Ark7 Review [2024]: Making Real Estate Investments Accessible

What is Ark7?

Ark7 is a real estate crowdfunding platform founded in San Francisco by Andy Zhao, an ex-Google engineer, along with Jim Holt, Yujian Weng, and Lynn Yang.

Ark7 provides access to rental real estate through fractional shares, which resemble a form of partial ownership. The company states that it serves more than 90,000 investors that invest in properties valued at more than $19 million.

Rental properties listed on Ark7 are located in different real estate markets and cities around the country. Each property has a title that is held by an LLC company that Ark7 creates. This allows investors to buy shares of each LLC while Ark7 handles the administration and management of each property.

How does Ark7 work?

Investing money with Ark7 is fairly straightforward. They purchase the rental properties they offer on their platform, either with cash or through financing. Then, they list shares of each property on its website, retaining between 1% and 20% of shares in the property for itself.

The shares you buy from Ark7 don’t represent fractional ownership of the actual property. Instead, each property’s title is held by an LLC company, and your shares represent fractional ownership of this LLC.

When you buy shares, you receive a part of the monthly property income proportionate to the percentage you own. Keep in mind that Ark7 deducts its operating expenses from this passive income.

Ark7 owns homes in several cities and states. A few examples are:

Atlanta, Georgia Dallas, Texas Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Phoenix, Arizona Arizona City, Arizona

Berkeley, California Seattle, Washington Austin, Texas Memphis, Tennessee

How to use Ark7

When you sign up and log in to Ark7, you should see trending properties on your dashboard, along with the cost of each share. You can only view properties you’re eligible to invest in, which are usually single-family homes.

You can also check the marketplace on Ark7 to view shares for sale from other investors. When you open a property listing, you get additional information, including a summary, condition, share number, cash distributions, and more.

To access multi-family properties and short-term rentals, you need to qualify for Ark7+. You can qualify by verifying your status as an accredited investor and providing information and documentation proving your accreditation status.

How to choose properties on Ark7

Once you’re ready to invest, it’s important to review the property information available on Ark7 carefully. You can view details, such as how many bedrooms and bathrooms a property has, when it was built, how much Ark7 bought it for, and why Ark7 chose it.

Some of the considerations Ark7 uses to select its properties include:

• Located in a high-growth area
• Proximity to major employers
• Proximity to major highways and other amenities
• Potential property upgrades that add value

I encourage you to do your due diligence too, taking into consideration your own needs and risk tolerance. You can also think about your return strategy. For example, several Ark7 properties may offer steady income from long-term rentals.

Other properties may have high growth potential. These properties may give you an investment opportunity that may offer value through real estate appreciation in addition to your monthly dividends from rent.

How to sell your shares

Investing in rental real estate is often a long-term strategy. The same is true when you invest through Ark7. The platform has a minimum holding period of at least one year unless stated otherwise.

Once you fulfill the minimum holding requirement, you can sell your shares on a secondary market hosted by Ark7. On this market, you can directly sell your shares to other real estate investors on the platform.

Remember, there is no guarantee you’ll be able to sell your shares, so be sure you can handle keeping the shares long-term.

How to invest with an IRA

In addition to offering a taxable investing account, Ark7 also offers individual retirement accounts (IRAs). You can open a Roth or traditional IRA with Ark7 and use your account to invest in rental properties.

You must open an IRA on Ark7 (it’s free to open) and fund your account either from an existing IRA or your bank account. You then manage the investment like you would in a taxable account. However, there is a $100 annual fee per property for Ark7 to be the account’s custodian. This fee is capped at $400 and waived on balances of $100,000 or more.

How much can you earn with Ark7?

As with any investment, there’s no guarantee of return or profit. In general, investment returns vary according to several factors, such as:

• Market conditions
• The increase in the asset’s value
• The fees

Ark7 offers two main ways to earn money through investing in rental real estate:

1. Monthly dividends: Each month, Ark7 distributes dividends to all of the shareholders of a property. These dividends come from the monthly rental income received from the property minus operational costs.
2. Value appreciation: If the managers sell the property, Ark7 distributes money from the sale to shareholders. You can also benefit from value appreciation by selling your shares on Ark7’s secondary marketplace.

According to Ark7, in May 2024, investors saw a 4.36% annualized cash return rate and the top performing areas were Chicago with a 6% rate of return, Dallas, Tampa, Philadelphia, Berkeley, Alexandria, and Atlanta with a 5% rate of return. The total dividends payout for the month was $62,652.06.

Ark7 fees

The total amount of money you can earn with Ark7 depends, in part, on the fees you pay. Fees eat into your real returns, which reduces how much money you keep.

Before you decide to invest in Ark7, you should understand the fees you’ll pay:

• Sourcing fee: This is a one-time fee of 3% of the property market price. Ark7 charges this fee for its services in acquiring and listing the property.
• Property management fee: Between 8% and 15% of the property’s income goes to Ark7 each month to pay for the tenant management and property maintenance costs.
• IRA custodial fee: A $100 custodial fee is charged per property for every year you maintain an IRA account, up to $400 per year. You can have your fee waived if your IRA account balance with Ark7 exceeds $100,000.

Who can earn money with Ark7?

Ark7 is open to U.S. citizens and residents who are 18 or older. To use the platform, you must have:

• A U.S. bank account
• A Social Security number (SSN) or an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)

Your Ark7 account gives you access to single-family rental homes. To access multi-family and short-term rental properties, you need to qualify for an Ark7+ account by being an accredited investor and providing proof of your accreditation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designates accredited investors as investors who fit one of these conditions:

• Have at least $1 million in net worth (excluding their primary residence)
• Made at least $200,000 a year as an individual or $300,000 as a married couple in each of the past two years and expect to make the same amount in the current year

There are also some professional investment licenses and job experiences that enable you to become an accredited investor.

Find out how to become an accredited investor.

Alternatives to Ark7

I believe Ark7 can be a good choice for someone who wants to invest in real estate but has a small amount of capital. The low entry barrier makes it easy to invest through Ark7 and earn a portion of the monthly rental income. However, if you have a relatively small investment, your dividends will be correspondingly small. 

If Ark7 doesn’t feel like the right option, you can consider investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs). A REIT is a form of a company or trust that holds certain properties. When you buy company shares, you invest in its underlying real estate assets.

REITs

Some REITs trade on major stock exchanges, while others are private. The publicly traded REITs are easily accessed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Find out more in our guide to REITs.

Arrived (formerly known as Arrived Homes)

The Arrived investment platform allows you to invest in single-family homes, vacation rentals, and long-term rentals. You can invest between $100 and $20,000 per individual property. Opening an account with Arrived is a quick process that doesn’t require you to be an accredited investor.

Find out more in our Arrived review.

DiversyFund

Another option is DiversyFund, an investment platform that focuses on multi-family real estate. You can use this platform to access high-quality REITs. The minimum investment is a little higher at $500, but opening an account doesn’t require investor accreditation either.

Get more information in our DiversyFund review.

FAQs

Bottom line

I love that investing in rental real estate no longer requires you to become a landlord, manage the property yourself, or perform occasional repairs. Ark7 is a legitimate platform that enables you to quickly and easily invest in rental properties for as little as $20.

Keep in mind that the fees you pay when you use Ark7 can be high, which may reduce your potential returns. You also must keep your money invested for a minimum holding period, often a year so don’t invest money you may soon need. You should also consider your risk tolerance and the goals of your investment portfolio.