Unison Review 2026: Equity Sharing Costs, Requirements, Pros and Cons

What is Unison?

Unison is a home equity company that says it was founded in 2006 and is based in San Francisco and Omaha. Its product is the Unison Equity Sharing Agreement. Unison gives you a lump sum of cash today, and in exchange it shares in the future change in your home's value. There are no monthly payments for up to 30 years, and Unison says it charges no interest. You settle once, when you sell the home, buy Unison out or reach the end of the term.

The company behind the name is Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., doing business as Unison. Its site lists Unison Agreement Corporation and Unison Investment Management, LLC as separate operating subsidiaries, and says more than 17,000 people have used the product. Unison says its funding comes mainly from institutional investors such as pension funds and university endowments. It records a lien on your property to secure the agreement, in second position if you have a mortgage.

You will also see this kind of product called a home equity agreement or a home equity investment. Our home equity hub covers the other ways to use the equity in your home.

Where is Unison available?

Unison lists 22 states and Washington, D.C. on its site today:

Homes in the other 28 states are not eligible today. Seven states have no home equity agreement company at all among the six we compare (Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia), and in Texas only Nada lists the state. A HELOC or home equity loan is usually the practical route in all eight.

How does Unison work?

You start with an estimate, which Unison says is free, takes minutes and does not affect your credit. If you go ahead, you apply online or with one of its home equity specialists, and Unison arranges an independent appraisal through an appraisal management company. It uses a soft credit pull to review your credit report.

The appraisal sets the starting point. Unison reduces the appraised value by a 5% Risk Adjustment to get what it calls the Original Agreed Value. On a home appraised at $500,000, that is $475,000. Every later gain or loss is measured from that lower number.

During the term you keep living in the home and stay responsible for your mortgage, taxes, insurance and upkeep. Unison sets a Maximum Authorized Debt Limit, which caps the total debt secured by the home, and it warns that refinancing could be harder because some lenders will not lend behind an agreement that shares in appreciation. If you expect to refinance soon, Unison suggests doing it first.

Eligibility requirements

Unison evaluates your credit, your income and your property. These are its published starting points, and meeting them does not mean you will be approved.

More: Home equity options by credit score

Unison pricing and fees

Unison charges one fee of its own and passes through third-party costs. Its site says you owe nothing if you decide not to go ahead, and that Unison pays for the credit report.

Example: on a $50,000 payment, the 3.9% transaction fee is $1,950. Add third-party costs at the low and high ends of Unison's ranges ($1,800 to $4,050) and the total is roughly $3,750 to $6,000.

How settlement works

When the agreement ends, Unison sets an Ending Agreed Value, which is typically the sale price. You return the Initial Payment, plus or minus Unison's Investor Percentage of the difference between the Original Agreed Value and the Ending Agreed Value. Unison says its percentage is typically four times the percentage it invested. If it invests 10% of your home's current value, it shares in 40% of the change.

Illustration: a $50,000 payment on a $500,000 home

Unison's site gives the formula but no full worked example, so this one is ours. It applies Unison's published terms to round numbers and is not a quote. The assumptions: a $500,000 appraisal, an Original Agreed Value of $475,000 after the 5% Risk Adjustment, a $50,000 payment equal to 10% of the appraised value, an Investor Percentage of exactly 40%, a sale after the first five years, and no remodeling or maintenance adjustments.

Two things stand out. If the home sells for exactly what it appraised for, you still owe $10,000 more than you received, because the change is measured from the risk-adjusted $475,000. And the cost climbs quickly with appreciation: if the home sells for $700,000, you return $140,000, nearly three times the $50,000 you received.

The restriction period

Unison describes its product as long-term funding and says it is not right for you unless you plan to stay at least five years. If you sell during the restriction period, which its FAQ describes as the first five years and elsewhere as typically three to five, Unison does not share in a loss, so you owe at least the amount you received plus its share of the Risk Adjustment. An Equity Appreciation Limit caps Unison's return in that period, but its site does not publish the rate.

