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Last July, I decided to invest a couple thousand dollars in Arrived. This was largely out of curiosity. Real estate investment apps are everywhere. And like Warren Buffett, I trust in the genius of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who is the founder of Arrived.
Arrived is an investment platform that lets everyday people invest in real estate. Small amounts, starting from $100, are pooled together with other investors in this crowdfund app.
No need to play landlord or manage properties; Bezos’ team manages those logistics. As an investor, you review the different property options, invest, and wait for the money to come in through monthly dividends (from rental income) or property appreciation — your pro-rated cut when a property eventually sells.
Since investing a couple thousand dollars, I’ve seen a steady, annualized yield of 5.6%. It’s not real estate tycoon money, but it is a better return than what even the best high-yield savings accounts (HYSAs) currently offer.
Here’s a review of my experience investing in Arrived and a little bit more background on the app.
About Arrived
Arrived was founded in 2019 and the platform launched in October 2020. The founders’ mission was to make real estate investing accessible to everyone — not just seasoned investors with substantial capital.
The process is simple. Allow anyone (U.S. citizen 18 or older) to buy shares in rental properties, receive monthly dividends, and benefit from potential appreciation — all without needing to personally manage the property. Arrived Homes works with property managers and property management companies around the country.
To my reckoning, Jeff Bezos’s backing gives Arrived significant credibility in a crowded market, highlighting it as a platform with serious potential. As someone with expertise in logistics, scalability, and customer experience, Bezos’s involvement suggests that Arrived has a solid foundation for ambitious growth.
My Arrived investment portfolio
I’ve invested a total of $2,107.46 in Arrived, allocated across various funds and property types:
- Single-family: $1,000
- Single Family Fund: $398.40
- Vacation rentals: $100
- Private Credit Fund: $600
- Arrived cash balance: $9.06 (as of my most recent balance check — I’ve reinvested previous earnings in other properties.)
Image caption: Display of vacation rental properties on Arrived.
Initially, I chose investments based on the available options, which, surprisingly, isn’t a limitless buffet.
Arrived releases properties gradually, often adding new options weekly or even more infrequently. The selection is mostly single-family homes. Vacation properties are less common but seem even more popular.
Image caption: Display of available homes in the Single Family Residential Fund. It’s easy to quickly see which homes are available to new investors by showing the percentage of funding each one is at.
For most homes, you must invest at least $100 (roughly 10 shares). Some homes limit your investment to just 10 shares to allow more investors to buy in. Vacation rental properties, I’ve noticed, are especially popular. I’ve only invested in a couple because funding goals are usually met before I have a chance to wade in.
I also ventured into their Private Credit Fund. This fund provides short-term loans for real estate projects, like renovations or new home constructions, generating returns for investors through monthly dividends. The fund targets a 7-9% annualized return.
Image caption: You can quickly see the Private Credit Fund for Arrived has an 8.1% annualized return and a pool of 11K investors.
For my $600 investment in the Arrived Private Credit Fund, I’ve seen a return of $12.13.
When starting, I tried to invest in a little bit of everything to see how it worked. Now, I do a little bit more research. For single-family homes, as an example, I’ll look up school district ratings, crime rates, homeownership levels, and other factors to make more informed choices.
Here’s a breakdown of all of my Arrived investments:
Image caption: Line-by-line breakdown of my investments on Arrived Homes, including names of properties and dates and amounts of any dividend payments.
Returns so far
My returns on Arrived have been steady. I’ve earned $26.50 in dividends so far, which yields an annualized rate of 5.6%.
While I’d hoped for slightly higher returns in the 8-10% range, I’m still happy with this outcome. It’s more than most high-yield savings accounts offer.
Image caption: Earnings dashboard for the Arrived Private Credit Fund. The $600 initial investment has seen a return of $12.30, which is an annualized yield of 8.1%.
Each month, I receive dividends from my investments, which is a small passive income stream. Arrived also makes it easy to track property performance, with regular updates on how each asset is doing. So far, all properties have performed as expected or better for rental income, except one property that underperformed—something Arrived was transparent about
Image caption: Arrived Dashboard view of the homes in my Single Family portfolio.
Image caption: The Single Family portfolio dashboard clearly shows how much rental income each property generates, and whether it’s above or below forecast.
Of the six single-family homes I’ve invested in, four are generating more rental income than forecasted. One property is meeting forecast and another one is generating less than anticipated.
Arrived user experience and interface
The app’s design is clean and intuitive. It’s similar to Stash in the sense that both platforms make investing feel accessible and easy, but Arrived is focused solely on real estate.
For instance, when I input an investment amount like $100 and shares are priced at $9.36, Arrived rounds the number of shares to match my budget, simplifying the process. The platform feels polished, professional, and frictionless.
