Home Equity Appreciation powered by Honest Casa
The plain-English HEA guide Get My Estimate

Home Equity Appreciation: cash from your home, without a monthly payment.

Here's the whole idea in one breath: a company gives you a lump sum of cash today, and in exchange receives a share of how much your home grows in value by the time you sell, refinance, or buy them out. It's not a HELOC — no loan, no interest rate, no new bill every month. It's not a reverse mortgage — no age requirement, no balance growing against your home. You keep living in your home and you keep owning it. This page explains the whole thing in plain English — including the parts the ads skip.

Not a HELOC, not a reverse mortgage — no interest, no monthly payment, ever
No income documents and credit scores as low as 500 — nothing is owed until settlement
The honest cost: a share of your home's future growth — this page shows you the actual math
Not a HELOCNo loan, no interest, no bill
Not a reverse mortgageNo age limit. No growing debt.
FICO as low as 500No income docs either
You keep titleOwner and occupant throughout
Your real estimate is 60 seconds away 0%

How much cash are you exploring?

Reading first is fine — the estimate makes the math concrete. Check your rate as of .

$100,000

One lump sum, no monthly payments

$15K$500K
Secure ~60 seconds No SSN needed

Let's estimate your equity

Appreciation-sharing is sized from today's equity — best guesses are fine.

ESTIMATED AVAILABLE EQUITY$150,000

What's your credit score range?

Your best estimate is fine — it's confirmed later in the process.

What would the cash do?

This helps tailor your estimate.

What's the property address?

Start typing and select your address — we verify it instantly so your estimate is accurate.

We couldn't verify this address — check the spelling or select one of the suggestions
Unit number is required for condos & townhomes
Address is verified against official U.S. records

Where should we send your estimate?

Please use your full legal name (as it appears on your government-issued ID) and an email and mobile number you control — these details are verified and used in the underwriting process. Inaccurate information can delay your estimate.

First name is required
Last name is required
Enter a valid date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY)
Enter a valid email address
Enter a valid 10-digit phone number
How your information is protected: encrypted in transit, used only to prepare your estimate and verify your identity, and never sold to third parties.
Your information is encrypted and never sold

Congrats — you're a fit!

You've been matched. A licensed specialist will turn the theory on this page into your actual numbers — share percentage, dollars, and the HELOC comparison — and reach out.

Requested amount$100,000
Estimated equity$150,000
Property—
What happens next: Watch your email and phone — a licensed specialist at West Capital Lending will reach out within one business day with your HEA estimate and the honest HELOC comparison. No documents needed until you've seen the numbers.

Fit is based on the answers you provided and is not a loan approval. Loan options are subject to verification, credit approval, and underwriting.

$0/month
An HEA has no payment schedule — cost settles once, from home value
Up to $500K
Lump sums sized by equity, not income or credit
30 years
Maximum term — settle anytime earlier by sale, refi, or buyout, no penalty
From 500
Credit scores accepted — there's no payment to underwrite

One mechanism, four names

The industry hasn't settled on a term, which makes research miserable. These are all the same product family — and here's how the mechanism actually works.

The names you'll see

  • HEA — home equity agreement: the contract framing
  • HEI — home equity investment: the investor framing (same thing)
  • Shared appreciation agreement — the descriptive name: you share appreciation
  • Home equity sharing — the consumer-press shorthand

The mechanism in four sentences

  • A provider pays you a lump sum today, sized from your equity — up to $500K in the program we offer
  • You keep title, keep living there, and make no payments — for up to 30 years
  • When you sell, refinance, or choose to buy out, you return the original amount plus the provider's share of how much the home's value changed
  • If the home appreciated a lot, the cash was expensive; modestly, it was cheap — that's the bet both sides are making

The math, with real numbers

Hypothetical: $500,000 home, $100,000 lump sum, a ~35% share of value change measured from a risk-adjusted starting value. Three futures for the same agreement, settled at year 10:

MarketHome value at year 10You settle for ≈Compare: HELOC interest paid by then
Hot (+6%/yr)≈ $895,000$100K + ≈ $156K share≈ $90K — HELOC likely won
Typical (+3%/yr)≈ $672,000$100K + ≈ $78K share≈ $90K — roughly a wash, but you paid $0/month
Flat (0%/yr)$500,000$100K + ≈ $18K share≈ $90K — HEA won decisively

Illustrative and rounded; assumes a typical structure with a ~10% risk-adjusted starting value and ~35% share; the HELOC column assumes $100K interest-only at an illustrative 8.99%. Actual HEA terms vary by provider and scenario — your estimate shows your exact share and dollars. Not an offer or advice. The pattern to remember: the HEA's cost scales with your market; the HELOC's cost scales with time and rates — and only one of them bills you monthly along the way.

