Divvy Homes

Divvy Homes is a San Francisco-based proptech company operating a rent-to-own homeownership program for consumers who cannot yet qualify for a traditional mortgage. A customer applies through a short online application that produces an approved home-buying budget, then shops for a qualifying home on the open market, typically with a real estate agent. Divvy purchases the selected property with cash and leases it back to the customer, who contributes an initial 1-2% of the home value toward down-payment savings. Up to 25% of each subsequent monthly payment is allocated to those savings, allowing a customer to accumulate up to roughly 10% of the home's value over a three-year lease, at which point they can seek a conventional mortgage and buy the property; the home can be purchased at any point during the term. Customers who choose not to buy can walk away and cash out their accrued savings, and Divvy covers taxes, maintenance and insurance during the lease [2][3][5].

The company positioned itself as a modernized alternative to traditional rent-to-own arrangements, which historically carried a reputation for predatory terms such as forfeiture of savings on missed payments and above-market pricing. Divvy's stated differentiators include equity that appreciates with the home's value and the ability to cash out if the customer leaves [5]. As of April 2023 an external research profile listed the company at 249 employees, Series D stage, headquartered in San Francisco and founded July 2017 [3].

After rapid growth from 2017 through 2021, rising mortgage rates from 2022 made the forward buyback prices Divvy needed to set for tenants unworkable and pushed required monthly payments out of line with local rents. The company conducted three rounds of layoffs, largely stopped acquiring homes, and by late 2023 held a portfolio of roughly 7,000 homes. In January 2025 it was reported to be selling to Maymont Homes, a Brookfield Properties division, in a transaction industry insiders characterized as an asset acquisition that could lead to the wind-down of the rent-to-own business [7][6].