This Platform Makes It Easy to Own Rental Property Without Being a Landlord with as Little as $100

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

Although skyscrapers may dominate the typical city skyline (and the imagination), the truth is that a large percentage of landlords in America are not REITs, but individuals who own less than 5 units. It's also true that a lot of Americans rent single-family homes.

This, of course, raises the question; why do so many investment platforms focus on large commercial properties instead of single-family homes? After all, it's much easier for smaller investors to understand the mechanics of buying a single-family home and operating it as an investment property. It's also more affordable.

The simple answer is money. Most real estate investment platforms focus on accredited investors and the best way to get them the kind of returns they expect is to buy large commercial properties.

Arrived seeks to shift that paradigm by giving small, non-accredited investors the opportunity to buy shares of rental homes all over the country and get the benefits that real estate investing provides. Real estate is a diverse asset class with investment options that can fit any bank account when working with the right platform.

Arrived is run by a team of experienced real estate market and industry professionals who identify single-family homes with potential as rental properties and long-term upside. The main difference here is that while most real estate crowdfunding platforms focus on large multi-family or commercial properties, Arrived focuses on single-family homes.

Once Arrived purchases a home, it turns the ownership of the property over to an individual LLC. The LLC sells individual “shares” to investors at a price of $10 per share, which is how the platform raises capital to renovate the properties and put them on the rental market.

Investors can then buy 10 or more of these individual shares for as little as $100 until the funding goal for the property is met. It's important to note that investors who purchase shares will have to commit to the hold period, which varies with each individual property but is estimated to last between 5 to 7 years.

Once those goals are met, Arrived teams up with a preselected management team in the area to handle the nuts and bolts of showing the property and collecting rents. After the property is rented, Arrived investors can earn income on the rent based on the number of shares purchased for the duration of the hold period. Investors can also earn money at the end of the hold period (usually between 5 to 7 years) if their chosen property has appreciated and is sold at a profit.

Arrived has taken many of the benefits of REIT offerings (the chance to earn rental income while the property appreciates) and combined them with an investor-friendly business model that allows non-accredited investors to participate. Arrived investors will receive the same kind of detailed expense reports and balance sheets that shareholders in REITs get on an annual basis.

Additionally, because Arrived investors are actual property owners, you can gain the annual tax breaks that come with property depreciation and write-off of the capital expenses associated with the property.

Almost every investment offering has fees, but Arrived does a good job of minimizing those fees. The company buys properties directly from owners, which usually eliminates broker commissions. After that, Arrived charges two basic fees.

One is a sourcing fee, which is a reimbursement paid to Arrived for the cost of scouting out a property and running it through the platform's vetting process. This vetting is designed to make sure that the properties being targeted hit the sweet spot between affordability and market upside.

There is also an annual asset management fee (AUM), which covers the cost of the property manager and maintenance for the investor's chosen property.

These fees vary from property to property but they will be clearly spelled out in the investment prospectus for each of their offerings. Overall, it's a pretty straightforward fee structure, and considering that investors can buy in for as little as $100, Arrived deserves a lot of credit for keeping it simple and affordable.

When it comes to using any web-based platform, the easier it is to use, the better off the platform and its users will be. That goes doubly so for investment platforms that have offerings for non-accredited investors.

Arrived's founders understand this and have acted accordingly. Signup is incredibly easy, requiring only an email address and password. After completing the signup, investors are offered the chance to participate in their choice of a weekly webinar with a Q&A for new investors, a Google call, or a live telephone call with an Arrived team member who will walk them through how the platform works and what they can expect as investors.

This small gesture goes a long way toward building investor confidence. Investors can ask direct questions and receive answers from an actual Arrived team member. Investors who wish to dive right in can skip past the intro session and dive right into investing, where the offerings will also feature the relevant information to make an informed decision.

The process for investing in properties on the platform is just as simple. Investors can browse all available offerings or apply filters to find properties that meet their investment criteria. Investors can view property-specific details for each offering and then purchase shares in homes they want to add to their portfolios.

Arrived realizes that no online real estate investing platform can accomplish its mission without a highly developed investor education section. This commitment to investor education starts at sign-up and the webinar for new investors with time for a Q&A session, it's incredibly reassuring to a new investor that there is a live person to whom they can ask questions right out of the gate.

The Learn tab on the platform's home page will lead investors to an incredibly informative series of blogs on a variety of learning topics. Each of the blogs is well-organized and accessible to novice investors with no experience in real estate. The platform's education efforts do not cut short any topic, and it seems topics in the Learn section are carefully selected.

Another great resource here is the How Arrived Works section, which can be accessed under the Learn tab. Clicking this section will direct investors to a simple-to-use page that features a comprehensive article on how the platform works. The article is dedicated to informing investors how the platform targets properties and how investors make money.

The Help & FAQ section on Arrived is much more than an afterthought. It's well stocked with information, and investors can get answers to any questions not covered here by clicking on the message widget at the bottom right corner of the page.

Arrived's investor education is concise, complete, accessible, and thorough.

Arrived's business model of scouting out rental properties in markets with upside is solid. It's so solid that the company has already fully funded over 180 rental properties with a total value of more than $65 million. The platform typically adds new properties every 1 to 2 weeks, with some of the most popular properties selling out in a matter of minutes.

Arrived also launched its first batch of short-term rental properties in September 2022 to allow investors to add even greater diversification to their portfolios and benefit from the greater potential upside of investing in vacation rentals.

Arrived also offers diversified funds with the Single Family Residential Fund and an opportunity to invest in real estate-backed debt through the Private Credit Fund.

In the first quarter of 2024, 352 individual properties paid dividends of over $1.1 million, which reflects a quarter-over-quarter increase of 16%. Additionally, more than 11,700 investors invested $9.8 million in the Arrived Single Family Residential Fund during the quarter.

In the last quarter of 2024, 365 individual properties paid dividends of over $1.84 million, which reflects a quarter-over-quarter increase of 19%. Additionally, over 18,500 investors invested $19M+ in the Arrived Single Family Residential Fund by the end of 2024.

Arrived ended Q4 with a stabilized occupancy rate of 92% for 387 operational properties, helped by 66 new leases that were signed during the quarter. The new leases had an average term of 15.5 months, and 63% leased higher than the forecast rent.

The Arrived platform does an admirable job of combining the best aspects of REIT investing with a business model that caters to everyday investors. The opportunity to earn passive income with $100 buy-ins, and the ability to take advantage of tax breaks that are usually only available to large investors, only sweeten the package.

Yes, there is a hold period and risk of loss, but at current interest rates, $100 in a savings account isn't going to be a lot in 5 to 7 years. Arrived gives investors the chance to put even small amounts of money to work for them by investing in a tangible asset; without accreditation.

Overall, Arrived is worthy of serious consideration by any investor. That goes doubly so for non-accredited investors who want to jump into investing in a real estate property.

This article This Platform Makes It Easy to Own Rental Property Without Being a Landlord with as Little as $100 originally appeared on Benzinga.com