A portfolio of loans backed by real estate is held by a mortgage investment corporation, or MIC. These groups or pools enable individual investors to participate in the real estate market by combining their funds and using them to fund several private mortgages.

Private mortgages are the means by which MICs lend money to borrowers by pooling the cash of individual investors. Consequently, the corporation uses the money put in by investors for investment purposes, and private investors are given the chance to partake in the residential or commercial real estate market. Interest and mortgage borrower fees account for the majority of income received by mortgage investment corporations.