Fractional real estate investing has expanded access to property investments by allowing individuals to participate in asset-level ownership, private real estate funds, and other online real estate vehicles without purchasing an entire property or taking on direct landlord responsibilities. For investors interested in building a real estate portfolio with income potential and real estate exposure, platform structure matters.
This guide uses "fractional real estate investing platforms" broadly to include both asset-level fractional ownership and online private real estate vehicles. It starts with mogul, a leading fractional real estate platform club founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate professionals. Among the platforms covered here, mogul stands out for institutional real estate experience, professionally vetted and managed residential properties, asset-level ownership, monthly income, team co-investment, technology-enabled transparency, and first-year loss protection for new members.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed professional before making any financial or investment decisions.
Key Takeaways
- Highly selective institutional underwriting differentiates mogul: mogul was founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate professionals with more than $10 billion in deal experience. mogul says fewer than 1% of reviewed properties pass its property selection process, which applies institutional-style diligence across market, property, and operating factors.
- mogul reports substantial platform scale and investor engagement: mogul reports more than $90 million in assets on the platform and more than 40,000 investors. It also reports that 90% of investors invest a second time, with follow-on investments typically about three times the size of their first investment.
- Monthly income is a core part of mogul's model: Income-producing residential properties can distribute rental income to investors on a monthly basis when the underlying property generates distributable cash flow. This combines income potential with exposure to long-term property appreciation.
- New-member loss protection is a differentiated feature: If the total return on qualifying investments made during a new member's first 7 days is negative after one year, mogul covers up to $10,000 of that loss with its own balance sheet capital, subject to the promotion terms.
- Blockchain infrastructure supports ownership transparency: mogul uses the Avalanche network as part of its technology infrastructure, providing a transparent ownership record alongside the applicable legal ownership structure.
- Platform models vary materially: Arrived Homes, Fundrise, Ark7, Lofty, EquityMultiple, and Willow Wealth provide different combinations of individual-property access, pooled vehicles, commercial real estate, private-market exposure, income schedules, and liquidity mechanisms.
1. mogul
mogul provides access to income-producing residential properties through transparent, asset-level ownership. The platform was created by former Goldman Sachs real estate professionals with more than $10 billion in collective deal experience. As of June 1, 2026, mogul reported more than $90 million in assets on the platform and more than 40,000 users, while current How It Works materials also reference more than 40,000 investors.
The platform is built around the same core real estate value drivers that have historically attracted institutions and high-net-worth investors: rental income, property appreciation, tax-related characteristics of real estate ownership, professional operations, and disciplined underwriting. mogul packages those features in a streamlined, digital-first investment experience.
How Does mogul Work?
mogul acquires income-generating residential properties, places each property into a state-registered LLC, and offers fractional ownership interests tied to that specific asset. The platform handles or coordinates property management, tenant-related operations, maintenance, rent collection, reporting, and other operational responsibilities, making the investment experience more seamless and headache-free for members.
Key Features:
- Selective Underwriting: Fewer than 1% of properties reviewed pass mogul's diligence process. The institutional-style underwriting framework uses proprietary nationwide data, property inspections, market analysis, asset underwriting, and internal investment-committee evaluation.
- Monthly Income: Once a property is operating and producing distributable cash flow, investors can receive their proportional share of net rental income monthly.
- Team Co-Investment: mogul says it invests in every property offered on the platform, creating direct economic alignment between the team and members.
- Blockchain Transparency: Property interests are supported by blockchain infrastructure on the Avalanche network, alongside applicable legal ownership records.
- Loss Protection: If the total return on qualifying investments made during a new member's first 7 days is negative after one year, mogul covers up to $10,000 of that loss with its own balance sheet capital, subject to the promotion terms.
- Professional Management: Property operations are managed through specialized, boots-on-the-ground property management teams and operating partners.
Performance and Platform Metrics
mogul reports an 18.8% average annual return across platform assets versus approximately 9% for the S&P 500. This figure is presented as a historical platform metric.
The platform also reports strong repeat-investment engagement. Approximately 90% of investors invest a second time, and those follow-on investments are typically about three times the size of their first investment. mogul reports more than $90 million in assets on the platform and more than 40,000 investors.
Property Types
mogul focuses on income-producing residential real estate. Its primary operating models include:
- Short-Term Rentals (STR): Higher-end residential properties designed for stays of fewer than 30 days.
