Is Roofstock Legit? An In-Depth Review for Real Estate Investors

As a modern-day real estate investor in search of online real estate platforms and marketplaces, you might be wondering: is Roofstock legit?

Table of Contents

1. What Is Roofstock?
2. What Does Roofstock Offer?
3. Roofstock Features
4. Roofstock Downsides
5. Top 3 Roofstock Competitors to Consider
6. Verdict: Is Roofstock Legit?

Real estate has for a long time been a foolproof way of making money and growing your wealth. Many people with extra cash looking to invest and multiply their money often have real estate on their radar.

There are many ways to invest in real estate. One of the most common methods is buying rental properties and becoming a landlord to earn rental income. Other investors also use this method to earn passive online income.

If you want to buy rental properties, there are plenty of opportunities for you in the market. There are even special platforms created for the sole purpose of helping investors purchase rental properties. This is where Roofstock comes in.

So, is Roofstock legit?

This article is a Roofstock review as we look at how this platform can help you. We’ll also look at other alternative platforms you can consider.

What Is Roofstock?

Founded in 2015, Roofstock is an online real estate platform dedicated to revolutionizing real estate investing and making it more accessible and affordable for the typical real estate investor. Since Roofstock understands that not all real estate investors are realtors, it seeks to offer investors turnkey investment properties.

Roofstock is a real estate marketplace that majors in single-family homes. The unique thing about Roofstock listings is that before a property is listed on the marketplace, it must be occupied by tenants. Further, Rooftsock has strict tenant-screening guidelines that each tenant must meet.

As such, Roofstock’s main target market is busy professionals who want to put their money into lucrative rental properties without necessarily having to put in the time and work themselves. 

Unlike many online platforms offering turnkey solutions, Roofstock doesn’t own any of the listed properties. Instead, they offer their expertise to help investors evaluate, negotiate, and close investment property transactions.

In short, they aren’t trying to sell you anything. Their focus is on adding value to an already existing but usually complicated process.

So, is Roofstock legit?

What Does Roofstock Offer?

To answer the question is Roofstock legit, we must look at what it has to offer.

Adequate Property Selection

One Roofstock attribute that probably gets everyone excited is the ample property inventory. Many turnkey property platforms disappoint buyers since they have little to no inventory. You’ll have to wait patiently as you’re next in line for a renovation to take place. This often leaves you feeling the pressure to take what’s available.

This isn’t the case with Roofstock. Its beauty is in its vast inventory that offers diverse prices and categories.

Affordability

Many people shy away from real estate investments due to the high costs often required to start investing. This isn’t the case with Roofstock simply because you don’t need any money to start looking at the properties.

In case you’ve found a property that arouses your interest, you can comprehensively read the inspection report and talk to your advisor or agent. After deciding to purchase the house, you can pay the 0.5% Roofstock fee using your credit card. Once you have the financing in order, the rental property becomes yours. 

This affordability isn’t only one-way, since sellers also have to pay just a 3% listing fee.

Many people may have a hard time comprehending how revolutionary these low fees are. While other online real estate platforms have made it possible to gain real estate exposure cheaply, you can’t directly own investment properties outright. 

Roofstock, on the other hand, is among the real estate platforms with the lowest barrier to entry.

Start Earning Immediately

We’ve already mentioned that Roofstock listings are already tenant-occupied. Once you’ve closed on a rental property, you start earning rental income right away. You simply assume the contract from the previous landlord.

Many investors say finding tenants is the toughest aspect of owning and managing rental properties. Roofstock has removed this challenge by making it possible to own properties with tenants who have a good track record.

On top of that, Roofstock has a “Rent Up Guarantee” that offers your security in case your rent-ready home hasn’t found a tenant within 45 days. With this guarantee, Roofstock covers your rent for up to a year.

Property Inspections

Another reason why Roofstock is desirable to real estate investors is due to the thorough property inspection each home has to go through. Roofstock inspections cover the general quality of the house, estimated repair costs, and the total finances you need.

Due to this, you can actually buy a perfect home on Roofstock without seeing it beforehand. While most investors will insist on seeing the house first, Roofstock inspections have made it a reasonable risk to take.

Accessible Financing

One of the hardest parts of buying rental properties for most investors is accessing financing. However, Roofstock has an integrated financing option for people with healthy credit histories and at least 20% downpayment.

Roofstock claims that its integrated financing solution makes it possible to close a deal in as little as 30 days. While it may not offer the best interest rates, its accessibility and speed are worth considering.

Roofstock Features

Let’s have a closer look at Roofstock reviews by going through some of the features that make it stand out from its competitors.

Roofstock One

Roofstock One is a subset of the platform that’s completely different from the marketplace. Firstly, Roofstock One allows investors to buy property shares for a minimum of $5,000. This feature allows you to become a single-family home fractional owner. Secondly, you must be an accredited investor to invest in Roofstock One.

Once you’ve invested in Roofstock One, their team takes over everything from there, including property management. This means that Roofstock One is a great option for investors who’re looking for a more hands-off investment approach or would love to get exposure to diverse properties.

So, is Roofstock One legit? The short answer is yes. However, keep in mind that Roofstock One’s investments are highly illiquid. It may take a much longer time to offload your property shares since there’s currently no third-party market for Roofstock One’s shares. 

Roofstock Academy

Roofstock Academy is Roofstock’s latest brainchild. It’s tailor-made for beginners wondering how much do real estate investors make and looking for ways to start investing.

