When evaluating real estate investment platforms, fees can make or break your long-term returns. Cadre, a platform that once positioned itself as a gateway to institutional-quality commercial real estate, historically operated with a layered fee structure that could significantly impact investor capital over time. Understanding exactly what Cadre charged, and how those costs compare to alternatives like fractional real estate investing, remains essential context for evaluating commercial real estate investment options in 2026.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed professional before making any financial or investment decisions.
Key Takeaways
Cadre was acquired by Yieldstreet in January 2024, and Yieldstreet subsequently changed its name to Willow Wealth in November 2025. Cadre's historical investments and fees should be distinguished from current Willow Wealth offerings
Historical Cadre Direct Access Fund terms included a 1.5% annual management fee, a 0.5% annual administration fee for certain tiers, and a 3.5% commitment fee for commitments of $50,000 to $99,999. The recurring fees used an investment-value or cost-based calculation, not necessarily a fixed percentage of the original contribution
Cadre's investment minimums varied by offering. Its original 2021 Direct Access Fund SEC filing reported a $20,000 minimum accepted from an outside investor, while the $50,000 figure described a specific fee tier rather than a universal minimum
According to SEC estimates based on 2022 household data, approximately 18.5% of U.S. households met the financial criteria for accredited investor qualification
Alternatives like mogul use a different model, with eligible investments starting at $250 and a one-time platform fee of 5%
Understanding Real Estate Investment Platforms and Cadre's Place in the Market
How Fractional Ownership Changed Real Estate Investing
Fractional real estate platforms emerged to solve a fundamental problem: traditional real estate investing requires substantial capital, operational expertise, and the time to manage properties. By allowing investors to purchase interests in income-producing properties, these platforms lowered barriers that historically reserved real estate wealth-building for institutions and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
The market now includes multiple platform types:
REITs: Pool investor capital into diversified portfolios managed by fund managers
Real estate crowdfunding platforms: Offer access to individual projects or pooled commercial real estate deals
Fractional ownership platforms: Provide interests in specific residential or commercial properties, often through dedicated LLCs
Debt-focused platforms: Fund real estate loans rather than equity positions
Cadre positioned itself in the commercial investment space, offering accredited investors access to institutional-grade multifamily, office, and industrial properties typically reserved for pension funds and family offices.
Cadre's Market Position and Recent Changes
Cadre built its reputation on data-driven property selection and access to large-scale commercial deals. The platform reported historical performance on completed investments that attracted sophisticated investors.
However, the landscape shifted significantly. Yieldstreet completed its acquisition of Cadre in January 2024. Yieldstreet subsequently changed its name to Willow Wealth in November 2025, a change also reflected in SEC-filed disclosures.
Cadre's legacy investments remain subject to their existing investment terms, while new investment opportunities are associated with Willow Wealth's current product lineup. This distinction matters because historical Cadre fees do not establish what Willow Wealth charges for newer offerings.
Cadre's Investment Offerings: A Look at Property Types and Structures
What Types of Properties Did Cadre Offer?
Cadre historically focused on large-scale commercial real estate across several property types:
Multifamily: Apartment complexes in metropolitan areas
Office: Buildings in primary and secondary markets
Industrial: Warehouses and logistics centers
Mixed-use: Developments combining retail, residential, and commercial space
These opportunities typically involved mid-market to institutional-scale commercial assets that would require substantial capital to acquire independently.
Investment Structure and Hold Periods
Cadre historically structured investments through funds and syndications that pooled capital to acquire commercial properties. Key structural elements varied by offering:
Holding periods: Multi-year commitments, often with anticipated exits over roughly three to eight years
Distributions: Rental-income distributions where available, with timing governed by the particular investment
Secondary market: Historical trading windows for eligible investments, with sales and pricing not guaranteed
Tax documentation: Partnership-style investments could generate Schedule K-1 forms, depending on the investment entity
This structure contrasts with platforms offering property-specific LLC interests, where investors can identify the underlying property, may receive monthly distributions when distributable income is available, and have rights defined by the LLC operating agreement.
