Roots

Roots is a non-traded residential REIT, formally Roots Real Estate Investment Community I, LLC, that buys workforce housing in and around Atlanta and shares part of the upside with the renters living in its houses. Through the Live In It Like You Own It program, residents earn quarterly equity in the fund for paying rent on time, maintaining the property, and being good neighbors, which Roots credits for low vacancy and turnover costs. The fund launched July 1, 2021, is qualified under Regulation A+, and is open to non-accredited US investors with a $100 minimum and a $5 transaction fee at signup. As of July 10, 2026 the fund reported a net asset value of about $134.3 million across 626 properties and 761 rental doors, a unit price of $155.30, and more than 31,800 investors. Roots targets 12 to 15 percent annual returns and reports a 13.13 percent compound annual return since inception and 12.01 percent over the trailing 12 months. Note what those numbers are made of: cash distributions were about $1.26 million last quarter, roughly 1 percent of NAV, so most of the reported return is NAV appreciation set by the manager's internal valuation, not market pricing. Liquidity is quarterly and conditional. Units held less than one year are redeemed at 92 percent of NAV, an 8 percent haircut, while redemptions after year one are at full NAV with no penalty. The offering circular caps redemptions at 5 percent of outstanding units per quarter and $100,000 per investor while the offering is ongoing, and lets the manager amend or suspend the program at any time, so the quarterly window is a convenience, not a guarantee. Fees are collected at the fund level rather than as an investor-facing AUM charge: the manager takes 10 percent of all revenue monthly, plus acquisition fees, a $500 leasing fee per lease, and disposition fees. Geographic concentration is the other structural risk: 403 of 626 properties are in Atlanta and 87 more in Augusta, so roughly three quarters of the portfolio rides on Georgia housing, with smaller allocations in Nashville, Oklahoma City, and Charlotte. Roots suits investors who want low-minimum exposure to Sun Belt rental housing, like the aligned-incentives resident model, and can commit for at least a year. Skip it if you may need the cash inside 12 months, since the 8 percent haircut wipes out most of a year's return, if you want market-priced or daily liquidity, or if single-metro concentration makes you uncomfortable. It is a long-hold private REIT with manager-marked returns, not a savings account with a 12 percent yield.