Unison - San Francisco, California

John W.

The Unison Agreement (UA) has it's place in the world of home finance. You should be fully informed before agreeing to taking on a UA so doing your research is mission critical.

We took on a UA in 2007 when values crashed. By 2016 our home value was back at the level seen in 2007. Since we didn't have to make payments, we thought paying the UA off wouldn't be a wise use of capital. In hindsight, we should have since our home value doubled by 2024. The UA took a significant bite out of our sale proceeds and could have been avoided with an early payoff. As they say "live, and learn".

What you should know:

1) There are other options that may require payments, but do not take equity growth as part of the payoff. Consider an Interest Only loan, or a Balloon Payment loan - both often will be private financing options - and take care of a temporary financial issue you may be facing.

2) Unison will tell you "Oh, we have refinance options available" and yes, they do. Just be sure you're OK with a really, really terrible ARM or a fixed loan with a rate 4-5 percent above what you're paying today.

3) Know that the exit process will be an uphill slog. Their staff is easily confused, unwilling to think outside the box, and not really in a hurry to help you. We nearly missed our sale escrow closing date because the appraisal wasn't ordered in a timely manner. I had to re-send documents a few times because they don't have a process that confirms receipt of the documentation. My contact at Unison left for a vacation 4 days before our closing date, did not let us know they would be gone, and handed the deal off to someone who knew zero about our deal. Luckily that person really tried to "right the ship" and get us back on track, but odds of getting someone like that who is willing to help are narrow to say the least.

I've seen reviews where the appraisal product they order and receive is "not what they wanted" and they try and order another appraisal. Do not let that happen since it's a very, very gray legal area, and one that favors the lender (Unison) over the borrower (you) in almost every case.

So to summarize - The UA is there for a reason and that reason may fit your needs. Know what all of your options are before signing up. Be ready for a difficult exit plan. Finally, be sure you are comfortable with your first loan terms as you have to stick with them throughout the term of the UA - even though they will tell you otherwise....

David E.

There came a point in my life where I had lots of equity in my home that could be put to better use for me and my family; so I investigated several ways of tapping that equity that would give us the best outcome for what we wanted to accomplish.
After checking out home equity credit lines, reverse mortgages, home equity sharing, and getting a second trust dead, I decided that home equity sharing was the best option for our specific situation and checked out three different home equity sharing companies. After some time and thorough comparisons I settled on Unison. Unison assigned Mary Kay Walton to me as my contact and representative. Mary Kay was always helpful and responsive and kept me up to date on the process. There were no hiccups and the funding was completed on schedule.

Neal A.

Unison is a unique and very different way to tap into the equity in your home without adding any extra monthly payments. They share in the increased value of your home (or even in a loss of value!) in exchange for loaning you money that you do not need to make any payments on or any accrued interest either. You only owe them when you sell your home and you can take up to 30 years to pay them back. I was in a situation where I needed money from my equity but was not in a position to refinance nor make extra monthly payments. Unison was a life saver for me. I calculated out doing a cash-out refinance and the extra payments and interest I would pay as opposed to a Unison loan and I was still better off financially with this loan with the added benefit of no extra monthly payments. They were very friendly to deal with. I had an answer quickly and everything was taken care of online, with a couple phone calls and a home inspection and appraisal. Everything from start to finish (funding) was only about 3 weeks. I highly recommend this as an alternative to a home equity loan. Do the math and decide for yourself.

Joe M.

I am a 100% disabled veteran , unison is not cooperating with closing out my contract .
We had 3 appraisals ( one by them)
All appraisals are consistent in value yet they refuse to give a payoff demand to my title company. Their delay is costing me in a rate increase and daily payments

They chose the 2 initial appraisals 3 years ago and chose one to close out the legal contract .
They are not cooperating because their profit is lower than they want

Anthony C.

If you are considering using Unison to get money from you home, you need to read this. I used to sell their product for them, so I am very knowledgeable about them. I also took money out of my home 3 years ago using the Unison HomeOwner Agreement, because I believed in the product. However, I just sold that home, and my situation has been a nightmare.

