Dallas-based fintech company Zippy is disrupting the financing of manufactured housing in North Texas and other states with its digital lending platform.
CEO Ben Halliday
Founded in 2021 by former JPMorgan Chase bankers, the startup is led by CEO Ben Halliday, a TCU graduate, and COO and President Jordan Bucy. The company seeks to increase access to affordable housing via manufactured homes.
“We met originally at JPMorgan. I was working in the Private Bank advising high net worth clients, and Ben was helping build their venture bank,” Bucy told Dallas Innovates.
The co-founders got introduced to manufactured housing and found there are a lot of misconceptions about it. “We just kind of dove in.” Halliday said in Yahoo! Finance earlier this year. “We got excited about it from an investment perspective and as a way to help solve the nation’s affordable housing crisis.”
Digital lending platform for manufactured home communities in 11 states
Zippy partners with manufactured home communities in North Texas to offer affordable housing solutions.
“Until Zippy, the industry has been all pen and paper and now with Zippy everything is done virtually and fast,” a Zippy spokesperson said. Zippy’s online platform allows borrowers to apply for, receive, and manage loans for manufactured homes entirely through a digital interface.
To solve the problem, Zippy built what it calls an “industry-first” platform that originates loans in as little as five days, the company said.
Now Zippy’s digital lending platform for manufactured home loans is available in 11 states, including Texas. The company plans to more than double its footprint in 2023, by establishing partnerships with hundreds of communities.
Timely loans for affordable housing
COO Jordan Bucy
The founders first acquired a manufactured community in Lubbock, where they gained respect for the industry during the community’s four-year revitalization.
The two entrepreneurs “got over our skis pretty fast.” Still, they worked on the property for three years, buying land, replacing water lines, remodeling the property and landscaping, adding a park and playgrounds and sold 80 homes in what is now known as the Lone Star Manufactured Home Community.
Halliday and Bucy also discovered the challenges that come with a concentrated market running on antiquated technology, which inspired the co-founders to evolve Zippy into a manufactured housing loan business.
Today, Zippy’s mission is to make getting a loan to buy a manufactured home “simple, online, and fast,” its co-founders say. [Image: Zippy]
Recent investment from FirstBank
FirstBank recently invested in Zippy, helping to establish a foundation for the company to continue working on its mission.
As home prices escalate, FirstBank understands how important it is to make affordable housing more accessible in communities, according to President and CEO Chris Holmes. Joining forces with Zippy, he said, is a strategic move for FirstBank as it “creates pathways to homeownership for its customers.”
Quincy Preston contributed to this report. The story was updated on March 27, 2023, at 2:23 p.m. with additional information.
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