Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: “Two startup guys walk into a coffee shop. Having spent their entire careers with tech startups, they’re a bit weathered, kind of stubborn and still absolutely dream-filled. They were looking to create something that would make a difference for the next generation — their Gen Z kids’ generation. They landed on the problem of rising home prices and the lack of easy access to liquidity. It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Each year affording a home and investing in a home are becoming laughably unaffordable.

A new startup was born.

Over the last 12 months, the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price index has risen by 18.6%, the strongest year-long growth in the history of the index. If you look at the most desirable areas to live, that number jumps to more than 70%. This means the millennial generation, the largest generation, as they move into their home buying years are seeing the highest home prices on record. Meanwhile the minimum wage has remained basically unchanged and the average household income has gone up barely more than inflation. Then there’s the institutional investors. They’re the ones buying up homes, controlling prices and turning them into rentals. Suddenly people who want to buy a home are unable to afford it and have to rent. Month after month they have to throw away wealth — wealth that could have been invested. Invested in and for their family.

It is becoming harder, if not impossible to become a homeowner.

As the next generation becomes more mobile, more in tune with crypto and more interested in decentralized finance (DeFi) we need to look at homeownership and investment in new ways. At Rook we’re bridging real world assets like real estate with the world of DeFi and paving the way for more access to investment opportunities that have historically been reserved for the institutional elite. We are making it possible to invest in real estate like stocks or mutual funds. That means you don’t have to buy a whole home to reap the benefits of appreciation, you can invest as little as $100. And if you’re part of the lucky group of people who already own a home, we’re making it possible to get access to the equity tied up in one of your largest assets.

We are on a mission to address affordability of home ownership, to give investors easier access to real estate, and to provide liquidity for homeowners when they need it. Doing things how it’s always been done because that’s how it’s always been done, is done. We’re renovating the system for a new generation, and we are working to transform the massive real estate market, one city at a time. It won’t happen overnight but at some point in the future we hope we’ll walk into that coffee shop and say, “hasn’t it always been done this way?”