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Bilt Rewards has launched a new home buying tool that will reward you with 1 Bilt Point for every $2 of your purchase price. Buy a $100k home, get 50k Bilt Points. Buy a $10m home, get 5 million Bilt Points. There is no cap, and the tool, embedded in the free Bilt app, will also give you an affordability calculator. Let’s dig into it more and also look at the new NAR rules that you should be aware of….Note: I am a Bilt advisor and investor.
If you pay rent via Bilt, they have all of your information regarding your current rent, credit score and history, income etc. If you don’t, you’d simply enter it in and the app will show you potential homes that you can afford taking into consideration the downpayment you’d like to make, whether you’re willing to pay more or less than your current rent,a and potential mortgage qualification.
The tool includes:
- Converting home listing prices into transparent best estimates of all-in monthly payment amounts that include costs like property taxes and insurance;
- Factoring in Bilt Members’ actual financial profile to determine indicative rates and mortgage types across FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and NQM lenders;
- Allowing Bilt Members to explore various downpayment scenarios and to incur added savings by applying Bilt Points towards a down payment; and
- Showing available homes across different cities based on monthly payment to see how Bilt Members’ buying power differs by geography.
If you see a home you’d like to tour, Bilt will put you in contact with an agent from eXp, their partner, and when you buy a home, you’ll earn points. One thing I’d point out is that you don’t need to use this broker, or even brokerage, in order to buy the home you find. You’d need to use an eXp broker to earn Bilt points, but if for some reason you don’t like whom you’ve been paired with, you could request to change.
New rules on commission and NAR changes:
- NAR Buyer Rules
- Buyers are now required to sign an agreement with a broker prior to viewing a property – excluding open houses. You can make this a single property agreement, add contingencies, but you’re signing an agreement so keep this in mind especially when it comes to the point down below.
- Buyer Commission
- Earlier this year changes occurred whereby the Seller no longer automatically pays the commission of the buyer’s agent/broker on a sale. This means that you can negotiate this if you’re the buyer.
This means you can say Hey, I want my Bilt Points and I’m only going to pay you x, y, z. The broker can decide whether or not they want to work with you, and depending on how hot the real estate market is, will determine how much they’re willing to concede.
The point here is that you need to negotiate these terms ahead of the viewing, and ahead of signing any contract. I love the idea of earning points on Rent, and 1 point per every $2 without a cap is pretty amazing ( other companies have offered points on home purchases, but usually they are in accordance with opening a mortgage with that company, or it’s capped, or it’s a much lower ratio ).
Overall
Bilt Points are arguably one of the top 3 most valuable points ( alongside Amex and Chase ), and the ability to negotiate terms that would include earning a ton of Bilt points is a fantastic opportunity. Bilt has great transfer partners as seen below.
If you’re buying a million dollar house, and earn 500k Bilt Points, you could redeem them at 1.25c in the Bilt Travel Portal or transfer them to the partners down below. I peg Bilt Points when used strategically to transfer at about 2 cents a piece. Meaning, you’re earning about $10k in Bilt Points on a $1M home purchase, or roughly 1% back at this valuation. 
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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