There are many different ways to invest; one of the most reliable and sustainable investments is real estate. Real estate investment opportunities are abundant, but there are many factors to consider when first getting started. We will show you how Roofstock.com can help you in this respect.
Property investments oftentimes provide the fastest return on investment. Rental properties include an additional revenue source and consistent income in the form of a monthly payment. The return may not be as fast and high as buying and selling; it’s a long-term investment.
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A Platform to Buy Rental Properties Without Dislodging Pre-Existing Renters
Rental properties are a bit more complicated than buying a house, sitting on them until the market improves, then gaining a profit once the house sells. Many states in the US require business licenses to list a property as a rental or a landlord permit. There are zoning issues in certain communities that have to be considered. Some HOA’s don’t allow homeowners to rent their places out. Investing in rental properties solo means having to research all of these things without the help of professionals.
Roofstock does this for its members for free and gives potential buyers all of their research upfront before an offer is made.
Homeowners interested in listing their home for sale but have a current lease with renters would normally have to wait until the rental agreement expired and then put the house up on the market free of renters. This leads to a difficult and time-sensitive real estate investment opportunity, one that requires the revenue stream to stop during the sale period. The current owners don’t make an income on rent while the house is up for sale, and investors would have a short window to buy properties already licensed as rentals. Once bought, the buyers would then have to find new renters and start the management process themselves.
Real Estate Investment Opportunities: What Makes Roofstock Different
Previously, buying and selling homes was a process, and some steps had to be done in a specific order before a change of hands could take place. Thanks to Roofstock, the buying and selling of a property can now be done without disrupting the rental agreements, or the tenant’s lives. Properties are listed, investors make offers, and the sale takes place all while the renters live in the home. The title and ownership change hands with ease and without a fuss.
Roofstock is not an REIT. A real estate investment trust is where investors place stock into a company that buys and sells properties without the investors having any say in which properties are bought or sold and when. It’s all given to a trusted representative. Roofstock is a platform for buyers and sellers to invest in the properties themselves by removing the middle man.
Ways To Invest
Roofstock real estate investment opportunities revolve primarily around single-family rental properties, but there are three distinct ways to utilize this platform.
Invest in individual properties
Browse through the available properties for sale, all of which are certified, inspected by professionals, and listed. Research into details such as neighborhood rankings, schools, rental prices, and repairs is extensive, ensuring that each property is a high-quality investment. Properties have been denied and removed from the platform because the owner asked more than Roofstock believed the rental was worth. Too high of a cost with a low revenue stream made those rentals a poor investment, and Roofstock wouldn’t promote them.
Buying properties with existing renters means when a sale is finalized, the new owners immediately start receiving an income from the rental agreement. This type of sale eliminates the need to find a management company and renters, which saves the owners a lot of extra work and fees. It’s a free service included with Roofstock’s membership.
Invest in Multi-Property Portfolios
Roofstock One allows accredited members to invest in fractional properties as a passive income. Join a collection of investors by depositing a base price, minimum $5,000, and collaborate with other investors on portfolios instead of buying individual properties one by one.
“Bring Your Own Rental”
Rental properties are a popular real estate investment opportunity, so not all listings will be available on Roofstock. The website brings your own rental program where potential properties can be submitted for review.
They will have to go through a qualification process for approval before each property is listed. A local real estate professional in that area will evaluate the property, and Roofstock will recommend local management companies they’ve vetted and approved to maintain the property after the sale. Everything is built-in for investors to take ownership of a fully functioning rental property.
Additional Features
Retirement accounts: If a buyer has a self-directed IRA or a Solo 401K they can use these to purchase properties and assign the IRA as the titleholder for those properties or portfolios.
Open House: This option is for the more aggressive investor who would like to see any upcoming properties that haven’t been listed yet. It’s a 24-hour window to decide to sell, negotiate, or make an offer before the property is placed.
Review The Property
Unlike REITs, investing in properties with Roofstock is similar to buying properties through traditional agents. The listings for review have photos, video tours, descriptions of the value of the house, neighborhood rankings, school ratings, crime data, and annual financial background. Details about rent expectations, annual taxes, cost of living, utilities, demographics for the community, as well as backgrounds for the management company suggested for that property are shown with each listing.
Options for Sellers
This site isn’t only for buyers. Property owners who have listings with existing tenants but don’t want to evict or wait for the lease to expire before putting the property for sale can submit their listings. Each property will have to get approval after an extensive reviewal process and then will be available to sell directly to investors looking for turnkey rentals that are already making a profit.
It might sound strange that people would want to sell profiting rentals, but some want to sell a lower-income rental in order to turn around and buy a larger property or they’re looking to diversify their portfolio. Finding reasonably priced listings that have a decent revenue stream is what Roofstock was created to do.