When you see a home in which you want to potentially invest, you can select that listing from the dashboard and then view more details about the property.
Image caption: Listing for The Byers, a single-family residence, on Arrived Homes which owns the property purchase price, minimum investment needed, and other pertinent details.
Image caption: The final step in purchasing single-family rental properties involves confirming your purchase decision with your initials and acknowledging the risks involved with real estate investing.
How to make an investment on Arrived
The checkout experience is as about as easy — for real estate — as one might expect of a Jeff Bezos-owned company.
- Select “Invest”
- Select the amount you want to “Buy” from 3-4 options presented
- Select “Review Investment”
- Select “Secure Investment”
- Then provide your initials (first and last name) and select “Confirm Order”
While it’s a five-step process, it takes less than a minute to complete — if you have already set up information for your funding bank account.
More hands-on user experience than other apps
The app is, however, more hands-on than other investment apps. With Stash and similar apps, you can set up recurring contributions for an easy, set-it-and-forget-it user experience.
With Arrived, you need to log into the platform to actively look for new investment opportunities and then decide how much you want to contribute up to the maximum allowed.
However, Arrived sends you text alerts when a new investment property is available.
Image caption: Here are some of the text alerts I’ve received from Arrived Homes when a new investment property becomes available.
Transparency and performance tracking
As shared earlier, I appreciate the easy transparency of Arrived. Monthly rental income and appreciation are clearly reported, and when a property doesn’t perform as forecasted, they don’t try to hide it. It’s highlighted in bright red. I appreciate this as businesses are often opaque about sharing any bad-news facts and figures.
Overall impression: 7 out of 10
I like Arrived. It’s been a good opportunity for me to invest in a Jeff Bezos company at a cheap price point. Amazon.com stocks are high, and Bezos himself recently unloaded $3B worth of Amazon stocks.
Related: Why I bought Amazon stock when it was $67 a share.
Also, it’s been an easy and accessible way to explore real estate investment. Like FreshBuck founder James, I am interested in building wealth through real estate. However, the idea of securing financing to manage a rental property does not sound appealing to me. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and crowdfunding real estate investment apps offer a lower-hassle point of entry.
Image caption: On the Arrived homepage, the company shares that less than 0.2% of homes pass their diligence process.
Here’s how I see the pros and cons of Arrived.
Pros
- Easy to use; the Arrived real estate platform is a great user experience
- Open to non-accredited investors; U.S. citizens and residents age 18+
- Affordable entry point; invest in real estate with as little as $100
- Excellent transparency with clear dashboards and reports on investment performance
- Strong due diligence process. Homes are carefully selected for strong investment potential and minimal risk.
- Better returns than high-yield savings account (HYSA) and CDs
Cons
- Limited real estate properties— no multi-family rental homes or commercial properties are offered
- More hands-on — you can’t set up recurring deposits to your portfolio; you need to continually log into the app and select new investments
- You can’t earn significant returns unless you invest a significant amount of money, which I would be hesitant to do as I’m not an expert in real estate, investments, or financial planning.
- As with any investment, you can lose money. Past results do not guarantee future performance. The rental real estate market can be volatile and property value is not guaranteed to appreciate.
Yes, it takes $100 to get started building real estate wealth. However, you’re likely only earning $5 to $10 a year. Many featured properties limit your investment to just $100, making it hard to generate significant returns.
However, for some properties, you can invest $36,000 or more as with The Gerald property in Huntsville, Alabama.
Image caption: With some properties like The Gerald, users can invest $36,000 or more.
And there is the option of investing several thousand dollars in the Private Credit Fund which has shown strong performance.
However, I would not invest that type of money on Arrived without consulting a financial advisor.
Going forward
I’ll keep my money in Arrived and likely toss in a few more hundred dollars over the next year. For anyone curious about real estate investment and looking for a low-risk, hassle-free way to get started, I do think Arrived is a solid option. It lets you explore real estate without the stress of flipping homes or managing tenants. It’s been a good experience for me so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing how my investments continue to grow.
I wrote this review to share a real human user’s experience with the Arrived app. At FreshBuck, we focus on authentic ways to earn, save, and grow money that Stacy or James has actually tried.
Unlike many financial blogs that churn out app reviews for clicks and affiliate links, often skimming the surface with details from FAQs and press releases, this review provides an in-depth look from an investor who has personally put over $2,000 into Arrived. It’s a genuine, firsthand perspective you can trust.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, app, credit card issuer, or any other third-party entity. Article content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any such third party. Additionally, FreshBuck strives to provide current, accurate information but makes no warranties regarding the accuracy. Ultimately the reader is responsible for conducting their own research. Additionally, nothing in the article should be construed as financial advice or a solicitation to make a purchase or investment. We strongly advise all readers to solicit their own professional financial advice.
