Income
Core / Core-Plus
Current income first
- Cash flow
- Monthly or quarterly distributions
- Relative liquidity
- Longest capital commitment
- Timeline
- Typically 5 to 7 years
- Total return
- 12% to 15% target IRR
Investor guide
Which return profile fits your goals?
Start with what you need the investment to do. Cash flow, access to capital, time horizon, and total-return potential point toward different profiles.
Important investor notice
This guide is educational and informational only. It is not investment, financial, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Source Private Securities is a real estate sponsor, not an investment adviser, and does not determine whether an investment is appropriate for your needs or goals. Consult an appropriately licensed investment adviser and other qualified professionals who can evaluate your individual circumstances before making an investment decision.
The first question
What job should this capital perform?
Investors often begin with a target return. A better starting point is the purpose of the capital. Do you need income now, greater value later, a shorter lending cycle, or a particular balance among all three?
Income, Growth, and Credit are not rankings from conservative to aggressive. Each uses a different return engine. Understanding that engine makes the trade-offs easier to see.
At a glance
Three ways capital can work
The bars show relative emphasis, not a score or prediction. The written terms govern every offering.
Growth
Value-Add / Opportunistic
Value created through execution
- Cash flow
- Limited or no current distributions
- Relative liquidity
- Capital tied to execution and exit
- Timeline
- Typically 1 to 5 years
- Total return
- 18%+ target IRR
Credit
Secured Lending
Targeted fixed-rate income
- Cash flow
- Quarterly distributions
- Relative liquidity
- Potential quarterly redemption windows
- Timeline
- Loan terms typically 12 to 24 months
- Total return
- 10% to 13% targeted annual income
How the profiles compare
Return profile spectrum
Each profile carries a different balance of current income, execution risk, duration, and return potential. We benchmark every prospective offering against comparable opportunities and admit it to the portal only when it clears our threshold for that profile.
Income
Core
- Cash flow
- High
- Total return
- Moderate target
- Risk profile
- Lower
- Leverage
- Conservative
- Hold period
- Extended
- Liquidity
- Longest lock-up; income-oriented capital
Benchmarked against comparable stabilized assets. An offering enters this profile only when its projected return clears the current market threshold for the risk assumed.
Income
Core-Plus
- Cash flow
- Moderate to high
- Total return
- Moderate target
- Risk profile
- Lower to moderate
- Leverage
- Moderate
- Hold period
- Long
- Liquidity
- Long lock-up; defined exit window
Measured against prevailing light-lift opportunities. The income base must support the plan, and the expected improvement must justify the added execution risk.
Growth
Value-Add
- Cash flow
- Low to moderate
- Total return
- Elevated target
- Risk profile
- Moderate to high
- Leverage
- Elevated
- Hold period
- Business-plan dependent
- Liquidity
- Illiquid through execution
Compared with opportunities carrying similar execution risk. We advance a deal only when the projected upside clears our threshold after time, cost, and downside are considered.
Growth
Opportunistic
- Cash flow
- Minimal
- Total return
- Highest target
- Risk profile
- High
- Leverage
- Deal dependent
- Hold period
- Business-plan dependent
- Liquidity
- Illiquid; capital tied to execution and exit
Held to the highest return threshold. The projected premium must justify the development, lease-up, entitlement, or other execution risk specific to the deal.
Credit
Debt
- Cash flow
- Targeted fixed income
- Total return
- Contractual target
- Risk profile
- Secured lender position
- Leverage
- First-lien position
- Hold period
- Short-cycle
- Liquidity
- Shorter duration; fund terms still apply
Each loan is measured against prevailing credit terms. It enters the portal only when the coupon, collateral, borrower strength, and downside protection clear our threshold together.
Relative indicators are educational, not predictions. Targets, hold periods, leverage, liquidity, and risk vary by offering and market conditions. Review the definitive offering documents before making an investment decision.
Questions worth asking
Work backward from your objective
Question 01
Do you need the investment to produce cash flow during the hold?
If current distributions are part of the goal, begin with Income or Credit. Income seeks cash flow from stabilized or near-stabilized property, usually through monthly or quarterly distributions. Credit targets quarterly income from first-lien loans. Growth is different: value is generally created during the business plan and realized at a capital event or exit, so it may produce little or no cash flow along the way.
Start with Income or Credit when current cash flow matters most.
Question 02
How long can your capital remain committed?
Income usually carries the longest hold because the objective is to collect income while preserving time for the asset to perform. Growth may target a shorter business plan, but the timing depends on construction, lease-up, sales, or another execution milestone. Credit uses shorter loan-level terms, although fund-level redemption rules still govern when capital can be returned.
A shorter stated term does not guarantee an earlier exit.
Question 03
How much access to your capital do you expect?
Private real estate is illiquid in every profile. Income and Growth capital is generally committed through an asset sale, refinance, or another defined exit. Credit may offer periodic redemption windows, but those windows can be capped, delayed, or suspended under the offering terms. Match the investment to capital you do not expect to need on demand.
Liquidity is a term to examine, not an assumption to make.
Question 04
Are you prioritizing current income or greater total-return potential?
Income balances distributions with potential value growth. Growth accepts less current income and more execution risk in pursuit of a higher total-return target. Credit emphasizes contractual income and collateral position rather than property-level appreciation. The highest target is not automatically the best fit. It comes with a different source of return and a different set of risks.
Choose the return engine you understand, not simply the largest number.
Profile by profile
What each profile is built to do
Profile 01
Income
Core / Core-Plus
- May fit when
- You want current distributions and can commit capital for a longer hold.
- How returns are created
- Rent from stabilized or near-stabilized real estate provides the base return. Modest operational improvement or appreciation may add to total return.
- The trade-off
- The lower execution profile generally means a more moderate return target and a longer period before capital is returned.
Profile 02
Growth
Value-Add / Opportunistic
- May fit when
- You can forgo steady distributions and accept execution risk for greater return potential.
- How returns are created
- Value is created by completing a business plan, such as development, lease-up, repositioning, or another measurable transformation, then realized through a sale or capital event.
- The trade-off
- Returns depend more heavily on budget, schedule, demand, financing, and exit conditions. Capital remains tied to execution.
Profile 03
Credit
Secured Lending
- May fit when
- You value targeted income, shorter loan terms, and a first-lien position secured by property.
- How returns are created
- Interest paid by borrowers drives the return. Underwriting focuses on collateral, borrower strength, loan basis, and enforceable downside protection.
- The trade-off
- The return is generally capped at the contracted rate, and repayment timing, defaults, fund terms, and redemption limits can affect liquidity.
A practical filter
A profile is a starting point, not the decision
Once a profile matches your objective, examine the actual offering. Look at how the return is expected to be created, when distributions may begin, what controls liquidity, which milestones must be reached, and what could delay or reduce the outcome. Then compare those terms with the other uses for that capital.
One final question
If the investment takes longer, distributes less, or exits differently than planned, does it still fit your financial life?
Before choosing a profile
Source Private Securities does not provide individualized investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Discuss your goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, tax position, and financial circumstances with an appropriately licensed investment adviser, attorney, and tax professional.
This guide is not a recommendation that any return profile or offering is suitable for you. Targets, distributions, hold periods, redemption features, and total returns vary by offering and are not guaranteed. Private real estate investments are illiquid and involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Review the definitive offering documents and rely on advice from your own appropriately licensed and qualified professionals before investing.