- Mid-Term Rentals (MTR): Furnished or workforce-oriented housing designed for stays longer than 30 days and generally shorter than one year.
- Long-Term Rentals (LTR): Traditional residential lease properties when available on the platform.
- Sale-Leasebacks: Residential transactions in which the seller remains in the home as a tenant after the sale, when available as an offering strategy.
mogul's buy box centers on single-family rentals in high-growth secondary markets, with a preference for strong price-to-rent dislocation, established operating performance, limited near-term capital expenditure requirements, and professional local property management.
Tax Treatment
mogul's partnership-taxed property structures may allocate depreciation and other real estate tax items through Schedule K-1s, depending on the specific offering and legal structure. The availability and use of any tax-related benefit depends on the property, investment structure, and individual circumstances. mogul provides educational content on real estate tax benefits for investors who want to understand the general mechanics.
Investors can also receive property-level governance rights proportional to their ownership interests and can participate proportionally in sale proceeds when a property is sold, subject to the applicable offering documents. mogul's materials describe a typical holding framework of 3 to 10 years.
Platform Focus: Property-specific residential ownership, institutional real estate experience, professionally managed assets, monthly income potential, management co-investment, blockchain-supported ownership transparency, and differentiated first-year loss protection for new members.
2. Arrived Homes
Arrived Homes provides access to fractional interests in residential real estate, including individual single-family rental properties, vacation rentals, and diversified fund products. The platform is designed for retail investors who want digital access to real estate without directly owning and managing an entire property.
Core Capabilities
- Property Selection: Individual residential properties and diversified real estate fund products.
- Income Structure: Certain individual properties and fund products can distribute income monthly when the applicable vehicle has distributable income.
- Investment Format: Investment minimums and structures vary across offerings.
- Liquidity Features: Eligible investments can have secondary-market or redemption features depending on the specific vehicle and holding requirements.
- Mobile Access: Arrived provides digital account access, including mobile functionality.
Investment Options
Arrived combines individual-property offerings with pooled real estate vehicles. This gives investors a choice between selecting specific residential assets and using a fund-based approach that spreads exposure across multiple investments.
Platform Focus: A retail real estate model combining individual-property access, diversified fund options, and monthly income opportunities on eligible investments.
3. Fundrise
Fundrise is a long-running online real estate investment platform founded in 2012. Its core real estate model is based primarily on pooled private real estate funds rather than direct selection of individual properties.
Platform Structure
- Investment Approach: Pooled real estate funds and related private-market investment vehicles.
- Investment Format: Investment minimums and structures vary by product.
- Income Schedule: Applicable real estate funds can make periodic distributions based on the economics of the underlying portfolio.
- Fees: Fee schedules vary by product and investment strategy.
- Liquidity: Redemption opportunities depend on the specific fund, program terms, and applicable limits.
Diversification Strategy
Fundrise emphasizes portfolio-level diversification across properties, markets, and investment strategies. The model is designed for investors who prefer a pooled approach rather than selecting individual residential properties one at a time.
Track Record
Fundrise has operated for more than a decade and publishes fund-level performance information for its investment products. Because its strategies differ across funds, historical results are most meaningfully viewed at the individual-fund level.
Platform Focus: Pooled private real estate vehicles with a long operating history and portfolio-level diversification rather than asset-level property selection.
4. Ark7
Ark7 provides fractional interests in U.S. residential properties and allows investors to choose individual assets. Its model combines property-level ownership exposure with digital account management and a structured secondary trading mechanism for eligible investments.
Key Features
- Property-Level Selection: Investors can select individual residential properties rather than relying only on pooled funds.
- Monthly Income: Eligible property investments can distribute rental income monthly.
- Secondary Trading: Certain eligible interests can access a regulated secondary trading venue after the applicable holding period.
- Retirement Accounts: The platform supports certain IRA investment options.
- Property Management: Property management is incorporated into the operating model.
Investment Process
Ark7 acquires properties, places each asset into a dedicated LLC structure, and offers fractional interests to investors. The economic results of each investment are tied primarily to the performance of the selected property.
Platform Focus: Residential property-level selection, monthly income opportunities, and a secondary trading mechanism for eligible holdings.
5. Lofty.ai
Lofty.ai offers fractional interests in U.S. real estate using blockchain-based infrastructure. Legal ownership is structured through property-specific entities, while blockchain technology supports transaction and ownership-record functionality.
