Minted offers homebuyer education as new employee benefit

The share of first-time home buyers reached a record low of 21% in 2025, while the average age creeped higher, according to the National Association of Realtors. As the housing market feels unattainable for many Americans in an uncertain economy, some employers are stepping in to offer the education needed to turn a dream into reality.

Stationary company Minted is one of those employers. It recently added Nestment, a home-buyer education platform, to its suite of benefits. Founded in 2021, Nestment is a customized education platform that walks users through every step of the journey, from determining how to save for a downpayment to finding an agent, and one-on-one coaching.

“We’re always looking for benefits that support our employees through real-life moments,” Nadine Wiernik, senior director of people at Minted, told HR Brew. “Buying a new home is a major life moment. So this really fits naturally into supporting our employees through kind of one of those major life moments.”

Research has found that not only do homeowners have lower rates of stress and better mental health than their renter counterparts, but workers who are less likely to purchase a home may be more inclined to “slack off” on the job, according to a study from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

“Some people believe they can afford [a home], but just feel overwhelmed and intimidated by the process,” Niles Lichtenstein, CEO and co-founder of Nestment, told HR Brew. “The whole notion of home buying has gotten so much more complicated.”

Minted has employees in 30 states, all from varying generations and life stages. Wiernik said she tries to provide benefits that reflect the diversity of the company’s workforce. “One of our core values at Minted is, ‘level the playing field’...We’re really intentional about trying to create fairness in benefits,” she said.

While the average age of a first-time homebuyer has reached 40, Lichtenstein hopes that will eventually go back down to 30 (the average in 2010). “Our median buying age is actually 32,” he said of those using Nestment’s services, noting that many of Nestment’s users are also first-generation homeowners, and 62% are BIPOC or immigrants. “That decade of equity building and rent saving is just such a crucial decade.”