Daniel, Juno, Anik, and Will were co-workers at Affirm - the company recently IPO-ed and they found themselves with some extra capital to invest.

While they were all relatively new to real estate, all knew friends and family who were well acquainted with the space. Having built trust with each other throughout their time at work, they wondered if there would be opportunities to try out real estate together.

“Individually we all had interest in real estate investing and had been doing our own research. We had some pretty knowledgeable and seasoned investor friends that we were able to chat with and learn from.” But still, transitioning from learning about real estate to actually investing calls for a leap of faith. For an individual, real estate investing is a big commitment of money and time, and requires both connections and investment knowledge to hit the ground running.

Knowing their former co-workers Stella and Carlos had just started Fractional, it was the perfect opportunity as new real estate investors to learn and be supported through an investment project. Fractional is a platform designed for real estate co-investing that also handles the entire investment process. From forming their LLC (including all the associated paperwork), to handling insurance quotes and loan, to closing and handling property management, Fractional streamlines the entire investment process. It made entry into real estate investing significantly easier from both a knowledge and capital standpoint.

“Fractional was different from traditional funds and investment vehicles in a very innovative way - you get direct ownership of the property but don’t have to handle any of the acquisition and admin work. It was a great way to try and learn about real estate investing without any of the heavy lifting.”

Along with a couple other Affirm employees, the group formed an investment group on Fractional to co-invest in a property together.

“Co-investing with people I knew and trusted lowered the capital required to invest, and made me feel less stressed and more comfortable with the financial decision I was making. It’s pretty cool being able to pool money together and invest as a group.”

With Fractional, the group was able to purchase their first investment property in Atlanta in 2021. Since then, they have added more properties in Georgia and Texas to their portfolio.