Khosla’s Keith Rabois leads $11.5M Series A for startup Roam, calls it ‘the future of the housing market’

Summary

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mortgage interest rates dropped to historic lows — as low as 2.5%. Fast-forward a few years and rates soared — to highs nearing 8% in 2023, with the national average 30-year fixed mortgage APR as of April 1 still at 6.84%. The whiplash has left many people seeking to buy homes shut out of the market. But what if there was a way to still get the interest rates of years past? With assumable mortgages, there might be. An assumable mortgage is one where an outstanding loan is transferable to the buyer. Enter Roam, a New York-based startup with the mission of providing access to “thousands” of homes with assumable mortgages across the country. CEO Raunaq Singh — who worked in product for three years at Opendoor — founded Roam in September 2023. Roam helped facilitate $200 million worth of home sales for “several hundred” buyers in 2024. And more than 200,000 buyers have registered on its platform in the last 12 months. While Singh did not disclose hard revenue figures, he told TechCrunch that Roam charges each buyer 1% of the purchase price. Doing the math, 1% of $200 million translates to Roam making $2 million in revenue in 2024. Singh claims that assumable loans can save buyers up to 50% on their monthly payments compared to purchases with current mortgage rates. A seller’s equity must be cashed out, Singh acknowledges, noting that Roam has built a product that makes it possible “for buyers to bring as little as 5% down so they can get a 5% (or less) blended rate.” For example, he said, for a home with a $420,000 sales price, where the seller has a 2.25% rate and $135,293 of equity — the buyer doesn’t need to bring the full amount as a down payment. “You can bring 20%, which is $84,000, and get gap financing for the remaining $51,000 to receive a blended rate of 3.45% to still save hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Singh said. “As long as you qualify for an FHA or VA loan, you’ll qualify to assume a mortgage with Roam. If you can’t quali...