Why the shift away from corporate homeownership strengthens Home Appreciation Partnerships (HAPs)
There’s been a lot of chatter about the administration’s move to curb corporate ownership of single-family homes. For us at Bonus, it’s not a surprise, it’s validation.
This is the direction housing needed to move all along.
From day one, our core idea has been the same: lasting value in middle-class communities is created when the people who live in them remain financially invested in them.
Think about what happens when your neighbors get a new job or need to move closer to family. Most people can’t, or don’t want to, become landlords. So the for-sale sign goes up, and they sell - creating a terminal event that cuts short any long-term wealth-building potential tied to that home.
Over the last decade, as corporate buyers increasingly arrived with cash offers and quick closings, homes that once anchored families to their neighborhoods were reduced to line items on a balance sheet and the personal tether to community has been quietly unraveling.
Bonus was created to change that.
We do this through aligned interests, because Bonus partners with homeowners for the long haul. We manage the home with the same care a homeowner would, because we both benefit when its value grows over time. Instead of forcing families to choose between mobility and wealth, we cash them out of their equity so they can pursue that exciting new job, expand their family, or upgrade their living situation, all without liquidating their future.
As we scale, something even more powerful will happen.
We will ensure that every “Bonus renter” knows that “Bonus Homes” are owned by families, not corporations. They’ll understand that one day, the “bonus” that that homeowner will receive from the appreciation, may fund a child’s education or help secure a retirement. That knowledge changes how renters treat the home, how they engage with the neighborhood, and ultimately how communities thrive.
This matters.
With Bonus, the next time a family needs to move, they aren’t saying goodbye to the neighborhood forever. They remain invested in the communities they helped build.
Structurally, Bonus is sound and fits well within this new policy framework. We don’t own the home. The property remains in the homeowner’s name, and they retain full control over when they choose to sell. That’s the subtle genius of the Home Appreciation Partnership (HAP) model and why it’s so compelling and different from anything else in the market. Never before has a model so seamlessly aligned a company with its customers, strengthened communities, and delivered real economic returns, all at the same time.
This is how you modernize housing.
