, Vishal Garg. “At Better, we see more 1099s and less W2s, we see more restricted stock units supplementing traditional salaries, and we see people earning cash in new sectors that have grown over the past ten years. We’ve been engaging with entities like Fannie Mae to make sure the 21st century balance sheet can be underwritten to expand access to financing options that can save borrowers tens of thousands over the life of their loan. This initiative is a huge step in the right direction and I expect this is just the beginning.”
About Better: Launched in 2016, Better is a full stack mortgage lender digitizing every step of the home financing process to make homeownership more affordable and accessible. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, and Pinebrook, Better is focused on customer advocacy, putting consumers back in control of the most important financial decision of their lives. Recently named Best Mortgage Lender for Customer Service by Nerdwallet, Better has an intuitive online platform, complimented by non-commissioned staff that guides customers through the process starting with how much house they can afford or how much they can save through to close, completely jargon-free, with airtight certainty and the best rate possible.
