The Easiest Ways To Invest in Real Estate
I love searching for exotic real estate properties that I can’t afford. By the time I’m done pouring over a listing, I’ve mentally moved in and planned the food and bar layout at the infinity edge pool or thrown a friends and family tennis tournament on my sport court. It’s great escapism and a random side hobby. I can travel far and wide, searching through hundreds of properties, never leaving my couch.
Given my love for property, the need for smart investing along with the inability to put together the real estate portfolio of my dreams at this point, I wanted to understand a little more about the trend of real estate crowdfunding to see if this might be a good personal investment option that I could easily start today.
What Is Real Estate Crowdfunding?
At the core, real estate crowdfunding is simply aggregating a pool of investors to purchase real estate investments, typically online. And it does have many advantages. Particularly appealing is the idea that you can passively invest in real estate without the hassle of ownership or property management. It also makes real estate investing more accessible in that the minimum dollar amount needed to invest can be quite low. And one can gain access to real estate deals not traditionally available to everyone.
Could this be a more accessible way to invest in properties? Could I start building my real estate portfolio now instead of waiting for some undetermined time in the future? With many real estate investment platforms popping up online, it certainly seems feasible to put together an investment plan from the comfort of my couch.
In order to understand passive real estate investing further, I looked into three different companies offering this service with each one offering competitive returns on each investment. I decided to focus on companies that seem easy to work with, offering sophisticated online tools and have no minimum income requirement or net worth requirement to invest in their offering. I was particularly interested to understand how easy it was to start investing in terms of minimum investment thresholds how unique the property offerings are for the casual investor and just how flexible are the platforms in terms of cashing out? Here’s what I found.
Top Real Estate Investment Apps of 2020
DiversyFund is a zero fund real estate investment platform focusing on cash flow positive multi- housing units and apartment buildings. A non-accredited investor has the opportunity to invest in a REIT or a Real Estate Investment Trust versus individual properties. DiversyFund offers a low minimum investment of just $500 with monthly distributions of returns. A main advantage of the trust is that investors gain access to deals that typically are available only to the most sophisticated accredited investor. Once the property reaches maximum profitability it’s sold and a final return is disbursed. This should be viewed as a long- term investment (5 years) with no premature withdrawals.
RealtyMogul is a REIT connecting the more casual investor with institutional quality real estate investments. The REIT is diversified across office, retail and apartment buildings and gives one the opportunity to invest in spaces they typically couldn’t as a non-accredited investor. The minimum investment is $5000 with a monthly distribution and maximum investment amounts are determined by personal income. This should be thought of as a long-term investment of 3 or more years minimum.
Tellus is a real estate investing platform that allows you to invest in individual properties of your choosing. Tellus focuses on single-family homes with a minimum investment amount of $200 with interest earned daily. The platform gives you access to homes that are located in some of the most expensive zip codes and a chance for partial ownership that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Another advantage is that your name actually goes on the title which protects against borrower default for additional peace of mind. This investment can be thought of as flexible and short-term as the investor can sell and get their money out at any time without restriction.
After researching these options, it’s apparent that real estate investing is now easier than ever before. Depending on your individual budget and short versus long- term investment goals there are several smart options for quickly deploying cash and realizing returns. Instead of spending $200 on a dinner and night out I could actually start investing in real estate today. It’s an empowering idea and one that I plan to put in motion. I can’t wait to start looking through house listings for investment opportunities, not just entertaining escapism. For those looking to explore easy real estate investing these options would be a good place to start.
