Premium real estate crowdfunding platforms reviews today from CrowdBulls: What is a real estate crowdfunding platform? Real estate crowdfunding platform is a middle man between the borrowers and investors. Real estate crowdfunding platform business is a licensed business in EU and regulated by central banks. Therefore, real estate platforms must comply with the central bank requirements, such as: have integral process and procedures how they operate, approved risk scoring models and etc. Platforms themselves also make the borrowing, investing and management process convenient. They ensure that proper documentation is in place, pledges are properly secured, interest payment process is smooth and etc. Discover more details on real estate crowdfunding tracker.

Another key criteria to check criteria investing – track record. This is not an easy one to check and validate as platforms are providing information on their websites, which can be changed and is hard to check the log. Nevertheless some real estate crowdfunding platforms provide audited financial statements with key statistics and financial information. On a side some platforms provide statistical information how they have progressed over time in terms of capital raised, registered users, failed projects and etc. Before choosing a real estate crowdfunding platform, make sure to check at least the following two critera: financial information of the platform if available; Statistical information on how the platform is performing; It is also highly recommended to consult with friends or other community members on the feedback of the real estate crowdfunding platform.

As seminal book “The Crowdfunding Bible” explains, crowdfunding refers to the process of asking the general public to contribute money or startup capital to help fund new ventures. Using this form of online fundraising, in which open calls to potential investors are posted on websites alongside prospective investment opportunities, concepts can be pitched straight to everyday Internet users. These individuals, who contribute to a pool of capital that is collectively sourced from others with similar interests, can provide a means of financial backing for current or prospective real estate investments. Such opportunities can take the form of residential or commercial holdings, and include either the development of new housing, retail, or office space, or partial ownership in a share of existing holdings.

EquityMultiple focuses almost entirely on institutional commercial real estate, and it also offers equity, preferred equity, and senior debt investments. The company recently added tax-advantaged real estate investments (Opportunity Zone and 1031 exchange) and fund products to its lineup. Distribution schedules vary by deal but are usually monthly or quarterly. Since its launch in 2012, Fundrise has invested in more than $5 billion worth of real estate across the U.S. Today, it manages over $1.5 billion of equity on behalf of more than 170,000 individual investors. Fundrise offers five account levels: Starter, Basic, Core, Advanced, and Premium. There’s a minimum investment amount at each level and varying investment strategies and potential returns.

Risk profile: Real estate crowdfunding platforms are regulated by central banks and one of the requirement is to have a risk scoring methodology which typically ranges from A to D-E. