Can I buy a home without riba?

Yes, you can. But it depends less on what a product is called and more on how it actually works.

What makes a purchase riba-free

Riba is a guaranteed return on money lent, with no share in the risk. A conventional mortgage is the clearest example: the lender is owed the same amount however the home does, plus interest, and you carry all of the risk.

A riba-free purchase avoids that. Either you pay with your own money, or whoever puts money in alongside you shares the risk of owning the home with you. That's the whole test. Halal finance, back to basics walks through it step by step.

Your options

Buy with cash. The simplest way, if you can save enough. For most families in most cities, it takes many years.

Save, then buy with family. Some families pool money and buy together as partners. It works when everyone agrees on the terms in writing, including what happens when someone wants out.

Co-own the home with a partner who shares the risk. You buy part of the home, a partner buys the rest, and you buy them out over time. This is how Neeyah works.

An "Islamic mortgage". Some are structured well and some work much like a regular loan. Before you sign, ask the questions in back to basics: who owns the home, who pays for major repairs, what happens if prices fall, what happens if you can't pay, and who ends up holding the contract.

How co-owning a home with Neeyah works

You choose the home, and we buy it together. You put in at least 20%, and our investors fund the rest. Both names go on the title.
You live in it and pay rent on our share. Rent is based on the market, and you pay it only on the part we own.
You buy more over time. Whenever you're ready, you buy more of the home at its market value, and your rent goes down as your share goes up.
You own it outright, or sell. Once you own 100%, there's no more rent. If you sell before then, the proceeds are split by ownership, whether the price is above or below what we paid.

For the details, including how rent and home value are reviewed each year, see how co-owning a home with Neeyah works. We share property tax, insurance and major repairs by ownership. If the home loses value, our share does too. There are no late fees, no foreclosure, and the home is never sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America ruled the model permissible, not just "permissible in need" (about the fatwa).

The honest trade-off

Doing it this way is slower. We raise money directly from investors instead of borrowing from banks, so there's a waitlist. We now co-own homes in 24 states and keep expanding.