High home prices and a limited supply of homes have made it difficult for some people to enter the market.

Divvy makes most of its money from rent, but also from the appreciation of the home at sale.

The company typically works with high-credit-score borrowers (>700) and makes money by charging an additional 1% of the home’s price in closing costs.

People with steady incomes but less-than-perfect credit are often shut out of buying homes because they can’t qualify for mortgage, or do not have sufficient money saved for a down-payment.

For a $10k fee, ZeroDown will buy a home on a consumer’s behalf and rent it to him for 5 years. Each month, Consumers earn equity in their home. After 5 years, they have credits worth 15% of the home’s value.

ZeroDown offers a similar rent-to-own service, but in very hot real-estate markets.

Flyhomes buys the home for you with cash. The Consumer can move in immediately and pay Flyhomes daily rent until the mortgage comes through (2 to 3 weeks).

ZeroDown - $30M in equity led by Sam Altman/Goodwater + 100M debt with Credit Suisse.

Millennials, in particular, face steep obstacles to homeownership because of student-loan debt/low savings.