Point Home Equity Review: How It Works, Pros & Cons

Point, founded in 2014, is one of the oldest providers of home equity sharing investments (HEIs).

Most homeowners know about home equity loans and HELOCs, which let you borrow against your home’s equity. But not everyone wants more debt. Point offers a different solution: it invests in your home equity, providing cash today with no monthly payments.

In this Point Home Equity review, I’ll explain how Point works and use real numbers to illustrate various scenarios and costs.

HEIs are complex, so understanding the fine print is important. If you qualify for a traditional home equity loan, that’s likely your best option. If you don’t meet the requirements or are unsure about your ability to cover monthly payments, Point offers a viable alternative—just be sure to carefully weigh the pros and cons.

Point Basics: How it Works

There are now a handful of companies in the home equity sharing space. 

These companies engage in home equity sharing — a practice where a company provides a homeowner with funds up-front in exchange for a portion of the home’s change in value over time.

You don’t pay back the home equity sharing company monthly, as you would with traditional debt. Instead, funds are paid back at either the end of the term, when you sell your home, or — as is the case with Point — at any time during the term.

Editor’s note: Not all companies structure their contracts the same way. Some make you pay back the initial investment plus a percentage of your home’s appreciation, whereas others make you pay back a percentage of your home’s total value at the time the contract ends.

The math on sharing your home equity — with Point or any other company — isn’t as black and white as a HELOC or home equity loan.   

While examples will follow, here’s a quick breakdown of the process with Point.

1. You provide details about your home to ensure your property is eligible.
2. Point has your home appraised.
3. To account for market volatility and property-specific risks, Point applies a risk adjustment—typically between 25% and 30%—based on factors such as your credit profile and the HEI’s debt position (income isn’t a factor). This creates a baseline value that is lower than your home’s full appraised value. If your home’s value grows beyond that baseline, you’ll share a percentage of additional appreciation with Point.
4. You receive cash upfront — after a processing fee (up to 3.9%) and closing costs (such as appraisals, title, and credit report) are deducted — with no monthly payments or interest.
5. When you sell, refinance, or opt for an early buyout, you repay Point the original cash plus a percentage of any gain above the risk‑adjusted baseline. This final amount is calculated based on how much your home’s market value has increased since the baseline was set.

Point offers interactive calculators on its website that I recommend using to assess your specific situation.

Point Pricing Example #1

To understand the costs associated with selling a portion of your home’s future appreciation with Point, it’s best to go through in-depth examples. 

Let’s say after your initial application process, you qualify for an investment, and your home’s appraised market value is $500,000, and you’re looking to take out $50,000. This would be a 10% equity stake in your home’s market value.

Point starts by applying a 27% risk adjustment to your home’s appraised value. This risk-adjusted rate lowers the upfront agreed-upon value of your home. With this 27% risk-adjusted rate, the starting point for your home’s value with Point would be roughly $365,000.

During the underwriting process, Point provides you with a percentage of the home’s appreciation you’ll share going forward.

In our example, which corresponds closely to the calculations on Point’s website, let’s say that we agree to share 21.4%. This means Point gets 21.4% of the appreciated value over $365,000 (the risk-adjusted baseline), while you would keep the remaining 78.6%.

Now, assume that six years down the road, your home hasn’t changed in value. This would minimize the amount you owe Point since there’s no appreciation to share, but it’s not necessarily ideal for your overall financial picture since you’re not benefiting from the property value growth.

Nonetheless, if you wanted to end the contract at this point, say you were selling your home, you’d owe Point $79,000.  

Here’s how we calculated this:

Starting market value:	$500,000
Cash received from Point:	$50,000
Risk-adjusted home value (27%):	$365,000
Future home value (6 years):	$500,000
Appreciation based on risk-adjusted home value:	$135,000
21.4% of shared appreciation:	$29,000
Amount you owe Point (21.4% of appreciation + original stake):	$79,000

We’ll explore additional scenarios next, but for now, understand that this is the basic structure of Point’s pricing.

Point calculates this as equivalent to a 7.9% annual APR. This means if you received $50,000 today and repaid $79,000 six years later with no monthly payments in between, you’d effectively be paying about 7.9% interest annually.

This is a favorable example specifically because the home didn’t appreciate in value over a longer period of time. In scenarios with home appreciation, the amount you owe Point would increase, potentially resulting in a higher effective APR.

Worth mentioning as well, these terms were based on someone with a 49% combined loan-to-value ratio and a 740 credit score.. If your credit profile isn’t as strong, your terms might not be as favorable.

A key variable to focus on is the percentage of appreciation you share with Point. In this example, it’s 21.4%, but this number varies based on your credit profile. It can be higher or lower depending on your specific situation.

Point Pricing Example #2

In the example above, we assumed a 0% change in home value over six years. Below, let’s look at what hypothetical terms are on a 20-year HEI, where your home appreciates on average 5.5% per year.

Starting with a $500,000 home, Point offers $50,000 upfront (10% of the current value). After applying a 27% risk adjustment, the baseline value becomes $365,000.

After 20 years, the home’s value grows to $1,459,000, and Point’s share amounts to $284,000. This represents their original $50,000 investment plus 21.4% of the appreciation above the baseline. The homeowner keeps $1,175,000 of the value. Point calculates this is equivalent to a 9.1% annual interest rate.

As you can see, the more your home appreciates the higher the cost.

