Valued at $2 billion in 2021 Collection D funding spherical, rent-to-own firm Divvy Houses had endured a number of rounds of layoffs earlier than launching a subscription-based credit score constructing service final 12 months.
Whether or not it’s refining your small business mannequin, mastering new applied sciences, or discovering methods to capitalize on the subsequent market surge, Inman Join New York will put together you to take daring steps ahead. The Subsequent Chapter is about to start. Be a part of it. Be a part of us and 1000’s of actual property leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
Struggling rent-to-own firm Divvy Houses is reportedly set to be acquired by Brookfield Properties’ single-family rental division, Brookfield Maymont Houses.
A commerce title of BSFR Property Administration LLC, Charleston, South Carolina-based Maymont Houses acquires, renovates and manages greater than 10,000 single-family rental houses throughout the Southeast and Midwest.
Maymont Houses CEO David Todd can also be a managing director in Brookfield Asset Administration’s actual property group. Earlier than becoming a member of Brookfield in 2017 Todd was an government at PGIM Actual Property.
On Monday, Divvy’s web site continued to facilitate house searches in 19 markets in 9 states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.
However after analyzing rents marketed by Divvy on 18,000 properties in 19 markets, Harris concluded the corporate was charging larger rents than different landlords in some markets.
In an Aug. 1, 2023 article, the New York Occasions reported that Divvy owned 7,000 houses, and that “more renters are struggling to pay, forcing Divvy to file more eviction notices.”
Divvy informed the New York Occasions that it evicts shoppers solely as a final resort, and that not all eviction notices lead to accomplished evictions.
“With mortgage rates at all-time highs, our mission is more critical than ever,” Divvy co-founder and CEO Adena Hefets informed the New York Occasions in an announcement on the time. “Divvy gives renters the power of ownership: Pick out a home, build savings, and have the option to make it your forever home.”
Based in 2017, Divvy raised $30 million in a 2018 Collection A funding spherical, adopted by a $43 million collection B in 2019 and a $110 million Collection C in 2021. Through the years, backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger World Administration, Caffeinated Capital and homebuilder Lennar.
However after saying a $200 million Collection D funding spherical in the summertime of 2021 that valued the corporate at $2 billion, Divvy confronted housing market headwinds within the kind or rising house costs and mortgage charges.
Divvy laid off 12 % of its workforce of roughly 330 workers within the fall of 2022, and adopted by with a second spherical of layoffs in February 2023. In September 2023, Divvy handed out pink slips to 95 workers in 21 states, together with quite a few senior managers on the firm’s San Francisco headquarters.
Final 12 months, Divvy Houses launched a “home readiness product,” DivvyUp, which goals to assist would-be homebuyers who pay a subscription charge of $14.95 a month to spice up their credit score scores, slash debt, and save as much as purchase a house.
Sale-leaseback platform EasyKnock, which confronted client lawsuits and enforcement actions by attorneys basic in a number of states, closed its doorways in December after being hit by client lawsuits and enforcement actions by attorneys basic in Connecticut, Michigan and Massachusetts.
The Connecticut Legal professional Common’s Workplace alleged the corporate focused “cash-strapped homeowners in need of financing who, for reasons of poor credit or excessive debt, may not qualify for financing.”
E-mail Matt Carter