Opendoor and Babylist Launch Baby’s First Home Cash Fund

Tuesday, August 20, 2024 — Opendoor, the largest digital platform for residential real estate, and Babylist, the trusted platform for millions of growing families, have teamed up to launch Baby’s First Home Cash Fund. Recent Babylist data points to a rising number of expecting parents turning to registries for financial support for milestones like achieving homeownership.

At a time when childcare costs have risen steeply, the two brands are on a mission to normalize asking for home buying financial support on baby registries. Cost spikes in childcare and necessities can add stress for those families looking to kickstart their next life transition, on top of an already complicated moving, home buying and/or selling process. To simplify parents’ lives, Baby’s First Home Cash Fund allows users to ask friends and family to contribute to the down payment of a growing family’s new home. This offering tracks with a rise in cash funds for other big-ticket items like honeymoons or homes on wedding registries.

Data reveals that new home funds for baby registries are quickly becoming commonplace for expecting parents, suggesting that the concept is no longer taboo. According to Babylist:

• Non-traditional baby registry requests are growing — particularly for financial support. Babylist has seen an appetite for other types of support beyond traditional baby items like clothes, nursery furniture, and diapers. Baby’s First Cash Home Fund has driven a significant increase in baby home funds added to registries. In fact, 1,200 expecting parents have added a home fund to their registry in 2024, an increase of 3,826% year-over-year and a 66% increase since the first month of launch. To put this into context, Babylist has seen parents add a similar number of items like Stanley Cups, Perelel’s Mom Multivitamins, and the Sophie the Giraffe Playmat.

• Baby registry users are thinking longer-term about their family needs. While parents traditionally add items they need in the first few months of a baby’s life to their baby registry, Babylist is seeing a trend of people thinking longer term for considerations like childcare and a new home that impact the family well beyond the first few months. As an example: In the first half of 2024, Baby’s First Home Cash Fund was added to registries 1,060 times, compared to 3,810 registry adds for the Babylist Childcare Fund. Both are increasing year over year. Additionally, the brand is seeing faster growth for home fund registry adds in the first year than they did in the first year of launching doula funds in 2020, underscoring the notion that parents are thinking longer term beyond the immediate needs of having a baby.

“Amid a parenting cost crisis in America, more and more families are turning to non-traditional methods to pursue homeownership,” says Opendoor Head of Brand Growth Allie Cote. “Home buying and/or selling and moving shouldn’t be complicated, so we want to be a resource for expecting parents during this pivotal life moment. Asking for help as a parent isn’t always easy, so we’re especially proud to partner with Babylist to lighten families’ stress and help them focus on new baby bliss with Baby’s First Home Cash Fund.”

“Our mission extends far beyond providing the necessities for welcoming a baby. We take care of growing families so they can be confident, connected, happy, and healthy,” says Lee Anne Grant, Chief Growth Officer at Babylist. “This life stage is incredibly exciting, but it also can be overwhelming as they are making thousands of decisions about products, their health, their money and their home. That’s why we’re constantly looking for ways to make it easier for families to get the support they need, including registry options like favors and cash funds. We’re proud to partner with Opendoor to make the transition to a new home as seamless and supportive as possible.”

When parents are ready to move, Opendoor makes buying and selling a home simple, fast, and stress-free. To learn more about Opendoor and Babylist’s Baby’s First Cash Home Fund, visit Babylist.com. Eligibility and offer price varies.

About Opendoor: Opendoor’s purpose is to power life’s progress, one move at a time. Since 2014, Opendoor has provided people across the U.S. with a simple way to buy and sell a home. Opendoor currently operates in a growing number of markets nationwide. Visit opendoor.com for more information.

About Babylist: Babylist is the trusted platform for millions of growing families, with products and services across commerce, media, and health. Babylist has established itself as the generational brand in baby, expanding beyond its universal registry and upending the $320B baby products industry. The Babylist ecosystem now includes health products and services; the Babylist Shop, which offers the best expert-curated gear; The Push, a full-service content studio working with hundreds of brands in baby and beyond; Babylist Beverly Hills, an experiential showroom; and Expectful, a new voice in health and wellness for pre-pregnancy through postpartum care. Fueled by its mission to take care of growing families so they can be confident, connected, happy, and healthy, Babylist has earned unrivaled trust from its powerful family audience of over 97 million people annually. To learn more, visit babylist.com.

Media Contact: press@opendoor.com