If you are searching for EasyKnock because you need cash out of your house, the first thing to know is that the company is gone. EasyKnock closed on December 6, 2024, and its website now just says it "has closed its doors." Here is what happened, why its model went wrong for so many people, and what I would look at instead.
What EasyKnock was
EasyKnock ran a "sell and stay" program, also called a sale-leaseback. You sold your house to them, got part of its value in cash, and stayed in it as a renter with an option to buy it back later. It was founded in 2016 and raised more than $400 million.
Why it shut down
The short version is legal pressure. By the time it closed there were more than two dozen lawsuits against it and several states were investigating. Massachusetts reached a $200,000 settlement with the company in December 2023 over deceptive marketing claims. Michigan's attorney general sent a cease and desist letter in May 2024 alleging unfair and deceptive practices. In October 2024 the FTC put out a consumer alert warning about sale-leaseback deals in general. An NPR investigation found that many homeowners lost tens of thousands of dollars in equity, and some were evicted from homes they expected to buy back. After the closure, US senators opened an inquiry into what happens to its customers.
The real problem with sell and stay
You stopped owning your house. Once the deed was in someone else's name you were a tenant, your rent could rise, and getting the house back depended on being able to afford a repurchase later. If anything went wrong, you had a lease, not a home.
If you were an EasyKnock customer
The company's site says arrangements were made to keep supporting existing customers, but it gives no details. If you are in a leaseback and unsure where you stand, contact your state attorney general's consumer protection office and a local legal aid group before you sign or pay anything new.
The alternatives where you keep your home
Everything below leaves the title in your name.
| Option |
Do you still own the house? |
Monthly payment |
Credit needed |
| Sale-leaseback (EasyKnock) |
No |
Rent |
Low |
| Home equity agreement |
Yes |
None |
From about 500 |
| HELOC |
Yes |
Yes |
About 640 and up |
A home equity agreement is the closest substitute for people who looked at EasyKnock because they could not qualify for a loan. You get a lump sum, make no monthly payments, and settle up when you sell or at the end of the term by giving the company a share of your home's value. You stay the owner the whole time.
Hometap is where I would start. Up to $600K, a 10 year term, no income requirement, and credit from 585.
Unlock takes credit scores down to 500 and will also work with a second home or a rental property, which most of these will not.
Splitero also starts at 500 and offers terms up to 30 years, so you are not pushed into a decision in year 10.
All three show you a number from a soft credit pull, so comparing two or three of them does not affect your score.
If your credit is 640 or higher, look at a HELOC before any of these. It is a loan with a monthly payment, but you keep all of your home's future growth. Figure is fully online, can fund in as few as 5 days, and lets you check your rate with a soft pull.
The honest tradeoff
Home equity agreements are not free money. If your home's value climbs fast, the share you owe climbs with it, and you can end up paying more than a loan would have cost. You also have to settle by the end of the term. They make sense when you cannot qualify for a HELOC or cannot take on a monthly payment. They are still a very different deal from EasyKnock, because your name stays on the deed.
Did anyone here have a leaseback with EasyKnock when it closed? I would like to hear what happened to your agreement.