PorchPass™ is a new product that was developed and launched by Braustin Homes to bring a speedy financial technology offering for homebuyers interested in a manufactured home on land.
The company said the new product, available online, streamlines the manufactured home construction process, giving buyers the power and speed of a cash close.
“It’s hard to compete with cash buyers,” Braustin Homes CEO Alberto Piña said. “PorchPass will expand the pie by helping the industry say yes to more customers looking for homes in the $250,000 range. No one else is providing this kind of solution in the $20B+ factory-built home market.”
Nearly a third of manufactured home customers who have already been approved for a mortgage also need a land-home construction loan, which sometimes is challenging to navigate. These often-complicated loans, with high rates and fees, can take up to 140 days to clear, putting potential homeowners at risk of losing their dream property to a cash buyer.
PorchPass has secured the financial backing to streamline the process, giving prospective homeowners the same leverage as cash, with the ability to pay the land seller in 14 days, and save up to $15,000 or more in construction loan bank fees.
“Fintech harnesses the power of technology to make something old school simpler and more accessible for more people,” said Rackspace Technology Co-Founder Pat Condon, who serves on the Braustin Homes board of directors. “PorchPass’s fintech platform streamlines the traditional process for obtaining a construction loan, utilizing desktop appraisals, online applications, and other virtual tools that help buyers skip many of the expensive, time-consuming steps that put their land acquisition at risk.”
Competitive Market Calls for More Affordable Options
According to data reported by the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, an average single-family house in the United States costs nearly eight times the U.S. median annual household income. A new White House plan for boosting affordable housing calls for reviving the production of factory-built homes , which are increasingly more customizable and appointed with high-end features that make them a desirable option in the mainstream residential market.
Now that the supply chain is improving, and manufacturers have lifted their allocation limits on how many homes each dealer can sell, Braustin Homes is launching the new fintech platform in Texas, which accounts for approximately 20% of the national manufactured homes dealership market.
PorchPass was initially available to Braustin customers and is now offered to select dealerships in a pilot program.
“The speed of PorchPass will make more affordable mortgage products, including FHA and VA home loans, available to people in the manufactured housing space,” Braustin Homes Chief Financial Officer Edward Stepanow said. “Most land sellers won’t wait four months for an FHA loan to process in this hyper-competitive market. Now, more people will be able to compete with cash buyers and other faster financing.”
How PorchPass works:
- PorchPass validates that a buyer has been approved for a legitimate, underwritten mortgage.
- PorchPass steps in as a cash buyer, using cash to lock down the land, the home, and the contractor services so that a single-family residence can be built in 60 to 90 days.
- PorchPass then assembles all three components into a mortgage-ready product, which is sold to the homeowner, who purchases it with their pre-approved mortgage (mortgage companies cannot finance these three pieces individually).
“You can’t have a truly virtual way to buy a home without a virtual way to streamline the financial process,” says Piña. “PorchPass brings our virtual offerings full circle.”
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