Breaking Down Real Estate Investment Returns: What to Expect
Understanding IRR, ROI, and Cash-on-Cash Returns
Before evaluating any platform's fees, understanding return metrics is essential:
Internal Rate of Return (IRR): Measures annualized investment returns while accounting for the timing of cash flows
Return on Investment (ROI): Calculates total profit relative to the original investment, without inherently accounting for the holding period
Cash-on-Cash Return: Measures annual pre-tax cash flow relative to total cash invested
Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC): Measures total proceeds received as a multiple of invested capital
Each metric tells a different story. When evaluating IRR in real estate, it is important to distinguish targeted returns from actual outcomes, which depend on market conditions, property performance, fees, and holding period.
Performance Considerations
Cadre reported historical performance on completed deals. However, when evaluating any platform's returns, a key distinction is how much of the gross return ultimately reaches investors after fees. Cadre's historical fee structure could create a meaningful difference between gross and net returns.
Historical completed-deal performance also may not reflect:
The performance of investments that remain in progress
Current market and property conditions
Newer investment structures under Willow Wealth
Differences in fees and holding periods across investors
Cadre's Fee Structure: Historical Charges and How They Affect Your Investment
Complete Breakdown of Cadre's Historical Fees
Cadre operated with multiple fee layers over an investment's lifetime. Based on historical Direct Access Fund terms from January 2021, the structure for the $50,000 to $99,999 commitment tier included:
One-Time Fees: A 3.5% commitment fee on the investor's commitment, with lower percentages for higher commitment tiers. Other deal-by-deal offerings could have different transaction charges
Recurring Annual Fees: A 1.5% management fee plus a 0.5% administration fee at this tier. The fees were calculated on the investor's share of the greater of the equity value or cost of current, undisposed fund investments and generally paid quarterly in advance
Performance-Based Fees: The historical Fund I fee table listed no additional fund-level promote. In certain other investment structures, Cadre affiliates could share in sponsor-level carried interest or promotes under transaction-specific terms
Secondary Market Fees: Historical disclosures described transaction charges for eligible buyer and seller trades. Cadre's 2024 customer relationship summary hosted by a regulatory disclosure service identified typical commissions of 1.5% to 3.25% per side when applicable, without guaranteeing a completed sale
These are historical Cadre terms, not a universal fee schedule for every Cadre product or for current Willow Wealth investments. The regulatory disclosures also describe other potential investment-level costs and expenses.
Understanding the Cumulative Impact of Fees
To understand the cumulative impact, consider a simplified scenario for a historical $50,000 commitment held for five years, assuming the fee base remains constant at $50,000:
One-time commitment fee: 3.5% x $50,000 = $1,750
Annual management and administration fees: 2% x $50,000 = $1,000 per year
Five years of modeled recurring fees: $1,000 x 5 = $5,000
Total modeled five-year fees: $6,750, or 13.5% of the initial $50,000 commitment
The $6,750 total includes both the upfront and recurring fees. It is not the amount of management and administration fees alone.
This is an illustration rather than a reconstruction of an actual investment. The historical recurring fee base depended on the greater of applicable equity value or cost of current, undisposed investments. The model excludes other expenses, disposition-related costs, and any transaction-specific profit participation.
Long-Term Fee Considerations
Extending the same fixed-base illustration to ten years gives:
Upfront commitment fee: $1,750
Ten years of recurring fees: $10,000
Total modeled ten-year fees: $11,750, before other applicable charges
Recurring fees accumulate over time and can also reduce capital available to earn investment returns. However, these totals are simple additions under fixed assumptions, not a calculation of compounded fees or an actual Cadre investor outcome.
The difference between a recurring fee on an investment-value basis and a capitalized fee at property acquisition can become meaningful over an extended holding period. A reliable total-cost comparison depends on the fee base, investment performance, holding period, and operating expenses.
Investing with Cadre: Minimums and Accessibility
Cadre's Investment Minimums and Requirements
Cadre historically maintained substantial barriers to entry, but there was no single universal $50,000 minimum across all offerings.