From reading to real numbers in 3 steps

Every HEA is priced to the specific home — the only way past hypotheticals is an estimate.

01

Share your equity picture

Sixty seconds: home value, mortgage balance, credit range. No SSN, no income fields, no hard credit pull.

~60 seconds
02

Get the concrete version

Your estimate translates this page into your numbers: the lump sum available, the appreciation share, the settlement mechanics — plus what a HELOC would cost you instead.

1 business day
03

Decide with both in hand

Take the HEA, take the HELOC, or take neither — you'll be deciding from real terms rather than category marketing. We offer both, so the recommendation follows your math.

Your call

HEA vs every other way to tap equity

Four tools, four tradeoffs — matched to the job, not the marketing.

HEA · share the upsideNO PAYMENTSHELOC / equity loanReverse mortgage (62+)
Monthly payment None Yes, from day one None
Age requirement None None 62+ only
Income / credit gate None / from 500 Income + ~640 Lighter, but fees
What it costs Share of value change Interest (rate-capped) Compounding interest + fees
Balance grows over time No balance at all Only what you draw Yes — compounds against equity
Upfront costs Typically low Low–moderate High (insurance + origination)
You keep 100% of appreciation No — that's the price Yes Yes (interest eats it instead)
Settle early without penalty Yes Usually Varies

Frequently asked questions

What is a home equity appreciation agreement?
A contract where a provider gives you a lump sum of cash today in exchange for a share of your home's change in value, settled when you sell, refinance, or buy out the agreement — up to 30 years later in the program we offer. It's also marketed as a home equity agreement (HEA), home equity investment (HEI), or shared appreciation agreement. It is not a loan: no interest, no monthly payments, no income requirements.
Is an HEA the same as an HEI?
Functionally yes. 'Agreement' and 'investment' are two framings of the same mechanism — cash now for a slice of future value. Different providers pick different labels; compare the contract terms, not the branding.
What does an HEA actually cost?
A share of your home's change in value — typically calculated from a 'risk-adjusted' starting value set below your appraisal (that adjustment is the term most homeowners miss). The worked table above shows the pattern: expensive in hot markets, cheap in flat ones, and $0/month in all of them. Your estimate states your exact share and the dollar outcomes at different appreciation rates.
Who qualifies?
Homeowners with meaningful equity. There's no income documentation, no DTI limit, and credit scores from 500 are accepted — because nothing is owed monthly, there's no payment to underwrite. Lump sums run up to $500,000 based on equity.
Do I still own my home?
Yes — you remain the owner and occupant, keep the title, and can sell whenever you want. The provider holds a lien (like a mortgage lender does) securing their share until settlement, but they have no ownership stake, no key to your house, and no say in your life.
What happens at the end of the term?
You settle: original amount plus the value-change share, paid from sale proceeds, a refinance, or cash. With a 30-year maximum term and penalty-free early buyout, you control the timing — the common outcomes are settling at a natural sale, or buying out early once income/credit recovers enough to refinance into a cheaper product.
How is this different from a reverse mortgage?
Both have no monthly payments, but the mechanics diverge sharply: a reverse mortgage is a loan whose balance grows as interest compounds against your equity, is limited to homeowners 62+, and carries high upfront costs. An HEA has no balance and no interest — its cost is the appreciation share — no age requirement, and typically much lower upfront costs. For 62+ homeowners we'd compare both honestly.
How is it different from a HELOC?
A HELOC is a loan: monthly payments from day one, income and credit qualification, cost capped by the rate, and you keep 100% of your appreciation. The HEA flips every one of those. Broadly: qualify comfortably and afford the payment → HELOC is usually cheaper; payment-constrained, income-undocumented, or credit-challenged → the HEA is usually the one that's actually available. We offer both and show both numbers.
Is selling a share of my appreciation ever the smart move for wealthy homeowners?
Sometimes, yes — it's a diversification tool. If most of your net worth is trapped in one house in one zip code, an HEA converts a slice of that concentrated, illiquid position into liquid cash without triggering a sale, capital gains, or a monthly payment. You're effectively hedging your own housing market.
What are the red flags to check in any HEA contract?
Four terms decide everything: the share percentage, the risk-adjusted starting value (how far below appraisal), the term length and settlement triggers, and whether early buyout carries penalties. The program we offer runs to 30 years with penalty-free buyout; whatever provider you consider, make them put those four numbers in writing before anything else.
Who's behind this site?
This site is operated by the team at Honest Casa (NMLS #1566096, Equal Housing Lender, Irvine, CA), offering home equity agreements through a leading HEA provider we partner with, alongside HELOC options across a 90+ lender network. We may receive compensation from the provider or lenders, which is disclosed here. Verify licensing at NMLS Consumer Access.

You've read how it works. Now see your numbers.

Your actual share, your actual dollars, the honest HELOC comparison — in one business day.

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