I can comment about 2 things, and both are very big. First off, if you plan on getting a fair Remodeling Adjustment for work you do on your home after you enter an agreement with them, think again.

At the beginning of the agreement, Unison and I valued my house right after I had it built new with no landscaping and no finished basement. I then spent $125,000 on those 2 things, and Unison only gave me a remodeling adjustment (after just 3 years of those things being completed) of $20,000.

From my conversations with Unison and the appraiser, I can gather that Unison doesn't communicate to the appraiser properly. My appraiser didn't even know he was being asked to evaluate my property if these items had not been finished by me. He thought he was performing a normal appraisal. The appraiser gave me no value for all of the landscape and hardscape I put in ($60,000 worth).

So after pleading with Unison to give me some credit for this work, as common sense says my home is worth more with landscaping than with none, they simply said "we don't do gentlemen agreements...value can only be based on what the appraiser says."

My house is the same size as 2 others in my neighborhood that sold recently. My outside work blows theirs away and they had no finished basement. Because of this, my home sold for $55,000 higher than theirs. How can this higher sale price not be because of the landscaping and basement?

My home would've sold for less than those 2 homes if my landscape and basement were not done. A remodeling agreement is supposed to let you keep the value you put into your home after the agreement, but this is not the case here. I get a $20,000 credit when I should get more than $55,000. Unison gets 70% of this $55,000, meaning at least $38,500 that was supposed to be mine is now theirs.

Secondly, their customer service is terrible. I knew this when I worked for them. They were terrible to their sales people, slow to respond, and aggravating customers because we sales people could not communicate in a timely manner on questions customers had that we needed answers from Unison's back office. Unison also kept changing their sales people's incentive pay to keep it lower than promised, screwing us over again and again. That was why I quit. So, it was frustrating working there to say the least.

So back to my HomeOwner Agreement issues...Unison responded pretty quickly to my email letting them know that I was selling my home. However after that, they then went silent for more than a week while I tried texting and calling. I only got results when I reached out to someone I knew from my time working there and ultimately got a message to the boss about what was happening. At that point, they started springing into action.

Another customer service problem...1.5 years ago I sent them all the information on my property updates (basement and landscape): invoices and pictures of both jobs being done. They acted like they never got it from me and wanted me to refill the paperwork out and resend the pics. It was only after I had reached their boss that they suddenly found everything and I wouldn't have to resubmit it.

So good luck to you if you get into an agreement with them, especially one where you are expecting them to be fair to you in regards with a remodeling adjustment.

Doug W.

Received a mailer from Unison with a check example, claiming they might be able to give me $66k on my home, with no payments, no APR until I sell my home. They say it is a great deal and they will "share" in the value increase of my home.

After a careful reading, not only is there a hefty 3.9% fee (basically an origination fee of the amount they will loan me), but they will also take 40% of the value increase of my home.

So, if they give me $50,000, and my home increases in value by $100,000, then their fee is $40,000? This does NOT seem like a good deal.

Shane B.

Through a bulk mail offer, this company gave a 92 year old women in early stage dementia a loan of $48750 against 60% profit of her home. Surprise, she passed away 2 years later and her family had to pay them $123750. She was told the initial payment of $48750 bought the 60% and she would never have to pay it back. Who ever heard of having buying something but having to pay the purchase price back. An attorney advised that there was no way the contract was legal and the money didn't have to be paid back but wanted at least $50,000 to fight it. Attempts to discuss with company was meant with rude strong arm statement such as "your house belongs to us, tough". This 92 year old dementia victim had a 820 credit score and could have walked in to a bank and received a home equity loan for single digit interest rate. Shame on them. I can back up this review with written facts.

C J.

This company is predatory. Sara Crooks is complicit in this predatory strategy. Read the fine print. Nothing in life is free, this is just a new variation of predatory lending practices. Do not give up your home equity to these people. Fine print essentially states they will always come out on top no matter what. You subsidize the downward risk, not Unison.

I really do home this place and other similar predatory businesses cease to exist. Sara Crooks advocates for this stuff. My hope is she comes to her senses and learns some ethics. This may be legal right now, but i view it as extremely unethical.