Hometap Review 2026: Costs, Requirements, Pros and Cons

What is Hometap?

Hometap is a Boston-based financial technology company that began in 2017. Its main product is a home equity investment, often shortened to HEI. Hometap gives you a lump sum of cash today in exchange for a share of your home's future value. There are no monthly payments during the 10-year term. You settle the investment once, at or before the end of the term, by selling the home, refinancing or using savings.

Hometap says it has funded more than 29,000 homeowners. Investments are made through two Hometap entities, Hometap Equity Partners, LLC (NMLS ID 2467867) and Hometap Homeownership Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 2819930). Hometap records a lien against the property to secure its interest.

You may also see this kind of product called a home equity agreement or a home equity sharing agreement. Hometap calls it an investment because what it earns depends on what your home is worth when you settle. Our home equity hub covers the other ways to use the equity in your home.

Where is Hometap available?

As of this update, Hometap makes home equity investments in 27 states:

Hometap says more states are on the way. Homes in the other 23 states and the District of Columbia are not eligible today.

How does Hometap work?

You start with an estimate, which Hometap says takes less than 2 minutes and has no credit impact. If the numbers work for you, you complete an online application and Hometap reviews it in underwriting, which includes a third-party appraisal of the home. If you are approved, an Investment Manager walks you through the offer before you sign.

Funds arrive by wire, typically four to seven business days after signing. Hometap says the whole process could take as little as 30 to 45 days.

During the term you keep living in the home, and you stay responsible for upkeep, your traditional mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance. You also need to tell Hometap before you refinance, sell, rent out the home or add another lien.

You may settle at any point in the 10 years with no prepayment penalty. Settlement is a single transaction for the full amount due at that time. Hometap does not offer partial payments along the way.

Eligibility requirements

Hometap evaluates each property on its own, so read these as its published starting points. Meeting them does not mean you will be approved.

Additional requirements may apply, and Hometap notes that its eligibility criteria are subject to change.

What you could use the money for

Hometap does not restrict how you use the funds. These are the uses it highlights:

Because settling could cost more than the cash you receive, the uses that hold up best are the ones that leave you better off over the next 10 years, such as clearing high-cost debt or adding value to the home.

More: How to leverage your home equity

Hometap pricing and fees

You pay nothing out of pocket to start. Fees are deducted from your investment proceeds rather than paid upfront, and Hometap sends a detailed estimate of the final costs after you apply.

Example: on a $50,000 investment, the 4.5% processing fee is $2,250. Add third-party costs at the low and high ends of Hometap's ranges ($1,110 to $5,725) and you would receive roughly $42,025 to $46,640. Your own estimate will list exact figures.

How settlement works (the Hometap Share)

Hometap uses what it calls a share of home value model. You receive a percentage of your home's current value in cash, and Hometap earns an agreed percentage of the home's value on the day you settle. That agreed percentage is the Hometap Percentage, and it depends on how much you received and when you settle.

Under the two-tier pricing Hometap introduced in June 2026, the Hometap Percentage is 1.65 times the percentage of home value you received if you settle in years 0 to 5, and 1.8 times if you settle in years 6 to 10.

The percentage applies to whatever the home is worth at settlement, so the dollar amount rises if the home appreciates and falls if it loses value. What you actually pay, the Hometap Share, is the lesser of that amount and the Hometap Cap described below. Settlement is based on the sale price or a current appraisal, and a sale has to be an arm's-length transaction at 90% or more of fair market value.

Example: a $50,000 investment on a $500,000 home

These figures come from Hometap's own pricing calculator: a $500,000 home, a $50,000 investment (10% of the home's value) and its moderate appreciation setting of 3.25% a year, which Hometap describes as the 20-year national average.

Here is the math for year 10. A $500,000 home growing 3.25% a year is worth $688,447. Eighteen percent of that is $123,920, which is below the cap of $313,534, so $123,920 is the Hometap Share. You received $50,000 before fees, so the investment cost you $73,920 over 10 years.

In years 1 and 3 the cap is the lower number, so the cap sets what you pay. By year 5 the percentage amount is lower, and it stays that way through year 10.

The same calculator shows what happens if the home's value moves differently before a year 10 settlement:

Look at the middle row. Even if the home loses 8% of its value, this example settles for $82,800 on $50,000 received. A drop in value lowers the dollar amount, but it does not mean you settle for less than you received.

