This Former Google Engineer Built A Platform That Lets You Buy Shares Of Single-Family Rentals With The Click Of A Button

For decades, owning rentals has been one of the most reliable ways to earn passive income. But with all the legal responsibility, tax filings and 3 a.m. calls to fix the plumbing, it’s questionable how “passive” that income really is in the modern age.

When one Google engineer realized this, he left his cozy tech job to create a platform that offers truly passive real estate income to everyday investors.

Hardly anyone could anticipate the level of cash distributions that would come of it.

Andy Zhao wanted to invest in Bay Area real estate but quickly became discouraged by the mountain of commitments he’d get himself into. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) were another option, but they come attached to a slew of different troubles. Public REITs have been gasping for air in recent years, while choosing nontraded REITs essentially means locking away your savings for the next five to 10 years.

He came up with a solution that minimizes wild value oscillations of real estate and provides an exit if you want to sell. He founded the online real estate investment app Ark7, which distributed $1.5 million to its members in four years.

Ark7 lets you invest in single-family rentals just like you would if you were shopping for an individual unit to buy. You can find out anything you need to know about each property and add its shares to your portfolio if they meet your investment goals. The main difference is that you can own equity in multiple homes for the price of one entire unit.

Click here to start investing in real estate for just $20 per share.

(Image courtesy of Ark7.)

Once you acquire shares of particular homes, you earn the right to rent dividends monthly while your shares’ value potentially increases.

This form of investing has returned hundreds of millions of dollars and gained the trust of the world’s leading hedge funds and tech entrepreneurs. Amazon.com Inc. Founder Jeff Bezos has poured millions into this type of real estate investing, and that makes a lot of sense when you crunch the numbers.

Ark7 has been around for four years. It has funded $15 million in property value on its platform, which would put it on the smaller side of the industry. But this featherweight contender is punching well above its weight when it comes to cash distributions. It has transferred $1.5 million to the accounts of its members thus far.

The company’s website hints at one of the main reasons for this success. It combines artificial intelligence with human calibration to discover undervalued properties with the highest appreciation potential across seven states, paving the way for more substantial gains.

Still, Ark7 recognizes that the buy-and-hold approach isn’t optimal for the majority of investors. If another market bloodbath ensues, it’s good to know you have an emergency exit. That’s why the company allows you to sell all of your shares on the secondary market, something that is a lot easier to do than selling entire homes.

Ark7 has 30,000 active investors on its website and app. Some of them have shared how they feel about the company.

“I have been looking for a solution to long-distance real estate investments for quite a while,” said Andrew C. “Ark7 gives me the right level of control to manage properties remotely. It’s exactly what I was looking for, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

The favorable brand image that the company has also meant that its offerings sell out fairly quickly. There are Ark7 properties you can invest in right now. Click here to start creating your own portfolio. 

Featured image from Shutterstock