Husmates is a new app for matching home buyers who are interested in co-owning property. “We’re using technology and community to solve one of the greatest global challenges, the housing security crisis,” says Parimal Gosai, co-founder of Husmates. “We soft-launched in the Greater Toronto Area in January 2022 and already have over 150 prospective co-owners on the platform.”
The company says its mission is “to help create households (Hus) of fellow sharers (Mates) who, when co-operating in purchasing property, can help disrupt the housing security crisis.”
It says living in co-ownership arrangements provides many benefits, including entering the housing market, building personal wealth through real estate, sharing expenses, creating an intentional community or building an alternative small-scale retirement community. It says the first step to co-ownership is finding the right co-owner or group of co-owners. The app makes co-ownership available to everyone, especially those who don’t already have an individual or group to buy with, the company says.
“Currently, Husmates allows users to join for free, match, chat and browse housing listings together,” says Gosai, “all important parts of forming a strong co-ownership group and buying a home together.”
Lesli Gaynor
Through their real estate business, GoCo Solutions, co-founders Parimal Gosai and Lesli Gaynor have more than 18 years of combined experience in co-ownership matchmaking and buying and selling co-ownership real estate.
“We had hundreds of requests from our existing and prospective clients to meet co-owners,” says Gaynor. “It only made sense for us to build a new tech business that would meet the needs of our clients and the millions of people nationally who can’t afford to purchase a property.”
Since launching the matchmaking, Husmates has successfully matched two groups of strangers into co-ownership buying teams, and one of them has already purchased their first property, the company says.
“This platform is for everyone, even if homeownership is only a dream,” says Gosai, “We have sold co-ownership properties where one co-owner doesn’t have a down payment but can pay the mortgage, and the other co-owner can provide a down payment. There are a plethora of ways that you can buy a property through the Husmates ecosystem.”