The Hometap Cap

The Hometap Cap is the limit on what Hometap could receive. Hometap describes it as “your built-in protection that limits how much Hometap can receive when you settle.” It is calculated as an 18.5% annual rate, compounded monthly, on the cash you received, or lower if state law requires. You pay the lesser of the cap and the Hometap Percentage.

On a $50,000 investment the cap works out to $60,076 after 1 year, $86,729 after 3 years, $125,207 after 5 years and $313,534 after 10 years. The formula is the investment amount multiplied by (1 + 18.5% / 12) once for every month invested.

In practice the cap matters most if you settle in the first few years, or if your home's value jumps quickly. In the 10-year examples above, including 8% appreciation a year, the percentage amount was the lower number.

Renovation adjustment

If you complete qualified renovations of $25,000 or more, you may ask Hometap to adjust the agreed home value so that it does not share in the value those renovations added. You have 90 days after the work is finished to send evidence such as receipts and photos. An appraiser determines the adjustment, which is the difference between the home's value after the renovation and its estimated value without it. Hometap notes that adjustments are not guaranteed.

Hometap pros and cons

Here is how the verified terms net out.

Is Hometap legit?

Yes. Hometap is an established company, not a scam. It has operated since 2017, lists its NMLS IDs on its website, has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since May 2019 and reports more than 29,000 funded homeowners. Legitimate is not the same as right for you, so read the customer feedback and the pending Massachusetts case below before you decide.

Hometap customer reviews

The Better Business Bureau itself grades Hometap B+, and its profile cites 16 complaints filed against the business as a reason for that grade. The recent reviews we read on Trustpilot were about the staff and the application process, not about settling an investment.

Hometap complaints and the Massachusetts lawsuit

On February 20, 2025, the Massachusetts Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Hometap Equity Partners, LLC and HomeTap Management Holdings, LLC in Suffolk County Superior Court. The Attorney General's announcement says the complaint alleges that Hometap violated the state's consumer protection laws and concealed the cost of its product in its marketing.

Those are allegations and they have not been proven. The Better Business Bureau lists the matter as a pending government action, and we did not find a statement about the case in Hometap's online newsroom. Massachusetts is not on the list of states where Hometap currently invests.

Hometap vs. other home equity investment companies

Hometap is one of several companies that offer home equity investments. Here is how it lines up against two others, using the figures each company publishes on its own website.

Hometap and Splitero share the highest ceiling of the three, and Hometap has the longest state list. Unlock and Splitero publish a lower minimum credit score of 500, so they are the ones to check if your score is under 575. Unlock also allows partial buyouts during the term, subject to its approval, and a Splitero term could run as long as 30 years, which matters if a 10-year deadline is the sticking point.

More: Best home equity investment companies

How to apply for a Hometap investment

What if Hometap turns you down?

A decline could trace back to any one of the published requirements. The home is outside the 27 states, your FICO score is under 575, you have less than 25% equity, or the property type is not eligible. What to do next depends on which one it was.

If your credit score is the issue, Unlock (26 states) and Splitero (17 states) each publish a minimum credit score of 500.

If equity is the issue, paying down your traditional mortgage or waiting for the home to appreciate could get you to 25%. A home equity calculator shows where you stand today.

If your state is the issue, check the availability row in the comparison above. Each company has a different state list.

Hometap review: the bottom line

Hometap delivers what it advertises: a large lump sum, no monthly payments for up to 10 years, and qualification that rests on your home and a 575 FICO score, with no income or employment requirements. Its pricing is published, its cap is published, and its calculator shows what settling could cost in any year before you apply.

The cost shows up at the end. Settling could cost far more than you received, and the full amount is due in one transaction by year 10. If you would be counting on a rising home value to cover it, or you expect to move within two years, look at other options first.

Hometap FAQ

How we reviewed Hometap

This review is the editorial view of smarts.co, built from primary sources. We read Hometap's home page, how it works page, FAQs, pricing guide and June 2026 pricing announcement, ran scenarios in its public pricing calculator and opened its estimate page. We read Hometap's profiles on Trustpilot, the Better Business Bureau and Google, and the Massachusetts Attorney General's announcement of its lawsuit. Figures for Unlock and Splitero come from their own websites.

We did not give Hometap a star score of our own. The stars at the top of this page are its customer rating on Trustpilot. In place of a score, here is what we measured and what we found.

Sources