Roofstock Makes It Possible to Start Earning Money as a Rental-Home Investor With their easy-to-navigate process, this platform makes investing in rental properties accessible to both novice and experienced investors.
By Entrepreneur Store Edited by Jason Fell
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If you want to buy stock, you can buy it through an online brokerage as quickly as picking up a book from Amazon. But if you want to invest in real estate, you're forced to do major homework to do it right. Not to mention you must jump through an incredible number of hoops to make it all happen.
Why can't buying a rental property be more straightforward? Roofstock thinks it should be. So it's leveling the playing field by combining the most experienced people in the real estate business with the power of artificial intelligence and institutional scale into an online marketplace that streamlines the real estate investing process.
Roofstock's platform allows investors to search for rental properties by list price, cap rates, location, and more. Once you've reviewed all the details and chosen a property you like, Roofstock streamlines the buying process. Submitting an offer is free and, while there's a 0.5 percent fee paid to Roofstock if the offer is accepted, that fee helps cover inspection, underwriting, and transaction management services.
Many Roofstock homes already have tenants, eliminating the need to scramble to find and screen tenants. Unlike most residential home sales, cash may already be flowing through the property via rental, so buyers can know the monthly income the home currently generates.
And for a more hands-off property ownership experience, Roofstock can provide referrals to property management companies. With Roofstock helping to procure inspection reports, title work, and financial records, shoppers avoid some of the busy work of property buying, leaving them free to enjoy the benefits of adding an occupied residential property to their portfolio.
With the demand for single-family rentals having recently reached unprecedented levels, Roofstock surpassed $5 billion in trading volume since the launch of its marketplace in 2016. Part of that growth is attributed to the ease with which Roofstock facilitates transactions.
"The certainty of having a tenant in place and knowing the rent up front really helped me feel confident making my first real estate investment," Roofstock buyer Josh said in a testimonial. Fellow buyer Michael added, "Our renters have been great, we're cash-flowing every month…it's just been wonderful."
You can see if Roofstock is right for your investment goals by heading over to the Roofstock website, browsing their available properties, and learning how to start amassing a solid real estate portfolio.