Putting aside the fact that REITs are already a thing, there's a fundamental misconception here: I'm not really interested in having capital tied up in r

Putting aside the fact that REITs are already a thing, there's a fundamental misconception here: I'm not really interested in having capital tied up in real-estate, but a lot of people are. Nobody wants their capital "tied up", they want it performing. The reason real estate is such a popular (and often successful ) investment is because of 3 factors: - income (via rent) - leverage (via a mortgage) - appreciation (via time and luck) Leverage is made possible because the income from a property can cover some or all of the cost of the interest on the loan, meaning that all that's tied up is the downpayment, so the appreciation enjoys a multiplier effect (say 5x if you put 20% down). Offering a contract that only allows the investor to participate in the appreciation without any leverage or income just doesn't make sense (for the investor).