Blockchain Architecture
- Blockchain Infrastructure: Lofty's protocol began on Algorand and has expanded across multiple public blockchain networks.
- Income Schedule: Eligible properties can make frequent rental-income distributions.
- Marketplace Access: Lofty supports marketplace-based trading for property interests.
- Entry Point: Share prices vary by property.
- Asset Selection: Investors can choose among individual real estate assets.
Property Focus
Lofty has offered fractional interests across single-family homes, multifamily properties, vacation rentals, and commercial properties in U.S. markets. Its structure centers on individual asset selection rather than only pooled real estate exposure.
Platform Focus: Property-level selection, blockchain-based infrastructure, frequent income distributions, and marketplace-based liquidity features.
6. EquityMultiple
EquityMultiple is a private commercial real estate investment platform for accredited investors. Its offerings can include debt, preferred equity, common equity, and fund structures across commercial real estate strategies.
Investment Structures
- Debt Investments: Private real estate debt positions tied to specific projects or portfolios.
- Preferred Equity: Priority positions within a property's capital structure under the terms of the applicable offering.
- Common Equity: Equity exposure to commercial real estate projects through special-purpose investment vehicles.
- Funds: Diversified vehicles that can span multiple properties, sponsors, or commercial real estate strategies.
Accreditation Requirements
EquityMultiple serves accredited investors under applicable U.S. securities rules. Eligibility is based on the accreditation standards that apply to the relevant offering.
Commercial Focus
The platform focuses on commercial real estate, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial, and other private real estate strategies. This distinguishes its asset mix from residential property-focused platforms such as mogul, Arrived Homes, Ark7, and Lofty.
Platform Focus: Private commercial real estate for accredited investors through multiple capital-stack structures and pooled or deal-specific investment formats.
7. Willow Wealth, Formerly Yieldstreet
Yieldstreet changed its name to Willow Wealth in November 2025. Willow is a broader private-markets platform rather than a dedicated property-level fractional real estate marketplace, but real estate remains one of the investment categories available to eligible investors.
Platform Scope
- Real Estate Access: Private real estate opportunities are offered alongside other private-market strategies.
- Investment Categories: The platform spans real estate, private credit, private equity, and specialized alternatives.
- Investment Formats: Minimums and structures vary by product.
- Eligibility: Many current offerings are designed for accredited individual investors.
Real Estate Component
Willow provides access to both diversified private-market vehicles and direct private real estate opportunities. Some real estate-related investments can be structured as debt or credit instruments, while others can use different private-market vehicles.
Current Platform Context
Willow's current model centers on private-market opportunities across real estate, private credit, private equity, and specialized alternatives, with investment structures varying by product.
Platform Focus: Private real estate exposure for accredited investors within a broader private-markets platform that also includes credit, private equity, and specialized alternatives.
Why mogul Stands Out for Fractional Real Estate Investing
Selective, Institutional-Style Property Underwriting
mogul was founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate professionals with more than $10 billion in deal experience. Joey Gumataotao helped build Goldman Sachs' single-family rental platform from zero to more than $1 billion in assets under management in under 12 months, while the founding team's broader background spans real estate investing, investment banking, residential acquisitions, financing, and technology.
That institutional background informs mogul's investment process. mogul says fewer than 1% of reviewed properties pass its diligence process. The screening process uses proprietary nationwide data, property inspections, market analysis, professional underwriting, disciplined property selection, and internal investment-committee review.
Professionally Vetted Residential Properties
mogul focuses on institutional-quality, income-producing residential properties. Its company materials describe a sourcing and underwriting strategy centered on high-growth secondary markets, strong rental fundamentals, attractive price-to-rent dynamics, professional operating partners, and established operating performance.
The platform's primary strategies include short-term and mid-term rentals, with operating teams selected for the requirements of each market and rental model. This asset-level approach gives members visibility into the specific property behind each investment.
Management Alignment Through Co-Investment
mogul says it invests in every property offered on the platform. That creates direct financial participation by the platform alongside members and reinforces the alignment created by asset-level underwriting and professional management.
Monthly Income and Long-Term Appreciation
Income-producing residential real estate can generate monthly rental income while also providing exposure to property appreciation over time. mogul is designed around that combination. When a property has distributable cash flow, members can receive their proportional share on a monthly basis. Distributable income is calculated after applicable property expenses, debt service, fees, capital expenditures, and reserves.