The original Direct Access Fund's January 2021 SEC Form D disclosed $20,000 as the minimum investment accepted from any outside investor
A contemporaneous report on the fund's launch described a $25,000 advertised minimum
The $50,000 to $99,999 range in the historical fee sheet was a fee tier, not proof of the lowest acceptable investment
Later offerings could have different minimums and eligibility terms
Cadre's historical private offerings generally targeted accredited investors. Under SEC accreditation criteria, individuals may qualify through:
Net worth exceeding $1 million, excluding the primary residence
Income exceeding $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly in each of the prior two years, with a reasonable expectation of the same income in the current year
Certain qualifying professional licenses or other eligible categories
These requirements can limit access for investors who do not meet the relevant financial or professional criteria.
Who Gets Excluded by Accreditation Requirements
According to SEC estimates based on 2022 household data, approximately 18.5% of U.S. households met the income or net-worth criteria for accredited investor qualification. The estimate does not capture every alternative route to accreditation.
Accredited-only offerings can therefore be unavailable to:
Young professionals who have not yet reached the financial thresholds
Middle-income households exploring private-market investments
Experienced investors who do not qualify under the applicable eligibility rules
This exclusivity contrasts with the broader goal of making real estate investing accessible beyond institutions and wealthy individuals.
Comparing Minimum Investment Requirements
The minimum investment landscape varies substantially across platforms. Cadre's historical offerings ranged from lower entry points in the original Direct Access Fund to higher minimums in later products. In comparison:
mogul: Eligible property-specific investments starting at $250, without a general accredited-investor requirement
Fundrise: Certain offerings starting at $10, without accreditation requirements
EquityMultiple: A standard $25,000 per-offering minimum, with lower minimums for certain note products; accredited-investor eligibility generally applies
Arrived: Individual-property investments starting at $100 for eligible investors
These are investment minimums, not all-in transaction costs. Cadre's commitment fees and mogul's one-time platform fee are calculated differently, so they cannot be added uniformly to each investor's minimum contribution.
Platforms with low minimum investments make it possible to spread capital across more than one property or investment, while the degree of diversification still depends on the chosen holdings.
Evaluating Investment Potential: Using Calculators and Data
Why Due Diligence Matters More Than Platform Marketing
Every platform highlights its successes. However, independent analysis is useful for understanding the assumptions behind projected investment returns.
Key questions for any real estate investment include:
What is the realistic rental income potential for this market?
How do cap rates in this location compare with other markets?
What assumptions support appreciation projections over the holding period?
How do fees affect projected net returns?
What happens to returns under less favorable occupancy or market conditions?
Tools for Independent Analysis
mogul offers free investment calculators that analyze U.S. property addresses using assumptions and available market information. The tools can provide:
Rental income projections using local market data
ROI, IRR, and cash-on-cash return estimates
Expense assumptions, including financing and operating costs
Scenario comparisons under different investment assumptions
These are modeled estimates rather than guarantees of future returns. Additional tools include the Airbnb calculator for short-term rental analysis and the rental property calculator for longer-term rental income projections.
The Value of Institutional-Grade Underwriting
Sophisticated underwriting helps evaluate real estate opportunities by combining financial models, market evidence, and operational assumptions before capital is committed.
Relevant information in an investment presentation may include:
Property-level financial projections, market analysis, and risk factors
Clear assumptions showing how projected returns are calculated
Multiple scenarios showing how outcomes could change
Fee disclosures sufficient to understand the net-return model
The Future of Real Estate Investing: Blockchain, Liquidity, and Innovation
How Technology Is Changing Property Investment
Blockchain technology is changing how certain investment interests may be recorded and transferred. Tokenization can support:
Digital records associated with investment interests
Administrative processes for fractionalized ownership
More transparent transaction histories
Potential future secondary-market functionality, where legally and operationally available
However, a blockchain record does not replace the governing LLC documents or applicable securities and property laws, and it does not itself guarantee that an investment can be sold.
The Push for Greater Accessibility
Technology and competition have expanded the range of real estate investment structures available online. Examples include:
Lower minimum investments on some platforms
Products that permit eligible non-accredited investors
Different upfront and recurring fee approaches
Digital property information and portfolio monitoring
Additional ways to compare property-level financial assumptions
These developments give investors more ways to understand and compare real estate exposure, although the underlying costs and liquidity terms still vary by structure.