Keeping in mind that you’re still benefiting as well, since your home is increasing in value. So, while you owe more to Point as your home appreciates, you’re still gaining significant equity. This appreciation scenario can actually be considered a positive outcome for both parties, as you’ve grown your overall net worth while Point has earned their return.

While it didn’t come in use here, one feature that sets Point apart from competitors is the Homeowner Protection cap. Provided during underwriting, this cap limits the total amount you’ll repay Point, regardless of how much your home’s value increases. This can be beneficial if your home significantly increases in value.

Point Pricing Example #3

A key factor to consider when evaluating your potential investment is your share of appreciation – the percentage of your home’s future change in value that you agree to share with Point. So far, we’ve discussed sharing 21.4% with Point, but now let’s look at a scenario where you share 30%.

This example assumes you hold the investment for 20 years and your home appreciates at 5.5% per year.

Here’s how the terms would change:

Starting market value:	$500,000
Cash received from Point:	$50,000
Risk-adjusted home value (27%):	$365,000
Future home value (20 years):	$1,459,000
Appreciation based on risk-adjusted home value:	$1,094,000
30% of shared appreciation:	$328,200
Amount you owe Point (30% of appreciation + original stake):	$378,200

With a 30% appreciation share instead of 21.4%, your payment to Point increases from $284,000 to $378,200 – a difference of $94,200. This would be equivalent to an annual interest rate of approximately 10.7% versus the original 9.1%.

Homeowners with lower credit scores or higher combined loan-to-value ratios might receive offers with higher sharing percentages, which is going to impact the overall APR.

Expected Upfront Costs and Fees

Like other forms of equity financing, Point’s process involves standard costs, but there are no out-of-pocket expenses during the application and underwriting processes. You might incur only minor fees (for example, for faxing documents or obtaining an official copy). All fees are deducted from the Investment Payment and homeowners only pay if the HEI funds.

Here’s what to expect:

• Processing Fee: 3.9% (subject to a $2,000 minimum)
• Appraisal Fee: Up to $1,000
• Title and Government Fees: $1,000–$1,600
• Credit Report Fee: $40–$50
• Flood Certification Fee: $12

During the investment, there are no monthly payments or service fees.

Application and Eligibility

Point allows for both owner or non-owner occupied homes. In addition, residential real estate up to four units.

Their minimum credit score is 500.

There are no requirements for income or liquid assets.

At the time of writing, Point is available in select cities in the following states (we update this list periodically to keep it accurate):

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• Washington DC

How Much You Can Get

Point invests between $30,000 and $500,000, depending on your home’s market value and your available equity at the time of application. You must have at least 27% equity remaining in your home after Point’s investment (although some properties may require a higher equity level).

Point tells you how much they think you’ll qualify for after you fill out a short pre-application form on their website. 

That said, they’ll get a third-party appraiser to determine the appraised value. From there, Point will typically add the risk adjustment to arrive at your Appreciation Starting Value.

Point Competitors and Alternatives

Comparing home equity sharing companies is a difficult task. 

There is no standard home equity sharing contract. Companies in the space are widely different in terms of what they offer, and therefore the best one for you depends on your unique situation.

Furthermore, some of the vital information you need to compare Point against its competitors isn’t provided until you’ve applied (specifically, the risk-adjusted home value, the predetermined cap, and Point’s share of the appreciation). 

That said, a major difference worth highlighting is that Point offers a lengthy 30-year term. Only one other company in this space offers such a long term. Hometap, for example, has a max contract duration of just ten years. 

Here are some highlights regarding Point’s competitors:

• Hometap. Offers a max contract of ten years, a max loan-to-value of 75%, and a minimum of 600 credit score is needed to qualify. Available in only 12 states.  Their contracts work by taking a percentage of your home’s total value rather a slice of the appreciation. So, you might see a lower percentage shared upfront but it’s based on your home’s total value. For a deeper dive, check out our complete Hometap vs. Point comparison guide.
• Unison. Unison also offers 30-year terms. However, you can only receive up to 17.5% of your home’s value in proceeds. They cap the amount of cash you can receive at $400,000. Similar to Point, they use a a risk adjustment upfront, then share a percentage after.
• Unlock. Terms have a maximum duration of ten years, and the required credit score is 500. Unlock is unique in that it allows partial buyback of your agreement prior to the end of the term. They use a model similar to Hometap where they’re sharing in the entire home value.

Learn more in our roundup of the best home equity sharing companies.

Point Review: Is It Right For You?

Home equity sharing companies like Point offer homeowners a method of bolstering their finances without taking on a monthly payment.

When you run the numbers, there’s a wide range of outcomes.

For comparison’s sake, someone with a high credit score and a stable income who has built up equity in their home can get a home equity line of credit for around 8% to 10%. So, when you compare an investment with Point to a traditional home equity loan, the simplicity of the loan will likely win out. 

But not everyone will qualify for such favorable loan terms — which is why home equity sharing is popular among those who are strapped for cash and have equity in their homes. 

The big question is this: What will you do with the money you receive from Point?

Say a home equity sharing investment allows you to pay off a crippling amount of high-interest credit card debt, which then allows you to fully take advantage of your employer’s 401(K) match. In situations like this, it’s easy to make the case that you’ll come out far ahead. 

What’s important for you is to run the numbers and have a plan with regard to what to use the money for and when and how you’ll exit.

Visit Point.com.