Bonus Homes: Letting Homeowners Cash Out Without Selling Out
Slice of Real Estate Team
10/23/2025
Introduction
Millions of Americans are sitting on a fortune in home equity, but the only way to unlock it is to sell their home. Bonus Homes says: what if you didn’t have to?
A New Way to Tap Into Home Equity
Bonus Homes introduces a totally new concept: the Home Appreciation Partnership (HAP). Instead of taking out a loan or selling your house, homeowners can cash out their equity while still keeping ownership of the property. Bonus turns the home into a rental, manages everything, and then splits the future appreciation.
No debt. No monthly payments. And no giving up your most valuable asset.
From FHA Underwriter to Mortgage Tech Pioneer
Kyle Kamrooz didn’t set out to build a home equity startup. In fact, he was planning to work on Wall Street before being pulled into the mortgage industry by his dad. Over two decades, Kamrooz became a HUD-endorsed FHA underwriter, launched and sold a major mortgage tech firm (CloudVirga), and co-founded a venture fund that backed more than 30 startups.
But Bonus Homes started as a personal story: watching his dad sell a house in 2010 for $580K, only to see it hit $1.1 million a decade later. “He didn’t want to sell, but he needed the equity,” Kamrooz recalled. “That missed wealth haunted him.”
What Makes Bonus Different
There are plenty of cash-out and “buy before you sell” options. But Kamrooz is blunt: “They all end with you giving up an appreciating asset.” Bonus doesn’t. Homeowners keep ownership and get a third of the upside when the home is eventually sold, without having to lift a finger.
The model is simple: Bonus gives you a lump sum in weeks, turns your home into a rental, covers all expenses with the rental income (mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA), and manages everything. You don’t pay anything out of pocket. Later, you split the appreciation, with homeowners getting 33% of the gain even though they invested no time or money.
A Real Customer: From Lock-In to Financial Freedom
One homeowner in Surprise, Arizona had a $400K home with a $250K mortgage at 3%. She knew the home would keep appreciating but needed her equity to move. Bonus gave her $150K in weeks. She moved. Bonus rented the property, handled maintenance (including a leaky roof and HVAC), and she never got a call. A year and a half later, she’s building long-term wealth, passively.
If the home eventually sells for $800K, she’ll pocket an extra $130K on top of the $150K she already received, all without taking on debt.
Who It Helps Most
Kamrooz is clear: this isn’t for ultra-wealthy homeowners who can afford to hold rentals on their own. It’s for regular people who need their equity to move forward but don’t want to lose out on future gains.
It’s also for people in tough situations. One homeowner, recently widowed and behind on payments, used Bonus to avoid foreclosure. Now, he’s traveling abroad while Bonus manages the home, and he still owns it.
Where It’s Working
Bonus focuses on single-family homes in emerging rental markets where job growth and migration trends point upward. Think Phoenix, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, and parts of Ohio. “We’re skating to where the puck is going,” Kamrooz said.
The Bigger Vision
The long game is about wealth preservation. Bonus wants to eliminate the regret so many homeowners feel when they look back at homes they sold too early. “We’re giving people a chance to turn their home into a retirement account,” Kamrooz said.
Like any new model, Bonus has to build trust. But Kamrooz isn’t daunted. “Uber, Airbnb, they all had to earn it. So will we.”
Final Thought
Homeownership has always been the American dream. Bonus Homes is quietly rewriting what that dream can look like and giving everyday people a way to hold onto the most valuable thing they own.