Sellers don’t have to go through the process of prepping a house, finding an agent, or showing the home. This can be time-consuming and expensive. New rentals don’t always lease right away and finding a renter after the sale can take a while, background checks, credit reports postpone those monthly rent checks.
Buying with Roofstock simply changes ownership and the responsibility over to new landlords without affecting the property itself. It keeps families in their homes and eliminates a lot of unnecessary work.
Roofstock also takes care of all the paperwork, from property management, agents, lease agreements, taxes, and sales certificates.
No Experience Needed
New members interested in real estate investment opportunities can learn about this lucrative avenue through Roofstock. The creators of the platform want investors to succeed. The Academy provides a series of courses, lectures, and coaching, including group coaching and one-on-one sessions with a peer. Members have access to detailed lesson plans from beginner to advanced.
The courses cover topics such as avoiding risky mistakes, how to analyze the data, and identifying high-revenue low-cost investments.
The library has lectures available on understanding and reading statistics, financial gain education, realistic goal expectations, and how to grow a portfolio with the help of expert investors.
The resources available to buyers and sellers alike are far more conclusive and informative than Roofstock’s competitors. It has everything from education, member services, peer-to-peer aid, management, properties, licensing, and paperwork. Individuals new to this can get all the information they need to be successful and informed. It’s a hands-on approach for people who want more control over their investments.
What to Expect
The fees to invest with Roofstock are substantially lower than most of its competitors. It’s free to create an account and browse the listings. When an offer on a property is accepted, the marketplace fee for Roofstock is a minimum of $500 or .5%, whichever is higher.
Similar real estate investment opportunities charge a fee of 3.5% and upwards of 8% of the total property sale. That’s at least seven times more. A $100,000 sale with Roofstock will have a fee of $500. Other sites with the same sale will charge a fee anywhere between $3500-$8,000.
It’s a site designed and created by a team of investors with years of experience that want to help new investors. There’s a 30-day satisfaction guarantee to keep it fair and honest. Buyers’ remorse is real, and having a safety net if buyers regret their decision, or change their minds is a comfort not many investments offer.
The customer service is impeccable. They have chat rooms, investors, property management companies, and real estate agents available to answer any questions and help buyers find the right properties for them.
What not to Expect
Small price investments, investing in stocks is one thing, but these are real properties, physical investments. If an investor doesn’t have the cash to buy a rental unit outright, they will have to seek out mortgage loans.
For investors that aren’t interested in buying individual properties, there’s an option of buying into one of the portfolios and fractured properties, which requires a minimum down payment of $5,000. This is not one of those begin small grow bigger investments, it requires a large amount of funds to get started, but the risk is low, much lower than other opportunities.
Investors own these properties and are responsible for them; this may come with unexpected costs. The property management companies are only accountable for so much. Rental property owners have the same responsibilities as homeowners.
Houses require attention, things like insurance, storm damage, floods, or basic expenses like an AC going out, or a refrigerator, depending on which state the property is in. Legally, these things are the property owners’ responsibility, and these emergency expenses fall on them.
Roofstock will help buyers find property management companies for investors to work with to maintain the properties, but it is still up to the owners to work with those companies when things don’t go as planned.
As of 2021, Roofstock had listings in 70 markets; their reach is growing, but investing in specific areas and neighborhoods might not be available right away. Even submitting a property for approval may not get approved. There are specific standards and expectations Roofstock has for each of its listings.
For investors that don’t have a specific location in mind, this is great; they have peace of mind that these are well-researched, quality investments. When someone has a property in mind or a city/state they want to invest in, not all of them are available on this platform. That being said, the resources are still accessible, taking the lessons, talking with the experts will provide a thorough and detailed plan to invest in those properties singlehandedly without going through Roofstock.
Why Choose Roofstock
The options for getting into and starting in real estate investment opportunities are endless. Roofstock specializes in one facet of this broad field, but they do it very well and without gouging profits out of its members. For investors who are willing to put in the work of owning a property and want direct control of these investments and the decisions that go with them, this is the best platform available.
The cost is less than half what its closest competitors will charge with more resources, information, and transparency.
Many investments operate by having people hand their well-earned money over to someone else, then hoping they get a return without the option to make the decisions or sometimes even understanding what their money is being used for.
Roofstock gives investors complete control of their investments and provides them with the tools they need to be successful. In the end, the investor owns the properties, there’s a physical investment that has value even if the payout isn’t what the buyer expected. When it comes to real estate investment opportunities in single-family rental properties, Roofstock can’t be beaten.