Your Dream Home, Right Now

New real estate startup brings easier homebuying model to Dallas

Don't let a large down payment stop you from getting into your dream home.

Photo courtesy of ZeroDown

Another real estate startup is coming to Dallas, aiming to disrupt the expensive and stressful process of buying a home.

Called ZeroDown, the company offers a uniquely modern solution to the rent vs. buy dilemma through its "lease-to-own" product. It works like this: Customers go shopping for their desired move-in-ready homes listed on the market, which ZeroDown buys for cash and rents back to them.

Customers pay rent to ZeroDown and have a valuable option to buy the home on their own timeline at an attractive price. That's because ZeroDown will increase the purchase price for the customer by 2.5 percent per year during the three-year option period, a small fraction of the 16.5 percent year-over-year home price appreciation calculated by the MetroTex Association of Realtors for December 2020.

All of the upside above the 2.5 percent annualized level can be captured by the customer if and when they choose to buy the home from ZeroDown. Unlike a mortgage, there is no upfront down payment involved, even for pricier homes above $1 million, and the customer can decide to leave the home anytime after two years without the intense friction of having to list and sell the homes themselves.

"We created ZeroDown so that you don't have to wait to live in the home that you want," says co-founder and CEO Abhijeet Dwivedi. "You can find a home you love, move in, and then build toward ownership."

Dallas is the fourth market for ZeroDown, following successful launches in Austin, Seattle, and its hometown of San Francisco.

Like those cities, Dallas is home to a fiercely competitive housing market and committing to a big down payment is a challenge for many buyers, even those with high incomes and strong credit.

If you're wondering how ZeroDown makes any money with this model, here's your answer: Commissions from sellers, rents, and increasing home prices. The company also offers a "white-glove concierge service" that includes help with cleaning, moving, furnishing, and more.

The company has raised over $150 million of debt and equity capital in its lifetime, with equity from Y Combinator, the accelerator's former president Sam Altman, and Goodwater Capital, and a credit facility from Credit Suisse and Blackstone to buy homes for customers.

"The housing market has changed," says Dwivedi. "Why should our approach to it stay the same?"

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Visit ZeroDown.com to search available listings, review market data, and learn more about the process.

home-for-sale promoted

Anna Land Buy

Cox Family sells 116 acres in Anna for mixed-use development

Courtesy photo

Anna, Texas

A major land sale in Anna is paving the way for new mixed-use development. According to a release, Frisco-based Rockhill Capital & Investments struck a deal with the Cox Family to acquire 116 acres at County Road 371 and SH-5, approximately two miles east of US-75.

Younger Partners Executive Managing Director John St. Clair, Vice President Tyler Hemenway, and Associate Davis Willoughby represented the seller in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.

Rockhill will sell fully entitled tracts of land to homebuilders, multifamily, and commercial developers.

The single-family portion will be built in phases with development of 325 single-family lots, says Rockhill Chief Development Officer Brent Libby in a statement.

“Construction will likely begin early in Q2 2025,” Libby said. “We’ve already sold 82 of the 116 acres to homebuilder Taylor Morrison and they should break ground first.”

The remaining acres are already being snapped up including 9.5 acres on SH 5 that is under contract to a commercial developer, and interest from a user/developer on the remaining 24 acres, which is zoned for multifamily.

The Cox Family owned the land for decades and had received multiple offers on the property over the years, but were never ready to sell.

“Ultimately, the family wanted to capitalize on the land market before unforeseen market factors took place,” said St. Clair of Younger Partners. “This deal took place at the right time with the right buyer.”

The acquisition nvolved a lengthy zoning process to acquire the land. Rockhill created a Public Improvement District (PID) on the single-family portion of the land, which helped the deal move forward.

Rockhill already has land holdings in nearby high-growth cities of Howe, Van Alstyne, and Sherman, and it ain't stopping here.

“We’ll continue to source and acquire land in the area where we can add value through entitlements, and either develop the property or hold it for some time and exit to another developer or end user,” Libby says.

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