Cohome Founder Mao Du was inspired to start Cohome after she went on a walk with a friend in the Cupertino neighborhood of San Francisco’s Bay Area.

Her friend was interested in buying his first investment home, and began checking home prices on Zillow.

He said there was no way that he could afford one of the houses, even on his salary as a Bay Area software engineer.

He wanted to invest in a home that could build equity while he enjoyed it or earned a passive income from renting it out.

That’s when Mao had the idea that “co-investment” with qualified buyers who had the same goals could drastically reduce the barrier to entry for people to invest in real estate.