Company Introduces Flexible, Try Before you Buy Model and Guarantees Income Once Purchased
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Summer, an innovative approach to second home ownership founded by former Airbnb employees, today came out of stealth to announce the official launch of its offering. Summer allows prospective homeowners to try out a home before they buy and guarantees income after they purchase to lower the costs of ownership. Now, anyone interested in owning a vacation home can visit gosummer.com to learn more about Summer’s flexible, streamlined approach. Following their product launch, Summer has also announced $13.4M in seed funding led by QED Investors and Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from 1Sharpe Ventures, firstminute capital and a roster of industry angel investors.
“We’re excited by the Summer team’s commitment to increasing access to home ownership,” said Frank Rotman, partner at QED Investors. “Home ownership should work for the owner, not the other way around.”
Summer is on a mission to change the way people buy and use second homes. Traditionally, purchasing a home is a rigid, complex process with high upfront costs and misaligned incentives. With Summer, prospective homeowners have an opportunity to own real estate at a lower cost, with the ability to earn equity faster and try a home before they buy.
“Not only are we giving people access to spaces where they can spend time with family and friends, we’re helping them make smart financial investments in great, appreciating markets,” said Paul Kromidas, co-founder & CEO, Summer. “We’re creating lasting ownership and access to an asset class that has traditionally been far out of reach for many people. Owning real estate is a powerful lever for wealth creation and generational financial security and we’re excited to help enable that.”
Because the Summer team is committed to helping more people enjoy access to second home ownership, they’ve redesigned each step of the ownership process to be buyer-first — from home selection, purchase and design to rental logistics, maintenance and property management:
Home Selection: buyers can select from Summer’s collection of ready-to-live homes, or partner with a top Summer agent.
Ownership Options: buyers can choose to purchase a home immediately with guaranteed income or they can utilize Summer’s “try before you buy” offering.
Streamlined Experience: Summer designs and furnishes the home to maximize rental performance, then handles all the logistics of ownership.
Access to the Summer Network: Summer members have access to Summer’s entire network of homes — from a mountain retreat to a beachside bungalow.
“We saw an opportunity to remove the complexities from this major financial decision, and give folks a peek behind the curtain of homeownership,” said Summer Co-Founder and COO Woods Buckley.
Currently, Summer operates seven homes across five markets, including: the Hamptons; Hudson Valley, NY; Miami, FL; the Colorado and Utah Rockies and Southern California. With the new capital, Summer will focus on expansion in homes and markets, as well as expansion of their remote-first team. The company is currently hiring across engineering, sales, interior design and operations.
“Summer’s Founders bring strong proptech experiences from their prior work at Airbnb and other leading companies in the space,” said Ansaf Kareem, partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners. “They are mission-driven in reimagining the process of owning and managing a second home. We at Lightspeed are excited to join them on this journey in democratizing access to second home ownership.”
For more information about Summer, visit: www.gosummer.com.
ABOUT SUMMER:
Summer is on a mission to provide more people with access to second homes by lowering the entry and ongoing costs, reducing the red tape associated with the traditional process and mitigating future risks for Members. The company was founded in New York by Paul Kromidas and Woods Buckley and launched in 2022. To date, Summer has raised $13.4M in funding from investors including: 1Sharpe Ventures, Beluga Partners, firstminute capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors, as well as a number of strategic and angel investors.
Contacts
For press inquiries, please email: press@gosummer.com