For an investor who believes accredited status may be met, the sequence between that belief and an executed DST subscription is short but formal: verification, then offering documents, then subscription.
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The Verification Step
Regulation D Rule 506(c) carries verification requirements, and the standard form of confirmation is documentation: a letter from a licensed CPA, attorney, or registered investment adviser attesting that the investor meets the accredited standard. For individuals this means documenting assets and liabilities; for entities it means financial statements or an ownership attestation, depending on the qualification route.
The confirmation is not a one-time lifetime credential. Sponsors and broker-dealers typically re-verify status at each new subscription, so the documentation process should be treated as a recurring part of the investment workflow rather than a single hurdle cleared once.
What Verification Unlocks
Once accreditation is confirmed, the investor becomes eligible to receive offering materials, including the Private Placement Memorandum, for specific DST properties. The PPM sets out the governing terms of any specific offering, and it is the controlling document for the life of the trust.
Verified status opens access to a class of real estate that individual investors cannot typically reach through direct acquisition: institutional-grade multifamily communities, industrial distribution warehouses, and self-storage facilities whose direct purchase prices run into eight or nine figures. A DST converts fractional beneficial interests in those properties into an investable product.
Minimums and Typical Position Sizes
The minimum investment in a DST can be as low as $25,000, which allows a meaningful fractional interest in a large commercial asset without directing all available capital into a single property. For 1031 exchange investors specifically, the more common floor is $100,000, a threshold that also enables practical diversification: an investor completing a larger exchange can spread equity across multiple DST offerings rather than concentrating in a single replacement property.
Typical DST marketplace investors have historically placed between $50,000 and $5 million into DST positions. The profile is accredited but not institutional: individuals and families who want commercial real estate exposure without direct ownership or property management obligations.
Investors ready to begin can start the verification conversation through the partnered broker-dealer's intake.