Which applies to you?
This lets us know which side of the homebuying process you’re on, so we can help you get started with Homeward.
What do you want to do?
This lets us know how we can best help get your client started with Homeward.
Most alternatives to traditional real estate minimize or replace the agent. We’re an agent-led company. We believe agents are more important than ever, so we team up with some of the best.
Ready to help a client make a Homeward Offer?
Tim Heyl became a real estate agent in 2009 and soon noticed a pattern. “The traditional real estate transaction was broken,” he explains. “I kept running into the same problem: buyers couldn’t make an offer on a new home until they sold their old home.” Heyl watched his buyers get stuck paying two mortgages, moving twice, or worse — missing out on a home they loved.
"Buying a home should be fun and exciting, but many of my buyers were anxious," he remembers. "They felt rushed to make decisions and sometimes they made really bad ones." Unlike most tech companies and other players who were trying to displace agents from real estate transactions, Heyl firmly believed agents should be part of the solution. "People want a local real estate expert in their corner when they make this big purchase," he explains. "People need that guide."
So he stopped waiting for someone else to solve his clients’ problem and tried something radical: In December of 2018, he bought the home his clients wanted with his own money. “That cash unlocked the home equity my clients had tied up in their house,” he explains. Then they sold their old house and got a mortgage to buy the new house back from him. Homeward’s first service, Buy before you sell, was born. “My cash made the process easier, calmer, and more certain,” explains Heyl. It also gave his clients the ability to move on their own timeline instead of someone else’s. Heyl’s workaround solved the problem, but it wasn’t scalable.
And Heyl wanted to provide other agents the ability to do the same for their clients. Heyl knew his experience wasn’t unique. He understood that other agents were hamstrung by the traditional real estate transaction, too, and that they needed more innovative ways to attract and help clients.
So Heyl founded Homeward and began working toward our first round of funding — $25M — which closed in July 2019. In May 2020, less than a year later, we closed our second round of funding, this time for $105M.
And in May 2021, we secured $371M of additional growth capital, including $136M in equity and $235M in debt.
“Without Homeward, I never would have been able to help my clients get the home they wanted,” wrote one agent in an early review. “Homeward has helped my business and my clients. Real estate is changing and Homeward is on the forefront of those changes.”
In fact, Homeward’s first solution, Buy before you sell, was so popular that agents clamored for a service for their clients who didn’t have a home to sell. In January 2021, we introduced Buy with cash.
Since cash offers are three times more likely to beat financed bids, this product empowers agents to make every client a cash buyer, helping them compete in multiple offer situations and command better terms in less competitive markets.
Most alternatives to traditional real estate minimize the agent or require homebuyers to work with an agent they don’t know, an agent who may not even live in the market where they’re buying. At Homeward, we’re innovating with agents, positioning them to do more for their clients without earning any less — and homebuyers benefit. We’re proud to play a part in one of the biggest financial decisions of a consumer’s life and work hard every day to make it easier and more enjoyable.
Becoming a homeowner involves several steps. Once the seller accepts your offer, you still have to finance your home loan and close the purchase. The paperwork and process involved can be expensive, inefficient, and cumbersome. So we created The Homeward Way. After we help you buy with cash, you can finance your home with Homeward Mortgage, and then close on it with Homeward Title. We bundle our services to save homebuyers money, time, and effort. That’s the Homeward Way.
Tim Heyl grew up in real estate. His father founded one of Austin’s biggest home builders, inspiring Heyl to become an entrepreneur, too. So it should come as no surprise that by the time he was 24, Heyl was named the city’s number-one real estate agent by The Austin Business Journal. He ultimately led his brokerage, The Heyl Group, to be a five-time Inc 5,000 business and one of the top 25 agent teams in the country. Heyl has also built — and sold — several other real estate businesses, including Mint Title, a settlement company, and Phone Animal, an agent lead converter.
“I love helping real estate agents build sustainable businesses,” explains Heyl. “And I want to make it easier for people to buy and own homes. We have to modernize this industry. I want to partner with agents to do that.”
Heyl founded Homeward in 2018 and was named Inman News Innovator of the Year in 2019. Heyl is now a father himself: he has two daughters and a son. He and his wife, Liz, mentor engaged couples at their church, and love spending time with their children at their lake house outside Austin.
We’re a fully remote company with a headquarters in Austin, TX, and team members scattered across the United States. Today we operate in seven states. Tomorrow, we could be coming to your hometown. Give us your email and we’ll give you a heads-up when we’re headed your way.
We benefit from the expertise and counsel of leaders in real estate and tech.
We build innovative home finance solutions to overcome the limitations of the traditional mortgage.
In the future, our cash offer, flexible financing, and convenient closings will make buying a home as simple and seamless as any other online purchase.
Whether we’re dealing with colleagues or customers, we follow The Golden Rule, treating others the way we want to be treated. It’s a simple rule, but it’s also significant: we don’t prioritize money or growth over people, and we practice empathy at every opportunity.
We work in tech and build solutions for real estate. Both are fast-paced and stressful industries. So it’s important that we focus on the larger objective rather than rushing from one task to the next. If something is out of scope, we say “No.” If something feels rushed, we pump the brakes. This calm focus helps us create solutions our customers love.
Big problems require big solutions. We look at our customers’ experience holistically, and recognize that solving them requires collaboration across teams. This approach extends to cooperation among our three affiliate companies — Homeward, Homeward Mortgage and Homeward Title — and produces a more integrated homebuying experience.
"My team loves shipping new features to our agents and customers and making life easier for our colleagues. And we do it while helping each other grow. I'm really proud that we've built a team that's both driven and kind."
Our property has more than 20 trees on it.
"What I enjoy most about working here is that no two days are the same. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities for growth."
Our house has a little shower in the mudroom for our dogs, which also frequently gets used for kids.
"Homeward is that perfect blend of giving you space to learn and grow, while also giving you amazing mentors who you can look up to and learn from. I genuinely look forward to coming to work each day!"
My dream home is a tiny shack on the ocean!
"I love how collaborative Homeward is: every single department works together to get each customer to the finish line."
The house I currently live in resembles a treehouse — and I love it!
We’re on a mission to make homebuying as simple and seamless as any other online transaction. Want to help?
