Year 1 on Arrived: $1,000 invested → $4 profit

That's not a typo. Here's the math that Arrived doesn't put in the headline.

The 3.5% sourcing fee nobody mentions

When you invest $1,000 in an Arrived property, 3.5% goes to Arrived before a single dollar of rent is collected. That's $35, paid day one, to source and acquire the property.

Here's what that does to your year 1 numbers:

• Arrived's advertised dividend yield: ~3.9% = $39/year on $1,000
• Sourcing fee paid on day 1: –$35
• Your actual year 1 net: $4

Not $39. $4.

The 3.9% yield is real — but it's a long-term figure that assumes you hold for 5+ years and let the sourcing fee amortize. In year 1, you're essentially paying Arrived just to get in the door.

When does Arrived make sense?

If you hold a property for 7 years at 3.9%/year, the $35 sourcing fee becomes less than $0.50/year — basically noise. Add property appreciation and total returns can reach 8–12% annually. That math works.

But if you're comparing Arrived to a Fundrise account earning ~7% from day one with no sourcing fee — for investors under $5,000, Fundrise comes out ahead in the first 2–3 years.

See the full platform-by-platform fee breakdown →

P.S. Before putting money into any of these platforms, I run the numbers in DealCheck. Use code BESTDEAL for 20% off — dealcheck.io

— Jorge