Real Estate Investment Platforms: How to Choose One

Start with the type

How do you choose among real estate investment platforms?

Real estate investment platforms differ most in who picks the investments, so choose the type of platform first and the brand second. A $10 fund share, a $100 slice of a rental house, a nine-month note and a $25,000 stake in a sponsor's apartment deal are all sold online. They carry different rules, costs and risks. Work through these steps in order:

1. Decide who picks the deals. One manager, the platform itself, or you, choosing among sponsors.
2. Check whether you qualify, because many platforms are for accredited investors only.
3. Match the minimum and the lockup to your money: how much, and for how long you can leave it.
4. Add up every fee layer: the platform, the fund or sponsor, and any upfront load.
5. Find out how the platform is paid and what it reviews before listing.
6. Read the platform's own record and filings, and what happens to your investment if it changes hands.

There is no single best real estate investing platform for everyone, and this guide does not rank them. It gives you dated, sourced facts to compare.

What types of real estate investing platforms are there?

Real estate investing platforms come in six main types. The table orders them by how much choice you have over who runs the investment, from the most to the least. That choice shapes access, fees and how you get out.

Access rules

Which real estate crowdfunding sites are for accredited investors only?

Crowd Street and EquityMultiple accept only accredited investors, while Fundrise, Arrived and most Groundfloor products are open to everyone. Most offerings on Relli are for accredited investors too. The split follows the legal exemption each platform uses.

For an individual, accredited means meeting one of these tests (accredited investor tests):

• Income above $200,000 ($300,000 jointly) in each of the last two years, with the same expected this year.
• Net worth above $1 million, not counting your home.
• A Series 7, 65 or 82 license in good standing.

Platforms open to everyone use Regulation A or funds registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Regulation A lets a non-accredited investor put up to 10% of the greater of income or net worth into an unlisted Tier 2 offering.

Legal crowdfunding under Regulation Crowdfunding runs through broker-dealers or funding portals that belong to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It sets yearly limits for non-accredited investors. FINRA listed 73 funding portals in October 2026. The guide to crowdfunding vs syndication explains each route.

Costs and lockups

How do real estate platform fees compare?

Real estate platform fees come in layers, and the layer that differs most is who pays the platform itself. There are three common models:

• Investors pay the platform. Fundrise charges a 0.15% advisory fee and a 0.85% management fee a year on its real estate funds.
• The investment pays the platform out of your money. Crowd Street's funds deduct sales loads of typically 1.5% to 3.5% from the amount invested. Arrived's vehicles pay Arrived a sourcing fee of up to 3.5% of the purchase price.
• Sponsors pay the platform. Relli is paid by a sponsor subscription to list. RealtyMogul has said it "charges the sponsor a fee for the use of the platform" on its private placements, as RealtyMogul and Relli compared sets out.

Sponsor-level fees, such as acquisition, asset management, promote and disposition fees, sit inside the offering in every model. The guide to sponsor fees explains each one.

How do minimums and lockups compare across platforms?

Minimums run from $10 on fund platforms to $25,000 and up for sponsor offerings. Lockups run from quarterly repurchase windows to the full life of a deal. Pooled and fractional products start small because one fund or one home is split among many investors.

Direct sponsor offerings start higher. Relli's study of typical offering minimums covered 4,172 U.S. real estate offerings filed on Form D between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. The median stated minimum was $50,000, and the middle half fell between $25,000 and $100,000. Of those offerings, 29.3% were filed under Rule 506(c).

• Interval funds make repurchase offers every 3, 6 or 12 months for 5% to 25% of shares, filled pro rata when oversubscribed (SEC Rule 23c-3).
• Non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) redemption programs "may be discontinued ... without notice," the SEC warns. RealtyMogul's two REITs suspended repurchases on April 21, 2026.
• Fractional homes may offer resale windows, such as Arrived's after a six-month hold, with no guaranteed sale or price.
• Sponsor offerings are restricted Regulation D securities, typically held for years with no market to sell into. See selling a private investment early.

Review and record

How do platforms vet sponsors and deals?

Platforms check what they list in different ways, and no review removes investment risk. On a fund platform the manager picks its own assets, so the reviewer and the investment come from the same firm. A broker-dealer platform does its own due diligence. When it recommends an investment to a retail customer, it must meet the care obligation of Regulation Best Interest.

A Reg CF funding portal has duties under Regulation Crowdfunding but may not give advice or hold investor funds. On a listing marketplace the sponsor runs the deal, and the marketplace may review sponsors before they list.

Relli reviews and underwrites every sponsor before it can list: background checks, track record, financials and the offering's structure. Some sponsors and offerings don't pass. A review is not a guarantee of performance, and it doesn't replace your own due diligence or the offering documents.

The Nightingale case shows why. In 2023 CrowdStreet disclosed that investor funds in Nightingale offerings had been misused. On February 21, 2025, the SEC charged Nightingale Properties and Elie Schwartz with defrauding at least 700 investors of more than $52 million. The SEC did not charge CrowdStreet. The CrowdStreet alternatives guide covers what followed. Ask any platform:

• What does your review check, and can I see it in writing?
• Do you turn sponsors or deals down?
• Who pays you, and does your pay change if I invest?
• Can I speak with the sponsor or fund manager before I commit?

