Fractional ownership
You buy a share of one property company, not a share of a fund. Your tokens are your share: they set your part of the rent, the sale proceeds and the votes.
Learn
Real estate investing, explained plainly
Short guides, three calculators and a glossary. This is general education, not advice. Talk to your own tax and financial advisers before you invest.
Guides
Investing with $100
Small entries run under Reg CF, through a registered funding portal, or Reg A once the SEC qualifies the offering. Both cap how much a non-accredited investor can put in each year.
Accredited offerings
Reg D 506(c) offerings are open only to verified accredited investors. 506(b) allows up to 35 sophisticated non-accredited investors, but no public advertising.
Rental income
Rent comes in, the manager pays operating costs, a reserve is set aside, and the rest is split by tokens held. Payouts are monthly or quarterly, and they can fall or stop.
Tokenized real estate
The token is a digital record of your share, kept on a blockchain. It can only move to verified holders, and a transfer agent keeps the official register.
Owning a whole building
Some buyers want the entire property. That is a direct real estate purchase through a licensed broker, outside the token offering.
Holding periods and resale
Private offerings are restricted securities. Tokens are locked for a period, and after that they resell only through a licensed broker-dealer or trading system.
Taxes, in general
An LLC usually sends each investor a Schedule K-1. Depreciation and other items pass through to you. How they affect your taxes is a question for your own adviser.
Opportunity Zones
Some properties sit in federally designated Opportunity Zones. Whether any tax treatment applies depends on your own situation and timing, so ask your tax adviser.
C-PACE financing
Property-assessed clean energy financing pays for energy upgrades and is repaid through the property-tax bill, where the county runs a program.
Construction notes
You lend to a project for a fixed interest rate. Money is released in stages after inspections, and you are repaid when the homes sell or the loan is refinanced.
Land, industrial and data centers
Land pays no rent, so returns come from a sale. Warehouses usually have long leases. Data centers depend on power and fiber more than on location.
Calculators
Every result is hypothetical, not a projection. Change the inputs to see how each number moves.
Glossary
- Net operating income (NOI)
- Rent and other income minus operating costs, before loan payments and income taxes.
- Cap rate
- NOI divided by the property price. A quick way to compare properties without the loan.
- Cash-on-cash return
- Yearly cash paid out divided by the cash you put in.
- IRR
- The yearly rate that accounts for both the payouts and the sale, and when each arrives.
- Equity multiple
- Total cash returned divided by cash invested. 1.5x means $1.50 back for every $1 in.
- DSCR
- NOI divided by the yearly loan payments. Lenders often want 1.25 or more.
- Occupancy
- The share of units or space that is leased.
- Triple-net (NNN) lease
- The tenant pays rent plus property taxes, insurance and maintenance. Common for warehouses.
- Distribution
- A payout of net cash to holders, split by tokens held.
- Reserve
- Cash set aside for repairs and vacancies before payouts.
- Capital stack
- The layers of money in a project, from first-paid (senior loan) to last-paid (common equity).
- Preferred equity
- Paid after the loans and before common equity.
- Accredited investor
- A person or entity that meets SEC income, net-worth or professional tests.
- Holding period
- The time restricted securities must be held before they can be resold.
- Transfer agent
- The SEC-registered firm that keeps the official register of who owns what.
- SPV
- A single-purpose company that owns one property and issues its tokens.
FAQ
What is the easiest way to start?
An offering open from $100 under Reg CF lets you learn how rent payouts, votes and reports work with a small amount. Read the risk disclosure first.
How much do I need?
From $100 in crowdfunding offerings. Accredited offerings usually start in the low thousands. Buying a whole property needs the full price or a loan.
Can I sell whenever I want?
No. Private offerings have a holding period, and resale after it runs only through a licensed venue. Plan to hold for the whole planned term.
Are returns promised?
No. Rent can fall, costs can rise and values can drop. You can lose all of your money. Every figure on this site is hypothetical.