Heather Lorincz was elated to close on her first home last year.
She and her fiance had lived in Conshohocken for four years and were looking to move into the city. They browsed properties on Zillow, looking mostly in Manayunk / Roxborough. The process was exciting, but daunting. There was so much they didn’t know — and needed to save so much money.
Lorincz had a little bit of an easier time saving for a home than many, however. That’s because her landlord helped pay for it.
Lorincz’s building, owned by the HOW Group, partnered with Philadelphia-based Nido, a company that helps landlords to put five percent of a tenant’s monthly rent check into a home savings account. Nido’s app let Lorincz read articles and connect with other resources, which helped the couple save even more — three dollars here, five dollars there — in addition to their monthly contributions. By the time they closed on their home, they’d saved more than $,6,000.
“Nido and the HOW Group as a whole, accelerated our home buying process,” Lorincz says.
Since launching this summer, the startup has helped 19 people purchase homes. A handful of others are currently searching for homes via the service. The company plans to expand into more Philly units this winter.
Founding Nido
Real estate developer John Pack got the idea for Nido in 2023. Pack has held a variety of different positions in real estate over his career. He’s managed acquisitions for developers, worked as a property manager and even purchased and flipped his own properties. He became interested in real estate while in college during the 2008 recession when financial setbacks forced his family to sell his childhood home.
“In that process of trying to find a way to save [our home], I became obsessed with real estate,” he says.
He started Nido because he kept hearing that renters today feel like the higher costs of living are making it impossible to own a home. A 2024 CNN poll found 86 percent of renters want to buy their own home, but they believe it’s too expensive — and 54 percent of those renters fear they’ll never be able to afford their own home.
“The thing that I found most helpful was their savings tracker. I could update our savings and say, oh, you’re a little bit closer to your goal.” — Heather Lorincz, homeowner
At the same time, Pack knew landlords in Philly who were struggling to keep tenants in their units. He wanted to create a tool that could help tenants save for a home, while incentivizing them to stay in their current apartments.
“A lot of people still have good incomes, but the high cost of living makes it really hard to save,” Pack says. “If we help with the costs, it might make home ownership more affordable, which is the ultimate goal.”
That’s where Nido comes in. Pack approached landlords, some of whom he used to work with, about partnering. In June, he launched the app. The name Nido comes from the Spanish word for “nest,” a pun many-a-real-estate startup has used in their names. “We’re trying to help them build up their nest egg, and move into their next nest,” Pack says.
Pay rent on time, save for a house
Here’s how it works: If a tenant pays their rent on time, five percent of those funds go into a home savings account, whose progress they can track via the app. When they’re ready to buy a home, tenants use Nido to connect with a partnered lender or realtor. Importantly, the money can be used only toward a home purchase; tenants can’t just ask to receive the funds in cash.
“They simply hit buy, which then connects them with an agent who can verify that they’re truly ready to buy and then all those rewards will be utilized at closing,” Pack says.
If they move out of their apartment, their Nido funds remain in their account for 18 months. After that, if they haven’t initiated the homebuying process or moved into another Nido unit, the funds expire.
Many of the people who have purchased homes through Nido so far were likely already thinking about and saving for a home when they started using the app. That was the case for Lorincz and her fiance.
“A lot of people still have good incomes, but the high cost of living makes it really hard to save.” — John Pack, Nido
But the app can help accelerate the process. In addition to the monthly percentage of their rent, tenants can earn small amounts of money for reading educational materials about the home buying process. They can also get bonuses for renewing their lease. The app connects them with down payment assistance grants and those for first-time home buyers the city offers. These are processes Pack knows all about from his experience working in many different positions within the real estate industry.
“The thing that I found most helpful was their savings tracker,” Lorincz says. “I could update our savings and say, oh, you’re a little bit closer to your goal.”
On average, each tenant who buys a home has about $3,800 in rewards in their Nido account from their regular rent payments. Once you add in the downpayment assistance programs they find via the app, they save an average of $7,000 on their home sale. Nido buyers are purchasing homes priced at an average of $420,000, though Pack notes that budgets range quite a bit, from around $240,000 to $700,000. Philadelphia’s average home value is $218,633, per data from Zillow. Pack says the ages of Nido participants align with that of the typical renter: 23- to 38-years-old.
“Our goal is to help tenants realize how attainable homeownership still is,” Pack says.

Why would a landlord use Nido?
Pack acknowledges that it might seem a bit illogical for a landlord to sign on to Nido. They make their money when people pay rent, after all. If a tenant moves out and buys a home, they’ve lost a client.
But Philly has some unique market dynamics that make Nido appealing for landlords. For starters, we’re in an apartment building boom. Between 2023 and 2025, developers are expected to build more than 20,000 multifamily rental units in the city. With so many options, tenants frequently lease-hop — moving from one unit to the next year after year based on who offers lower rents and better benefits.
“Tenants are starting to jump from apartment to apartment chasing concessions because the cost of living is so high,” Pack says.
Nido partnered with five different landlords in the city so far, and they’re in talks with several others who plan to launch the program as a pilot this year. Pack expects an additional 215 apartment units will offer Nido to their tenants in the first part of this month.
“We’re doing good for our tenants, and we’re making more money, and our buildings are more valuable.” — Gary Jonas, HOW Group
Gary Jonas, managing member and CEO of the HOW Group, says that since partnering with Nido they’ve been able to convince more people to rent their units. They connected with Pack because he used to work for the HOW Group. Before partnering with Nido, about 30 percent of the people they showed apartments to ended up signing a lease. Now, almost 40 percent sign with them. He also expects the program will influence people to remain in their units longer, since they want to keep their rewards.
“We’re getting an increase of people who walk in the front door who say, hey, I want to rent from you because you have this program. You care about me and my future,” Jonas says. “It’s the best of all worlds for us. We’re doing good for our tenants, and we’re making more money, and our buildings are more valuable.”
Helping more people become homeowners
Jonas says Nido is a good business decision; but he also finds it personally rewarding when tenants purchase homes. He thinks about how purchasing real estate has helped him build wealth and he wants to do that for others — even if it’s just their first home.
“It’s not only about the money, but it’s also about teaching people the process of going from a renter to a homeowner,” he says. “I would recommend it to every landlord.”

He’s hopeful the company can build partnerships with affordable housing landlords as well. “Arguably, low-income renters may receive the largest benefit,” he says. “Nido’s mission is to help create a faster, easier path to homeownership for all.”
Nido’s a new company — it only started in June — so it isn’t profitable yet. The business needs to recoup the costs that went into the app, which Pack did not share, but they are generating revenue. He hopes to recoup those costs and start making a profit in the near future. Nido is free for both landlords and tenants to use. The business makes money via transaction fee when a buyer uses a Nido-partnered lender or real estate agent. The fee is a percentage of the lender or agent’s commission. The percentages vary based on Nido’s agreements with different partners.
Tenants can find Nido properties by reaching out via the contact info on Nido’s website. Pack says they’re in the process of building a directory, so tenants can search for Nido units. In addition to expanding within the Philadelphia area, Pack says he’s talking to landlords in other states.
“I would like to have a presence in every single state in the U.S. for us to help renters everywhere buy their own home,” he says.
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