Over the summer, a real estate startup committed to giving seniors more housing options began its operations in St. Louis. The company, TrueHold, is based in New York, but has chosen St. Louis as the pilot market for its new sale-leaseback program.
TrueHold is directed towards senior homeowners. It buys their homes from them and allows them to rent it back from TrueHold as long as they want to live there. The startup would then sell the home once the residents move out. As the homeowners, TrueHold would do all the maintenance on the property, allowing senior residents to stay in their own homes after the point when general upkeep would become excessively burdensome.
The startup markets itself as a giving senior homeowners more flexibility and options, an alternative to reverse-mortgage programs or simply moving into a senior living facility. Their sale-leaseback program allows seniors to get the equity on their home immediately, without the stress of finding and moving into a new residence.
TrueHold has chosen St. Louis as its pilot market. The startup raised nearly $4 million earlier this year, and began operating in St. Louis in July. Since then, they state that they either have closed or are in the process of closing with around 20 houses in the area. They hope to expand their operations in St. Louis to 20 customers per month, and grow to other metropolitan areas from there.