American Financial Resources, doing business as eLEND, is giving its broker partners access to an artificial intelligence-powered remodeling platform designed to introduce renovation financing earlier in the homebuying process.
Through a partnership announced Tuesday with Ready4Remodel, eLEND brokers and their borrowers will be able to generate before-and-after renovation visualizations, obtain preliminary cost estimates based on a property and project budget, and calculate how financing the improvements could affect a borrower’s monthly payment.
The strategy is less about automating the renovation loan itself and more about helping brokers turn homes requiring work into viable options for buyers who might otherwise dismiss them.
“Renovation lending has tremendous potential, but too often the process begins with uncertainty,” said Shaun Hamman, senior vice president of renovation and construction services at eLEND. “Borrowers may know what they want to change, but they don’t always know what is possible, what it will cost, or how they can finance it.”
Hamman said the platform allows borrowers to “see the vision, understand the cost, and explore the financing path upfront,” giving eLEND’s broker partners another way to approach prospective buyers.
Moving Renovation Financing Upstream
Renovation financing is typically discussed after a buyer has selected a property, identified the work it needs, and begun determining whether the project is affordable. Ready4Remodel is intended to move that conversation closer to the property-shopping stage.
That could allow mortgage brokers and real estate agents to show buyers how an outdated kitchen, unfinished space, or property in need of repairs could be improved and financed before the borrower submits a mortgage application.
For originators, the technology could function as a lead-development and sales tool by widening the range of properties a buyer is willing to consider. It could also help introduce renovation products to borrowers who may not know that acquisition and improvement costs can sometimes be combined into a single mortgage.
eLEND offers several renovation programs through its third-party origination channel, including FHA 203(k) Standard and Limited loans, Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation mortgages, VA renovation loans, and USDA renovation financing.
The company said it will pay for its partners and their borrowers to access Ready4Remodel. It did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership.
An Aging-Home Opportunity
The partnership comes as the age and condition of the country’s housing supply create a larger potential market for renovation lending.
Nearly 47% of owner-occupied homes were built before 1980, while the median age of the nation’s housing stock has reached 42 years, according to data previously reported by NMP. The share of homes at least 45 years old increased from 39% in 2014 to 47% in 2024.
That aging inventory, combined with high home prices and limited supplies of move-in-ready properties, can make homes requiring repairs or modernization one of the few affordable paths available to some buyers.
As NMP previously reported, those conditions are increasing the importance of renovation, construction, and purchase financing.
At the same time, more homeowners are remodeling rather than moving. A recent Redfin survey found that 65% of recent renovators improved their existing home instead of relocating. That trend limits housing turnover but creates potential business in renovation and home-equity products.
Early Estimate, Not Final Cost
Ready4Remodel says its estimates use property information, including a home’s square footage and bedroom and bathroom counts, to provide different renovation options. The platform also produces AI-generated images showing what the finished space could look like.
Ready4Remodel founding partner Skip Schenker, who said he has worked in renovation lending for more than three decades, described the eLEND partnership as validation of the concept behind the platform.
For eLEND, the investment reflects a broader effort to use technology not just to process mortgages, but to help brokers identify borrowers and create financing opportunities before an application begins.
The question now is whether helping borrowers picture a finished home can translate into more closed renovation loans.
