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Caught between high interest rates and higher prices, American homeowners are having their budgets squeezed. And things don’t look to be getting better anytime soon.
After three consecutive interest rate cuts last year, the Federal Reserve chose to leave rates unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75% in its January 2026 meeting (1). Meanwhile, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained high at 6.1% (2), and the Consumer Price Index was up 0.3% in December (3).
Taken together, all signs point to the rising costs of owning a home in America. But this hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Some, like real estate mogul Grant Cardone, have been taking notes.
In an interview on YouTube for VladTV, Cardone said high mortgage rates were creating a unique environment for the American housing market, predicting that housing prices will skyrocket over the next decade (4). This is bad news for budding homeowners trying to get a mortgage.
His solution? Try renting.
“Rents in this country are about half of what a mortgage is,” he said in a video posted to his TikTok (5). “You have no equity in it, no down payment, minimal insurance, you’re not paying property taxes and you have no maintenance.”
Sound advice, but what if you’re still keen on investing in real estate, considering its reputation as a hedge against inflation, a source of passive income and a way to diversify your portfolio?
Despite the current economic challenges, there are strategies that let you invest in real estate without taking on substantial debt.
Here’s a look at these strategies — and how you can implement them.
If renting instead of buying a home seems like unusual advice, Cardone doesn’t think so — it could become the new norm.
“America will become a renter nation. You will rent your cars, you will rent where you live, you might even rent your clothes in the future (6).”
What matters is how you use the money saved each month from renting. Cardone suggests Americans take the money they would have put toward buying a house and invest it in real estate that pays them a monthly return.
In other words, you can still own real estate, but make sure you are earning an income from it.
“I’m not saying ‘don’t own real estate,’” he clarified in a different video (7). “I’m saying live in a house and pay rent. Take all the money that you would have spent on that house and invest in real estate that [has] cash flows — that pays you every month.”
But the question remains: Should you still take out a mortgage to invest in real estate, even if that property is giving returns?
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It’s a good question, as many prospective buyers are already feeling priced out of the market. Mortgages have been hovering above 6% for over three years, and haven’t previously been that high since 2008 — after the subprime mortgage crisis hit.
And with rates expected to stay at this level until the end of 2027 (8), is any mortgage really worth it?
Cardone saw this coming, too. Back in 2023, he predicted the necessity for substantially longer mortgage terms on the horizon.
“The savior of America will not be lower prices, it will be longer mortgages,” he said in a TikTok video at the time (6). “In your lifetime, you will see mortgages go from 30 to 40, 50 and maybe even 60 years. You could, if you live long enough, see a 100-year mortgage in America.”
However, we’re not quite there yet. Forty-year mortgages do indeed exist, but according to Rocket Mortgage, lenders who offer them often do so with “nontraditional mortgage features” — since mortgages this long don’t meet the qualified mortgage standard (9).
So, not even longer mortgages can help you.
In the meantime, you can still invest in residential real estate without having to buy or manage a property yourself — let alone take on decades’ worth of debt.
Crowdfunding has become a buzzword in recent years. It refers to the practice of funding a project by raising smaller amounts of money from many people.
Many crowdfunding investing platforms allow you to own a percentage of physical real estate — from rental properties and commercial buildings to parcels of land. These platforms make real estate investing more accessible to the general public by simplifying the process and lowering the barriers to entry.
Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived helps you invest in shares of rental homes and vacation rentals without taking on property management responsibilities.
With a low minimum investment, you can browse their curated, professionally vetted selection of homes, and when you find a property you like, just choose the number of shares you want to buy. Even better, you only need $100 to get started.
Once you’ve signed off on it, you can receive any quarterly deposits from your property’s rental income. It’s that easy.
Part of being a real estate mogul, however, is also diversifying your portfolio. One way of doing this is through multifamily real estate investing.
In another video posted to TikTok, Cardone had some very specific words of advice about this type of real estate investment (10): “You should start with 32 units. That is the perfect number.” He says the beauty of this approach is that if one unit is vacant, your investment is spread enough that you won’t be as impacted.
If diversifying into multifamily rentals appeals to you, you could consider investing with Lightstone DIRECT, a new investing platform from the Lightstone Group, one of the largest private real estate companies in the country with over 25,000 multifamily units in its portfolio.
Since they eliminate intermediaries — brokers and crowdfunding middlemen — accredited investors with a minimum investment of $100,000 can gain direct access to institutional-quality multifamily opportunities. This streamlined model can help reduce fees while enhancing transparency and control.
And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone — a true partner — as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone’s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone’s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.
How it works is simple: Just sign up with your email, and you can schedule a call with a capital formation expert to assess your investment opportunities. From here, all you have to do is verify your details to begin investing.
Founded in 1986, Lightstone has a proven track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns across market cycles with a 27.6% historical net IRR and 2.54x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004. All told, Lightstone has $12 billion in assets under management — including in industrial and commercial real estate.
As such, even if multifamily rentals don’t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.
Get started today with Lightstone DIRECT and invest alongside experienced professionals with skin in the game.
Another way to leverage the rental market is through fractional investing. With fractional ownership, you can make a partial investment into properties — without having to buy the whole thing outright.
Mogul is a real estate investment platform offering fractional ownership in blue-chip rental properties, which gives investors monthly rental income, real-time appreciation and tax benefits — without the need for a hefty down payment or late-night tenant calls.
Simply put, you can invest in institutional quality offerings for a fraction of the usual cost.
Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, the team hand-picks the top 1% of single-family rental homes nationwide for you. Each property undergoes a vetting process, requiring a minimum 12% return even in downside scenarios. Across the board, the platform features an average annual IRR of 18.8%.
Their cash-on-cash yields, meanwhile, average between 10% to 12% annually. And with investments typically ranging between $15,000 to $40,000 per property, offerings often sell out in under three hours.
What is more, every investment is secured by real assets, not dependent on the platform’s viability. Each property is held in a standalone Propco LLC, so investors own the property — not the platform. Blockchain-based fractionalization also adds a layer of safety, ensuring a permanent, verifiable record of each stake.
Getting started is a quick and easy process. You can sign up for an account and then browse available properties. Once you verify your information with their team, you can invest like a real estate mogul in just a few clicks.
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1); Freddie Mac (2); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (3); @VladTV (4); @grantcardone (5), (6), (7), (10); Mortgage Bankers Association (8); Rocket Mortgage (9)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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