Why mogul Offers a Different Approach to Real Estate Investing
mogul was founded by Goldman Sachs real estate alumni with extensive institutional deal experience, bringing institutional rigor to accessible real estate investing. The platform's approach differs from Cadre's historical fund-based model through property-specific LLC interests and a different fee structure.
One-Time Platform Fee
Unlike Cadre's historical 1.5% annual management fee plus 0.5% administration fee at certain commitment tiers, mogul charges a one-time platform fee of 5%.
This fee is explained in mogul's current fee guide. Because Cadre and mogul use different fee structures, the charges should be compared on their actual investment economics rather than through a universal percentage-savings claim.
Accessible Minimums Without Compromised Quality
mogul enables eligible investments starting at $250. The platform applies a rigorous selection process in which fewer than 1% of reviewed properties receive approval, informed by institutional underwriting practices.
No General Accreditation Requirement
While Cadre's historical private offerings targeted accredited investors, mogul offers property-specific residential real estate investments to eligible investors, including non-accredited investors, subject to applicable offering and account requirements.
Monthly Income Distribution Potential
mogul provides for monthly distributions from available net rental income when an investment property is operating and has distributable cash. The timing and amounts depend on property performance and applicable terms.
Loss Protection for New Members
mogul offers eligible new members up to $10,000 in first-year loss protection on qualifying investments made during their first seven days. Coverage is based on the aggregate total return of those investments after one year and is subject to the promotion's terms.
Property Ownership Through LLC Structures
Each mogul property is held through a property-specific LLC, with investors holding membership interests in that entity rather than individually deeded ownership of the home. Potential tax advantages, including depreciation allocations and K-1 reporting, depend on the investment structure and investor circumstances. Governance rights and proceeds from property sales follow the LLC's governing documents.
Residential Focus
mogul targets residential properties, including single-family homes suitable for short-term and mid-term rentals. This focus provides exposure to a large, established market with characteristics that differ from commercial real estate.
For investors evaluating their options, mogul's combination of institutional-quality underwriting, a one-time platform fee, and accessible minimums creates a different value proposition from Cadre's historical high-minimum, fund-based approach. Explore how the platform works for more information about mogul's investment-club model.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed professional before making any financial or investment decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to existing Cadre investments after the Yieldstreet acquisition?
The January 2024 acquisition did not, by itself, require existing Cadre investment interests to be liquidated. Cadre became part of Yieldstreet in January 2024, and Yieldstreet later adopted the Willow Wealth name in November 2025. Legacy holdings remain governed by their applicable legal and offering arrangements and do not automatically adopt the fee schedule of a newer Willow Wealth product.
Are Cadre's fees negotiable for larger investments?
Historical Cadre fee schedules applied lower percentages to certain larger commitment tiers. The one-time commitment fee declined at higher investment amounts, and the administration fee could decrease from 0.5% to 0.25% for commitments of at least $1 million under the relevant fund structure. Different offerings could apply different terms, so these historical tiers do not establish a standardized current Willow Wealth fee schedule.
Does Cadre offer any tax advantages compared to other real estate investment options?
Certain Cadre investment structures could issue Schedule K-1 forms with potential pass-through tax allocations, including depreciation, depending on the entity and investor circumstances. Partnership-taxed investments may allocate qualifying tax items, while REIT investments generally use Form 1099-DIV, with distributions potentially falling into different tax categories. Property-specific LLC interests may also provide pass-through allocations depending on their tax classification and governing documents. Tax forms alone do not guarantee a deduction or a particular after-tax outcome.
What should I consider before investing with platforms requiring $50,000 minimums?
A large minimum investment can concentrate capital in one deal or vehicle, increasing exposure to investment-specific risks. Multi-year holding periods and limited secondary markets can restrict exits, while upfront and recurring fees may use different bases and reduce net returns. Smaller minimums may allow exposure to additional properties or strategies, although diversification is not guaranteed. The significance of each factor depends on the specific investment and its terms.
Can I invest in real estate with a self-directed IRA through various platforms?
Self-directed IRA compatibility varies by platform and investment structure. Some offerings accommodate retirement accounts subject to particular custodians, administrative requirements, and investment minimums, while others do not. Custody, administration, and investment-level fees may differ from those for taxable investment accounts and are governed by the applicable investment and retirement-account arrangements.