This Startup Is Changing The Way People Invest In Single Family Homes

Up until recent years, REITs were pretty much the only option for investors who wanted to invest in real estate, but lacked a strong professional background in the industry. The economic crisis, low interest rates and the rise of algo-trading led millions of investors to search for real estate investment opportunities and dozens of crowdfunding platforms were founded to serve this growing market. One of the fastest growing and fascinating startups is Oakland-based RoofStock, which just announced another $20M B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, just eight months after launching. The company was founded in 2015 by savvy real estate managers Gary Beasley, CEO and Gregor Watson, Chairman. Beasley served as co-CEO of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust and president of ZipRealty, while Watson was a partner at McKinley Partners and later founded 643 Capital Management, which has invested over $1B in single family homes nationally. We met to discuss about their journey in Roofstock, the real estate markets and tech. Omri Barzilay: For the ones who are not familiar with the company, what is Roofstock? Gregor Watson: Roofstock is a marketplace and transaction platform which take the pain out of investing in real estate. We reduce the costs, friction and time associated with buying and selling along with providing a transparent, easy to use platform. Our goal is to simplify the process by effectively separating “investing” from “operations.” Gary Beasley: We believe every investor has a right to invest in real estate, and Roofstock is focused on making it broadly accessible to investors large and small. We are at our core democratizing real estate investing, opening up the asset class and removing many of the barriers that have hindered access to less experienced investors. This Startup Is Changing The Way People Invest In Single Family Homes Roofstock