SayLambda

Solution Name:

SayLambda

One-line solution summary:

We are the Amazon of homeownership incentives, and a community hub for Black potential homeowners who feel excluded from the market.

Pitch your solution.

Historic and systemic racism in the housing market has led to gaps in wealth, particularly among Black Americans. These inequities have led to the inability of Black Americans to use home equity as a means to create and transfer generational wealth. Decreasing the wealth gap through access to home equity and reversing the effects of redlining will bring societal transformation and will be a generation-changing opportunity. 

For many Black households, the obstacle to homeownership is saving enough money for the down-payment. The obstacle results in many opting out of the home buying process. We have created a customizable, digital portal to expand access to information on homeownership incentives and other home buyer resources to service their specific situation. There is plenty of knowledge on the internet but most of it is not curated in a way that helps a homebuyer through the process.  SayLambda is a guide for timid, first-time homebuyers who think that homeownership is not for them.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

The Black homeownership rate is 43% and the White homeownership rate is 73%, Homeownership has been traditionally one-sided in the US. Black American communities have historically been targeted and destroyed by corporations and the government. Although our community has been resilient, past historic wrong has resulted in a wealth gap that now makes it difficult for Black households to purchase a home.

Of the 8 million Black rental households, 3.5 million want to buy a home every year but never do. They recognize the value of homeownership and understand the tremendous value homeownership has created for other communities, but they feel excluded. Unfortunately, there are less than $300,000 Black first-time homebuyers every year; leaving over 3 million who feel rejected and who often give up. 

These potential home buyers feel excluded because of a lack of trust, a lack of confidence about mortgages, and the belief that they can not afford the down payment. The number one reason given for not buying, despite historical wrongs, is the lack of downpayment. We learned this from deep conversations with our user base, but a report from Urban Institute shows this is true across all communities. Due to perceived down payment barriers, these families often end up self-rejecting from the home buying process.

What is your solution?

We were frustrated by how the wealth gap stopped Black households from generating wealth through homeownership.  Although it's not an easy problem, it’s a solvable problem. From our community development work, we knew that there were thousands of organizations providing homeownership incentives to improve communities. We decided to make these incentives as easy to find as it is to shop on Amazon. 

The right solution increases awareness of homeownership incentives, creates a community of potential homebuyers, fosters mentorship, and leverages artificial intelligence to incubate the requalification process.  There are no alternative solutions that provide all these resources for home buyers.  

Our program descriptions are easy to read, tagged by a number of different properties, and fully searchable. In addition, there is no alternative commercial solution that creates a community of consumers. Our community will include leaders and volunteers from a number of agencies, brokerages, lenders, housing counselors, and researchers. There are not any Facebook groups that have industry partners who provide scheduled events and educational workshops.  

Finally, we will use artificial intelligence to redirect users to counselors, lenders, and agents at the appropriate time.  SayLambda leverages artificial intelligence to help buyers find the right home in a way that works for them.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

There are eight million Black rental households in the United States. Forty-five percent of them regret renting because they are not building equity, but they often never buy, and end up living with that regret. These potential homebuyers often end up self rejecting from the home buying process, denying themselves and their families the opportunity for generational wealth. The reason they self reject is because they lack confidence about mortgages, they don’t believe they can afford the downpayment, and they have a lack of trust for the industry because of historical wrongs.  The product was designed for 3.5 million Black households who want to buy a home every year, but have self-rejected from the homebuying process. In comparison, there are less than 300,000 Black first-time buyers every year.

We wanted to build a solution that attacks the root of the homeownership gap. We invested considerable time talking to Black households, to make sure we developed a solution that is rooted in conversation with potential users. Our solution was conceived, designed, and developed by a team that has a shared lived experience with those users. In our conversations, we learned that the number one perceived barrier to homeownership is affording the down payment. Our solution is to raise awareness about down payment requirements, and make it easy to find homeownership incentives. Ultimately, we want to build an experience that is as seamless as shopping on Amazon.

Although we have not officially launched, it appears our solution is helping. We have had users thank us because they didn’t realize first-time home buyers could have owned a home 3 years ago. We have had users thank us for identifying incentive programs for people with high income, but limited wealth. 

We are using this pilot period to discover new features that will help our users. Based on conversations and feedback, we have already added features to help users find counselors, community events, other non-profits, and lending partners. When users search for incentives they are signifying an intent to buy, along with doubt that they can make the purchase. We learned that we can, and should, redirect users during that search to counselors in that area. We are hoping we can measure conversion from intent to purchase.

From our conversations, we were also reminded that self rejection (or literally getting rejected) is a lonely process. Our users typically do not tell co-workers, friends, or family. Our solution will eliminate this solitary experience through an online community where prospective purchasers help, encourage and support one another. In the near future, we will implement surveys, powered by gamification, to measure and track user’s growth for uninformed to sophisticated and confident consumers.

We have developed a three-step technical solution. We start with the development of the largest database of homeownership incentives in the country. The incentives are presented to our users in an intuitive and compelling website. After we eliminate the downpayment as the major barrier, we usher users into our online community. Our final step is using artificial intelligence and behavior patterns to redirect users to counselors, lenders, and agents at the appropriate time. 

Our outreach includes engagement with nonprofit affordable housing organizations that are working with clients to help them achieve homeownership. We also target city projects, developers, and real estate agencies to help onboard new users and share information. Our digital marketing includes engagement through Clubhouse, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Our solution is single-mindedly focused on equitable access to generational wealth creation. It makes resources easy to find, and we are building a community of like-minded individuals with both a shared vision and a shared pain. In addition, after moving into their new homes we will encourage civic engagement and enable communities to plan and control their neighborhoods.

What is your solution’s stage of development?

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

We are at the pilot stage because we have deployed our website as a soft launch. We are currently allowing all users to use it to search for home buying incentives. We have incentives entered for Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. We will be adding incentives from new states weekly.

For our first few months, we are targeting 3,400 visitors per month. We will convert those visitors to 171 users per month. Once we begin focusing on the community aspect, we will convert those users to 5 buyers per month. After measuring results, we will scale.

Over the next 4 weeks, we will roll out new features. These new features will include functionality allowing the introduction of counselors for home buyers, information on and profiles for other mission-aligned nonprofits, and lender profile pages where Lenders can provide information on their preferred programs. We will focus on community building after the launch.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Kwasi Frye