Buying Unison out without selling works the same way at any point: an independent appraisal sets the value, and Unison does not share in any decrease. In the illustration above, a buyout would cost at least $60,000 even if the home had lost value.

Remodeling and maintenance adjustments

If you improve the home with licensed contractors and document the work, a Remodeling Adjustment keeps the value you added out of Unison's share. It is not available if you end the agreement in the first three years. The reverse also applies: if the home has lost value because of neglected upkeep, a Deferred Maintenance Adjustment assigns that loss to you.

Unison pros and cons

Is Unison legit?

Unison is an established company, not a scam. It says it has operated since 2006, the Better Business Bureau has accredited it since August 2013 and gives it an A+ grade, and its site reports more than 17,000 customers. Legitimate is not the same as right for you, and Unison is a defendant in class action lawsuits about how its product is described and regulated, so read the next two sections before you decide.

We could not find a license list or an NMLS ID on Unison's site today, and we did not verify a license record ourselves. Whether an equity sharing agreement needs a mortgage license is one of the questions in the lawsuits below.

Unison reviews from customers

The two sources point in different directions, and the Better Business Bureau sample is small. Trustpilot's own summary of recent reviews says customers praise the staff and their responsiveness during the application. The Better Business Bureau lists 11 complaints in the last three years, two of them closed in the last 12 months, and the most recent customer review we read there, from May 2026, was a dispute over a payoff amount. Reviews written at funding say little about what settling is like years later.

Unison lawsuits

We read three matters at their source. All involve allegations, and we did not find a final judgment against Unison in any of them.

The plaintiffs' central argument in each is that the agreement works like a loan and should follow the rules for one. Unison's position, stated on its site, is that the agreement is not a loan. The pages of its site we read do not mention the cases. Washington and Massachusetts are not on Unison's current state list. We also searched for enforcement actions by regulators against Unison and did not find one, which is not proof that none exists.

Unison vs. other home equity agreement companies

Unison asks for the highest credit score of the six companies we compare and does not generally take rentals. Here is how it lines up against two that publish lower minimums, using the figures each company publishes on its own website.

Unison is the only one of the three with a 30-year term and the only one that shares in the change in value. Hometap and Unlock each earn a share of the home's whole value at settlement and use a 10-year term.

If your score is under 620, those two are the ones to check: Hometap publishes a minimum FICO score of 575 and Unlock a minimum credit score of 500. Unlock also invests in second homes and rental properties. Our Hometap review and Unlock review cover each in full.

More: Best home equity agreement companies

How to apply for a Unison equity sharing agreement

What if Unison turns you down?

A decline usually traces back to one of the published requirements: the state, the credit score, how much is already owed on the home, or how the home is used. What to do next depends on which one it was.

If your credit score is the issue, Unlock publishes a minimum credit score of 500 and Hometap a minimum FICO score of 575.

If the home is a rental or a second home, Unlock invests in both. If you owe too much on the home, paying down your mortgage or waiting for the home to appreciate could change the answer, and a home equity calculator shows where you stand today.

If your state is the issue, each company has a different list, and in a state with no agreement company a HELOC or home equity loan is usually the practical route.

More: HEI vs HELOC: costs, requirements and how to choose

Unison review: the bottom line

Unison offers something the 10-year products do not: up to 30 years with no payments, and a cost that follows the change in your home's value. If the home gains little, the agreement is cheap. If it gains a lot, Unison's 40% share of that gain on a 10% payment adds up fast, and the 5% Risk Adjustment means you start slightly behind.

It asks more of you than most companies in this market: a mid-FICO score of at least 620 in general, a home you live in, and a plan to stay five years or longer. Weigh the pending lawsuits too, and compare at least one other offer before you sign.

Unison FAQ

How we reviewed Unison

This review is the editorial view of Smarts, built from primary sources read on October 6, 2026. We read Unison's home page, its Equity Sharing Agreement page and its FAQ answers on eligibility, costs, settlement, the restriction period and the company. We opened its estimate page, read its profiles on Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau, and read the court documents and announcement linked above. Figures for the two other companies come from their own websites.

We did not give Unison 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 looked at and what we found.

Sources