One of the more interesting trends being seen right now, especially as home prices decline, is the growing popularity of the REX Agreement. This is an agreement that a homeowner makes with REX & Company to sell the equity in the home — without selling the house. The idea is that the homeowner can make more money in other investments than he or she can by waiting for the house to appreciate.

This is, of course, somewhat risky. The home does have to be sold at the end of the contract, and if you have not done well in your investment returns, things can get ugly. At any rate, Investopedia offers this assessment of the REX agreement:

Because the homeowner cannot collect for house-price depreciation
if the agreement terminates in the first five years, the contract is
only useful for long-term hedging. Still, even a two- or three-year
agreement may be profitable if the upfront cash earns good returns. You only need cumulative after-tax returns on the cash to exceed the penalty in order to come out ahead.