When it comes to security deposits, Robyn Mincey hopes for the best but expects the worst.
Over the years, landlords have nickel and dimed her or hit her with onerous charges. Sometimes, she’s left empty-handed.
“You might get 50 or 100 dollars,” Mincey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from her home in the Old Fourth Ward. “But you won’t get nearly as much as you pay.”
But in recent months, something strange has happened. She said she is now making money from her deposit after Atlanta-based real estate investment firm Roots invested it in a real estate fund. According to Mincey, she has seen a return of $600 since she moved into the Roots-managed apartment building this past October.
“That’s way more than I’ve seen on a regular savings account,” she said.
In disarray after a breast cancer diagnosis, the 45-year-old had been left with mounting medical bills and debts, forcing her to sell her Mozley Park home to cash in on her equity and start over with her 14-year old son, Jackson. Last year, as she started looking for an apartment, the listings made for grim reading. Most two-bedroom apartments she was looking at were between $2,500 and $3,000. Her mortgage payment had been around $1,000.
Then she found a listing managed by Roots. When the firm asked if she wanted to invest her deposit for the $1,745-a-month apartment, she had her doubts. But she decided to take a leap of faith.
“Maybe this is something new,” she recalls thinking.
Roots was founded by father-son team Larry and Daniel Dorfman and Scott Jacobsen, who created a platform allowing anyone to invest as little as $100 in their real estate fund, including renters who live in their buildings.
Daniel Dorfman told the AJC that the company was founded on a philosophy of cooperation between residents and property managers, rather than the adversarial relationship that’s common between landlords and tenants.
Through its “Live in it Like You Own It” program, the firm gives renters the chance to build up their savings and credit and take financial literacy courses.
Roots says annualized returns have been as high as 16%. In addition, the firm offers rebates to residents if they take good care of their homes and pay their rent on time.
Last year, a renter was able to move out and purchase their first home, and had close to $3,000 in their pocket after investing their deposit in the fund, according to the founder.
“Was it all because of what we did? No. But they were setting themselves up for success outside of the Roots program,” he said. “That’s a nice little nest egg to be able to fix the water heater when it goes out.”
Gloria Jones rents a single family home from Roots about thirty miles northeast of Atlanta, in Snellville. But she plans to eventually buy her own home in Lawrenceville or Grayson.
Over two years, she has earned about $4,000 in returns. She plans to use the money for closing costs, which can run up to about 5% of the value of a home.
Jones’ 8-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, has even been taken in by the Roots program and huddles round the screen when her mother takes the financial courses. She said her daughter has started a business selling lip gloss to the other kids at her elementary school.
“She takes her proceeds and she continues to invest it in Roots,” Jones said.
Jones pays about $2,100 a month for her three-bedroom single family home, including water and utilities.
Mincey was one of two Roots residents that earned one year’s worth of free rent through FreeRentATL, which offers the assistance via the firm’s non-profit, Roots Community Assistance Fund.
Even so, Mincey still remembers a time when housing in the city was cheaper. In remission, she is grateful for the financial assistance that Roots has given her but is preparing for the time when she’ll be paying rent again. She works in customer service and makes about $3,000 a month.
She gave up some things to meet housing costs, going line by line over her budget, cutting out subscriptions and abbreviating her shopping list.
“I used to travel a lot. There’s no traveling right now. That was my stress reliever. I would just go travel somewhere and take my son to vacation,” she said.
Roots’ Jacobsen agrees rents in Atlanta are too high. He said the company looks to third-party tools, including data from Zillow, to price its units. The firm tries to keep rents below market rates.
“We truly believe that every renter in the country should have the opportunity to gain financially from renting if they take care of the place and pay their rent on time,” he said. “They’re the ones keeping the lights on.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Roots’ clarified statements about annualized returns on security deposits, and how it prices units.
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