Then check the sponsor yourself with the steps in the guide to vetting a sponsor. Also learn to judge 'institutional-grade' platform claims before relying on them.

How do you check a platform's track record?

Check a platform's track record by asking for realized, net results by deal or fund, including the losses, rather than one platform-wide average. A platform-wide figure mixes deals, years and fee levels. Until a property sells, its value is an estimate. That is why this guide does not rank platforms by historical internal rate of return (IRR).

Fundrise's parent files quarterly 10-Qs, and Regulation A issuers such as Groundfloor file annual and semiannual reports. On a sponsor marketplace, judge each sponsor's own record.

On Relli, each sponsor's track record and assets under management are on its sponsor page as the sponsor reports them. Relli, founded in 2023, has no platform-level realized record of its own. Mor Milo describes what investors miss when they only invest through people they know:

"At that point you're just kind of investing because you know, like, and trust and that's great, but it doesn't give you the variety in asset classes. It doesn't give you the ability to compare sponsors and their background and track record of success."

Mor Milo, Relli co-founder and CEO, in Ep. 21 How Relli Is Changing The Way Investors (November 26, 2025)

The guide to IRR, equity multiple and cash-on-cash return shows how to read the figures you are given.

When platforms change

What happens to your money if a platform fails or changes?

When a platform changes hands or stops taking new money, existing investments are governed by their own documents, but new choices can narrow fast. The record since 2023:

• Yieldstreet did not go out of business. It renamed itself Willow Wealth in late 2025 (announced October 2025, per Finder).
• Cadre was acquired by Yieldstreet in January 2024. Its site, cadre.com, now sends new investors to Willow Wealth, and existing investors log in to see their holdings. The guide to what happened to Cadre lists where its investors can go.
• EquityMultiple licensed its platform to a Larson Financial subsidiary from August 1, 2026, and says existing investments keep their terms.
• RealtyMogul's broker-dealer withdrew effective July 11, 2025, and its REITs suspended repurchases on April 21, 2026. Its site showed no live private placements on October 20, 2026.
• Crowd Street renamed itself in May 2025 and now sells institutional managers' funds. Its offerings page listed 10 open funds and REITs on October 20, 2026.
• Groundfloor Yield, LLC's semiannual report filed October 1, 2026, says "There is substantial doubt that the Company will continue as a going concern for at least one year following the date these financial statements were issued without additional financing."

Before you invest, ask three questions. Who holds title to the property or fund assets? Who keeps investor records and sends tax forms? What do the documents say happens if the platform stops operating?

Fit by investor

Which real estate investing platforms suit beginners?

For beginners with small amounts, fund platforms and fractional rental platforms are the usual starting point. They accept non-accredited investors and start at $10 to $250. Low minimums are not low risk. A fund still depends on one manager, a single rental depends on one property, and selling early may not be possible. Accredited beginners can also use broker-dealer fund menus and sponsor marketplaces.

Those platforms ask more: reading offering documents, judging a sponsor and committing larger sums for years. The guide to how syndications work is a good first read, and Fundrise vs CrowdStreet shows two very different platforms side by side.

Can you use IRA money on these platforms?

Fundrise and many sponsors on Relli accept retirement money, but the rules come from the account. Fundrise's help center covers investing through an IRA. On Relli, sponsors that accept self-directed IRAs often take limited liability companies (LLCs) and trusts too. Each sponsor sets its own rules, so ask on your call.

A self-directed IRA needs a custodian, and custodians do not vet the deal. An IRA that owns leveraged real estate can also owe unrelated business income tax on the debt-financed share. This is general information, not tax advice. The retirement accounts guide covers the rules.

Relli's answers

How does Relli answer the platform questions?

Relli is one of the platforms this guide describes, so here are its answers to the same questions, stated as facts.

See how Relli works.

How we compared

How did we compare platform types?

Relli checked every platform named here on October 20, 2026, against the same questions:

• Who picks the investment, and who can invest?
• What are the minimum and the investor fees?
• How is the platform paid, and how do you get money out?
• What has changed since 2023?

We used each platform's own pages first, then its SEC and FINRA records (Form CRS, BrokerCheck, EDGAR filings) and the SEC's Form D data. Figures from NerdWallet and Finder are named. Types are ordered by how much choice you have over who runs the investment.

Nothing is scored or ranked, and no platform paid to be included. Relli appears with its limits because it is one of the options and because you should know who wrote the page.

Checklist

What should be on your platform checklist?

A platform checklist should cover ten questions, from who runs the investment to what happens if the platform closes:

1. Who picks and manages the investment, and can you speak with them?
2. Do you qualify, and does the offering verify it?
3. What is the minimum, and how long is the money tied up?
4. What are all the fees, in dollars, at the platform, fund and sponsor levels?
5. Who pays the platform, and how?
6. What does the platform review before listing, and what does it turn down?
7. Which registered firms or SEC filings stand behind it, and what do BrokerCheck and EDGAR show?
8. What realized, net results can the manager or sponsor show, including losses?
9. How do you get money out, and can that be limited or suspended?
10. What happens to your investment if the platform is sold or closes?