Questions families ask.

Tufa is the investment platform where your family's housing account and the fund live. FamilyBacked is your mortgage company: we handle your loan. Family Backed Mortgage, Inc. is the licensed mortgage subsidiary of Tufa, Inc. Your family opens their account with Tufa directly, and the account details, including anything about how the investment works, are at tufafunds.com.

Yes. Your first mortgage is a standard mortgage, with you as the borrower, underwritten the normal way. You qualify for it on your own. On eligible loan programs, the fund's second lien sits alongside it at closing. The second doesn't change how you qualify for the first, and it doesn't count against your debt-to-income ratio.

We're your mortgage company. Family Backed Mortgage, Inc. is the licensed mortgage subsidiary of Tufa, Inc. Our license type isn't the same in every state, so what we can do depends on where you're buying. The exact picture, state by state, is on our disclosures page.

No. The second lien has no monthly payment and no interest. Nothing is due until you sell, refinance, or decide to pay it off. At that point it is repaid as a fixed share of your home's value. Because it is tied to value rather than a balance that grows, if your home is worth less then, the repayment is less too.

The second also does not count against your debt-to-income ratio, and it does not change how your first mortgage is underwritten. You qualify for the first mortgage on your own, the standard way.

No. If a family investment doesn't make sense for your situation, you can still get a mortgage through us, on the same terms as anyone else. The family part is what makes us different, not a requirement.

The intake doesn't pull credit, so exploring your range has no impact on your score. A formal credit check only happens later, after you decide you want to proceed with an application, and we'll tell you before it happens.

The early steps (seeing your range, exploring scenarios) take as long as you want; most people do it in an evening. The mortgage itself, once you formally apply, follows standard timelines for a conforming loan: typically 30 to 45 days to close.

No. You own your home outright, and your parents are never on the title. What they hold is shares in a fund, in their own name, through their account at Tufa. The fund holds a second lien on the home, so your parents own an investment, not a piece of your house. You live there, and you decide if and when to sell or refinance.

You sell like any homeowner. The second lien is repaid out of the proceeds as the fixed share of your home's value you agreed to at closing, the same way your first mortgage is paid off. What's left is yours. Your family isn't paid by you and doesn't take a cut of your sale. Their return reaches them through the fund, at Tufa.

It never passes through you. Your family opens a housing account at Tufa and invests. Their money goes from that account into the fund, and the fund provides the second lien at closing. You don't receive their money, you don't hold it, and there's nothing for you to deposit or document as a gift, because it isn't one.

They can't force you to sell. The second lien is repaid when you sell, refinance, or choose to pay it off, and not before. Nothing about their investment puts a clock on your home. Questions about their own account, including what they can and can't do with their shares, are handled by Tufa at tufafunds.com.

It's a different picture than a gift, because it isn't one. Your family is making an investment and keeping it in their own name, so the questions are investment questions rather than gift questions. The specifics depend on their situation and current tax law, so it's one to talk through with their accountant, and with Tufa for anything about the account itself.