The Best Real Estate Investing Apps Of 2023
By The Money Manual Editors 2024’s Must-Have Real Estate Investing Apps For Savvy Investors
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INVESTINGStocks are out, real estate is in. Earn passive income with these top investing apps.
For many people, the goal of financial independence is to earn passive income. This means creating a stream of income that doesn’t require active work on your part. One popular way to do this is through real estate investments. By investing in property, you can generate a steady stream of cash via rent from tenants and/or profit from property appreciation without having to put in long hours at a job.
Most people don’t have enough money to buy rental properties outright, but guess what? You don’t have to! You can start investing in real estate right now even with any of the apps below, and you only need a couple of dollars for most of them. So you can start generating passive income the way so many of today’s millionaires do without having to be one.
If you have any questions that come up as you read, scroll down to the FAQs section at the bottom of the page.
TOP REAL ESTATE INVESTING APPS
#1 PICK
OPEN ACCOUNT
Build Your Commercial Real Estate Portfolio With Just $10
- Starter portfolio has an investment minimum of just $10
- Diversified commercial real estate portfolios managed for you and designed to withstand severe economic downturn
- Earn regular income from quarterly return payouts
- Achieved a 22.9% return average across client accounts in 2021
- 330k+ members who have earned $194 million in dividends to date
- New members get a $10 bonus in shares with their first $10 investment (limited-time only)
This is an endorsement in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on The Money Manual. All opinions are ours.
OPEN ACCOUNTYour Modern Wealth Ecosystem, Built on Real Assets
- 3 professionally managed investment strategies to choose from
- Offers direct real estate investment deals in common equity, preferred equity, and debt
- Distributions are paid monthly or quarterly depending on the deal
- Open to accredited investors only
- A minimum investment of $5,000 is required
- Has paid out $298 million to investors since 2015
Get Access To Commercial Real Estate Deals Online
- Offers 3 ways to invest commercial real estate — directly into a property deal, managed funds, or tailored portfolios
- Compare and review real estate projects, view financial documents, and register for project webinars with project developers to learn more
- Over $3.9 billion invested by members since 2013
- Only for Accredited investors – a minimum investment of $25k is required for most projects
- 5-to-7-year investment holding periods
Start Investing In Real Estate Without Breaking The Bank
- Buy, sell and hold fractional shares of expertly curated residential rental properties
- Share prices start at just $20
- Distributions are paid monthly directly into your provided bank account
- Investors have the flexibility to sell shares after a 1 year minimum holding period
- Earn $50 in bonus credits when you invest $1,000 in property shares (limited-time only)
- $1 million+ in distributions paid since 2018
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Confused about some of the terms in this post or just have some unanswered questions about investing in real estate? Search no more. Below is a cheat sheet of some of the most common investing terms, with definitions and examples.
What is passive income?This is income that is acquired and maintained through minimal, if any, labor. Once the passive income source is established, you don’t need to tend to it every day like you would with a regular 9-to-5 job. It is oftentimes supplemental income to a primary source of income. Income earned from real estate rentals is considered passive income.
What does appreciation mean in real estate?This is the increase in the value of a property over time. A few things contribute to a property’s appreciation, like inflation, an increase in property demand, or a housing shortage. So let’s say you bought a house worth $250,000 at time of purchase, and over the last few years, its market value has increased to $300,000. That means your house has appreciated by $50,000. To find the percentage of appreciation for this house, you need to divide the change in the home’s current market value ($50,000) by the home’s original value ($250,000). This equals 0.20. Multiply that by 100 to get the percentage number for how much the property has increased. In this case, it’s a 20% increase.
What is equity in real estate?This is the difference between a property’s current market value and how much of said property its owner owns outright. So if you bought a property with the help of a mortgage, whatever you paid as a down payment, plus whatever you’ve paid off on the mortgage thus far, that is the amount of equity you have in your house. For example, let’s say you bought a house with a market value of $250,000, made a down payment of $23,000 and took out a mortgage of $227,000 to cover the rest of the cost. The equity you have in the house is just the $23,000 down payment. As you pay off the mortgage, the equity you have increased.
What is real estate crowdfunding?Real estate crowdfunding is similar to investing in a start-up. The owner of private property is opening up equity shares to the public to raise capital to fund the maintenance and growth of a real estate project. The great thing about this kind of real estate investment is that it doesn’t take much money for the investor to get in on it.
What is the difference between single-family rentals and multi-family rentals?A single-family rental is a free-standing residential building that is built to house a single family, while a multi-family rental is built to house multiple families in separate housing units, like duplexes, apartment buildings and townhouses.
What is considered commercial real estate?This is real estate that is used exclusively for business purposes. Storefronts and shopping centers, office space, health facilities, warehouses, hotels and resorts, and more are examples of commercial real estate. Basically, if you can make money from leasing the property for business purposes, then it is considered commercial.
When is residential real estate not commercial?Residential real estate are properties that are built to be living spaces. Single-family homes and small multi-family buildings with up to four rental units are considered residential real estate. If a residential building has more than four units, then it’s classified as a commercial property.
What is an REIT?REIT stands for real estate investment trust. It’s a company that owns, operates or finances income-producing real estate on behalf of its shareholders. The types of properties in an REITs portfolio can includell sorts of commercial real estate, like office buildings, warehouses, storefronts and shopping centers, apartment buildings and more. They are publicly traded — making them the most liquid form of real estate — and have been known to deliver competitive returns. They are just one of the many ways to invest in real estate.
What is a holding period?This is the length of time that an investor holds onto the property they own — as in the time between purchase and sale — to see what returns they earn or what losses are incurred. For many crowdfunded real estate investment platforms like some of the ones above, holding periods can range between 3 to 7 years.
What is a lock-up period?This is a predetermined window of time during which an investor is prohibited from selling their shares immediately. This is done to give the market for an asset time to develop and stabilize. This can help to reduce an asset’s initial volatility. This kind of contractual agreement is often implemented for IPOs and the lock-up period is usually only a few months.
What does it mean when an asset is illiquid?When an asset is illiquid, it cannot be easily or readily sold or exchanged for cash. Historically, real estate investments are highly illiquid. While it may be obvious that the property you’ve invested in is valuable, you cannot access its cash value on a whim. Historically, real estate is a very illiquid asset class. However, some real estate investment platforms have made it somewhat easier to exit your holdings.
OUR #1 PICK