The platform also provides real-time property information and asset-level reporting so investors can follow the operating performance and valuation of their holdings through a digital account experience.
First-Year Loss Protection for New Members
If the total return on qualifying investments made during a new member's first 7 days is negative after one year, mogul covers up to $10,000 of that loss with its own balance sheet capital, subject to the promotion terms.
This feature is a distinctive part of mogul's new-member experience and complements the platform's institutional underwriting and asset-level ownership model.
Blockchain-Backed Ownership Transparency
Through tokenization on the Avalanche network, mogul provides an immutable blockchain record alongside applicable legal ownership records and uses blockchain infrastructure to support efficient back-office processes. The technology is intended to improve transparency and operational efficiency while the investment itself remains tied to the applicable real estate ownership structure. mogul also calculates property values monthly using third-party appraisal-level data.
Purpose-Built Investment Tools
Beyond property investments, mogul provides free investment calculators for U.S. residential properties, including a rental property calculator that can model rental income, ROI, IRR, MOIC, cash-on-cash yield, appreciation, leverage, and scenario assumptions.
The platform also offers free professional underwriting for submitted properties, providing property-level analysis built around metrics commonly used by professional real estate investors.
Strong Repeat-Investment Engagement
mogul reports that roughly 90% of investors invest a second time and that follow-on investments are typically about three times the size of the first investment. mogul also reports more than $90 million in assets on the platform and more than 40,000 investors.
For investors comparing fractional real estate investing platforms, mogul combines property-specific ownership, former Goldman Sachs real estate experience, institutional-style underwriting, professional property management, team co-investment, monthly income potential, blockchain-supported transparency, and first-year loss protection for new members. Investors can review available properties or explore how mogul works in more detail.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed professional before making any financial or investment decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is fractional real estate investing?
Fractional real estate investing allows multiple investors to gain economic exposure to real estate without purchasing an entire property individually. Depending on the platform, the investment vehicle can be a property-specific LLC, a fund, a REIT, a debt instrument, or another special-purpose structure. With mogul, investors receive asset-level exposure to specific income-producing residential properties through dedicated ownership structures. That model is designed to preserve many of the economic characteristics associated with direct real estate ownership while making the investing process more accessible and streamlined.
How does fractional real estate differ from REITs?
Publicly listed REITs generally provide exposure to a portfolio of real estate assets through exchange-traded shares. Private and public non-listed REITs use different structures and liquidity mechanisms. Property-level fractional ownership can instead connect an investor's economic interest directly to a specific underlying property. With mogul, members invest in interests associated with property-specific structures and can receive proportional economic and governance rights. This gives investors asset-level visibility rather than only portfolio-level exposure.
What kind of returns can fractional real estate generate?
Historical returns vary by platform, property, operating strategy, financing, fees, holding period, and market conditions. mogul reports an 18.8% average annual return across platform assets. mogul also cites historical single-family rental data showing a 13.8% IRR from 1993 to 2023, compared with 9.8% for the S&P 500 over the same period. Those figures are historical references rather than forecasts. Fractional real estate returns can come from several sources, including rental income, property appreciation, financing effects, and the economics of the specific investment structure.
Can I sell fractional real estate interests before the property is sold?
Liquidity depends on the platform and investment vehicle. Some platforms, including Lofty, Arrived Homes, and Ark7, offer marketplace, secondary trading, or redemption mechanisms for eligible investments. Other property-level structures are designed around a longer holding period and an eventual property sale or other asset-level exit. mogul calculates property values monthly using third-party appraisal-level data and provides proportional participation in sale proceeds when an asset is sold, subject to the applicable offering documents.
Is fractional real estate suitable for beginners?
Fractional real estate can provide a more accessible way to gain real estate exposure without buying and operating an entire property. Platforms can handle acquisition, property management, tenant-related operations, maintenance, accounting, and reporting, depending on the structure. mogul is designed to make real estate investing more accessible and headache-free through professionally vetted properties, institutional underwriting, asset-level ownership, digital account management, and professional property operations. If the total return on qualifying investments made during a new member's first 7 days is negative after one year, mogul covers up to $10,000 of that loss with its own balance sheet capital, subject to the promotion terms.