Here, investors learn how to master turnkey investment properties and how to generate passive income. This course will actually go a long way to help you purchase properties on their platform.

One thing that makes Roofstock Academy stand out is that it combines both online learning and one-on-one coaching. In addition, you gain access to a private network of other experienced and newbie real estate investors.

Roofstock Downsides

We’ve already looked at some Roofstock benefits, such as low fees, thorough property inspection, property management, and tenant-occupied properties. To comprehensively answer the question is Roofstock legit, it’s now time to flip the coin and look at Roofstock’s downsides.

They include:

• Large down payment – If you don’t have the capacity to buy the property outright in cash, you’ll have to look for mortgage options. This will require you to pay a larger down payment and make things a bit difficult for you.
• A lot of work – Though you may choose to invest passively and pass all the property management tasks to the Roofstock team, owning rental properties isn’t always easy. For example, you’ll have to put some money aside for emergencies. In case anything breaks in the house, the owner (i.e. you) is responsible for it.
• Due diligence – You’ll have to carry out a lot of research before purchasing the property you’re thinking of.

Top 3 Roofstock Competitors to Consider

As we promised, we’re now going to look at some Roofstock competitors and alternative passive income sources for you to evaluate is Roofstock legit.

1. HomeUnion

HomeUnion is one of Roofstock’s main competitors. Just like Roofstock, HomeUnion is also a real estate marketplace. The only difference is that the latter doesn’t specialize in any type of property. You can find different types of properties on HomeUnion, including single-family rentals and four-family complexes.

HomeUnion may stand out since its algorithm recommends properties based on your investment goals and financial preferences. The platform will not only help you select the best investment property for you, but also help you decide on the best financing option and buy the property on your behalf.

Unlike Roofstock, HomeUnion properties don’t have tenants. However, they’ll help you market the property and find tenants. For a percentage of your rental income, HomeUnion can also manage the properties for you.

HomeUnion Pros

• Provides in-depth research on all properties
• You can do everything from finding suitable rental properties to finding good tenants and managing the property
• The platform is open to all investors

HomeUnion Cons

• You must have an account to access the listings
• You must pay a 3.5% property acquisition fee. If you don’t want to take on the landlord tasks, you must pay a 10.5% of the monthly rental income as property management fees
• The platform doesn’t have properties everywhere

2. Fundrise

Most investors will look for Roofstock vs Fundrise reviews when looking for a real estate platform. Fundrise is one of the earliest real estate crowdfunding platforms. It’s a great option for investors who wish to take a crowdfunding approach when investing in real estate.

Fundrise investors combine their resources to access commercial and residential investment opportunities that they might not have access to on their own. The assets acquired can generate income for the investors or grow based on the principal interest. You don’t have to be an accredited investor to invest in Fundrise.

Fundrise’s investment products are:

• eREITs – This option allows you to invest in equity and debt investment opportunities that match your eREIT goals. Your eREIT goal could either be to generate consistent income or grow in the long term.
• eFUNDs– Fundrise eFUNDs let investors invest directly into a diverse portfolio of listings located in high-performing neighborhoods in US metro areas.

Fundrise Costs

Fundrise fees may be its major downside. Compared to its competitors, the platform is quite costly. To manage your eREITs and eFUNDs, you have to part with 0.85% of your income for the annual management fee. On top of that, you have to pay a 0.15% annual advisory fee for the account.

There are also other Fundrise fees associated with liquidation and development. Such fees are charged on specific projects. Redeeming your investment before the specific duration will lead to a redemption fee of 3%.

3. Mashvisor

Now let’s look at the icing on the cake. Mashvisor is an online real estate platform whose main goal is to provide investors with reliable, accurate, and latest property data. This data helps investors make smart investment decisions.

What makes Mashvisor stand out from other real estate platforms is that it provides data for both traditional and short-term rental strategies. This helps you choose the rental strategy that matches your income and investment goals.

The platform also uses machine learning and AI algorithms to provide you with listings that match your requirements. This will save you a lot of time as you search for and analyze investment opportunities.

Before we can look at some Mashvisor features, make sure you’ve booked your demo:

Property Finder

Mashvisor’s Property Finder helps you find lucrative investment properties in a few minutes. The tool includes filters to help you narrow down the search results to fit your criteria. The filters include property type, listing price, ideal rental strategy, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

 

Investment Property Calculator

Also referred to as the Rental Property Calculator, you can use this tool to analyze properties for both traditional and short-term rental strategies. You only have to input the financial costs, and the tool will generate the numbers you can expect for rental income, property expenses, Airbnb occupancy rate, and return on investment metrics, such as cash on cash return and cap rate.

Since our investment property calculator is interactive, you can adjust the financial costs, income, and occupancy rate to see how they can affect your cash flow.

Real Estate Heatmap

Mashvisor’s Heatmap is a color-coded tool that shows you active and top-performing neighborhoods in a certain area. The color green represents active neighborhoods while red shows dormant markets. You can use metrics such as rental income, cap rate, cash on cash return, and Airbnb occupancy rate to neighborhoods on our Heatmap.

Verdict: Is Roofstock Legit?

We hope this Roofstock review has helped you answer the question: is Roofstock legit? To summarize, this platform works well for many real estate investors since it has lowered the barrier to entry. While it’s a great lucrative opportunity, you still have to carry out your due diligence beforehand to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Mashvisor is one of the best Roofstock alternatives, and it could even be a supplementary tool. Our platform was developed to help real estate investors make smart business decisions and invest their money in profitable opportunities.

Sign up to our platform today.