Roots: Platform Profile

Overview

Roots gives investors exposure to a pooled residential real-estate portfolio through Roots Real Estate Investment Community I, LLC.

It is different from platforms where investors select one house at a time.

Current Roots characteristics include:

• Regulation A Tier 2 securities;
• REIT tax treatment;
• single-family and multifamily/workforce-housing exposure;
• a $100 minimum per transaction;
• quarterly distribution mechanics;
• quarterly unit valuation;
• a cash-out program;
• a resident wealth-building model;
• eligibility for accredited and qualifying non-accredited investors.

Roots markets no investor-level AUM fee.

That statement needs to be read alongside the fund's property-level and related-party operating fees.

May fit better for

• investors seeking pooled residential real-estate exposure;
• non-accredited investors who satisfy Regulation A limits;
• investors starting at $100;
• investors who prefer one diversified vehicle over selecting houses individually;
• investors comfortable with quarterly rather than daily valuation;
• investors who can hold at least one year to avoid the current early-withdrawal penalty.

May fit less well for

• investors requiring public-market liquidity;
• investors seeking individual-property control;
• investors sensitive to property-level sponsor/manager fees;
• investors who may need to exit within 12 months;
• investors who assume a quarterly distribution is guaranteed;
• investors who equate a Regulation A qualification with SEC approval.

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Issuer and manager

Current regulatory structure:

• Issuer: Roots Real Estate Investment Community I, LLC
• Issuer state: Georgia
• Manager: Roots REIT Management, LLC
• Sponsor: Seed InvestCo, LLC
• Regulation a Tier 2: Yes

The issuer's units are private Regulation A securities.

They are not exchange-listed REIT shares.

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Current investment minimum

Current Roots help:

• Minimum initial investment: $100
• Minimum subsequent transaction: $100

This is one of the clearest low-minimum pooled private-real-estate products in the current batch.

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Investor eligibility

Current offering materials:

• US investor requirement: Yes
• Non accredited access: Yes
• Reg a non accredited limit: generally 10% of greater of annual income or net worth under applicable rule
• Accredited investor different rules: Yes

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Investor transaction fees

Current Roots help:

• One time investment fee: $5
• Recurring investment fee: $3
• Roots plus fee waiver: Yes

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Small investment fee example

A one-time $100 contribution:

$5 ÷ $100 = 5%

transaction-fee reference.

A one-time $1,000 contribution:

$5 ÷ $1,000 = 0.5%

The flat fee matters most at the minimum investment size.

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Current cash-out rule

Current Roots help:

• Cash out request cap: $100,000 per quarter
• First year early withdrawal penalty: 8%
• Penalty after one year: $0

Each new deposit has its own one-year holding period for penalty purposes.

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Cash-out program is not public-market liquidity

Program limits and available liquidity matter.

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Quarterly distributions

Roots has a history of declaring quarterly cash distributions.

A prior distribution does not guarantee a future distribution.

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Unit values are periodically determined

Roots uses periodic unit pricing rather than continuous exchange pricing.

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Resident wealth-building model

Roots uses the "Live In It Like You Own It" model.

Current regulatory materials describe renter/resident participation intended to encourage property care and reduce turnover.

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No investor-level AUM fee does not mean no fund costs

Roots marketing emphasizes the absence of an investor-level AUM charge.

The 2025 audited financial statements show fund-level operating and related-party economics.

Current audited references include:

• Manager property management fee: 10% of rents collected monthly
• Manager acquisition fee: 3% of initial purchase price under current agreement
• Manager disposition fee: 3% of final disposition value
• Leasing fee:
• New lease: $500
• Renewal: $250

These expenses affect fund economics.

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2025 audited operating result

Current 2026 Form 1-K reports for fiscal 2025:

• 2025 net loss attributable to Roots: $2,422,553
• 2024 net income: $126,978

The 2025 loss was driven by operating expenses, depreciation and interest expense, partly offset by rental and related-party interest income.

This is a dated audited accounting result.

It is not the same thing as:

• cash available for distribution;
• property appreciation;
• investor total return.

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Leverage matters

The 2025 annual report also shows substantial mortgage debt.

Debt can amplify both gains and losses.

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Related-party economics

The issuer, manager, and sponsor have related-party transactions.

Current audited disclosures include:

• advances related to acquisitions;
• property-management fees;
• maintenance fees;
• acquisition fees;
• disposition fees.

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REIT qualification

Roots identifies as a real-estate investment trust for tax purposes under its current structure.

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Protection

Roots units are not bank deposits.

Assessment

Roots has a simple investor-facing fee story and a more complicated fund-level cost structure.

At the account level:

• $100 minimum;
• $5 one-time investment fee;
• $3 recurring fee;
• no investor-level AUM fee.

At the fund level, the audited filings show meaningful manager and property economics.

The current cash-out program also improves flexibility relative to a fully locked private fund, but it is not equivalent to public-market liquidity.

The strongest review language is therefore:

Roots is a pooled private residential REIT with low entry minimums and a cash-out program, not a fee-free or exchange-liquid public REIT.