Bellevue, Washington-based real estate investment firm Legacy Group Capital announced this week that it has acquired fintech company Rook Capital, a provider of home equity investment (HEI) products through its “Shared Value Investment” brand. Legacy is privately owned and terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“As [HEIs] evolve and grow into a foundational component of the real estate market, the need to empower builders with a homebuyer-focused HEI is paramount,” Legacy said in its announcement of the acquisition. “Rook Capital’s award-winning platform provides the best-in-class solution for homebuyer-focused HEIs, bringing together and aligning builders and homebuyers.”
Legacy CEO Scott Rerucha said his company immediately identified an opportunity when examining Rook’s potential.
“We fell in love with Rook Capital immediately,“ he said in a statement. “The innovative HEI offering, the world-class technology, and a channel-led strategy were a perfect fit for Legacy.”
The resources of Legacy also mesh well with Rook’s desire to offer its product to more potential clients, according to Ed Messman, co-founder and CEO of Rook Capital.
“Bringing together builders, investors, and homebuyers allows the Rook vision to scale at a pace we’d never have been able to do without Legacy’s know-how, heft, and experience,” Messman said in a statement.
HEI companies have been garnering more attention of late from larger investors, according to prior reporting by HousingWire.
This market “is expected to grow as HEI companies seek to partner with mortgage lenders and real estate brokerages,” the reporting stated. “Rated securitizations of home equity agreements and home equity investments is also adding optimism about further expansion as they signal that institutional investors are warming up to the asset class.”
Certain HEI companies have also sought partnerships with reverse mortgage companies, which Hometap CEO Jeff Glass has called a “complementary” business to HEI providers.
“I think this is one of these things where, as this industry is becoming a little bit more well-known and as this idea of a home equity investment becomes a little bit more popular and understood, it’s becoming something where we and folks inside the reverse industry and other industries are starting to collaborate more and more,” Glass told Reverse Mortgage Daily in 2022.
He added that adaptability is an ideal trait for both HEI companies and any industries they may choose to partner with.
“It’s a big world out there, and there’s a variety of solutions. As we say, just as debt may not be the right answer for some homeowners, our home equity investment may not be the right answer,” Glass said at the time.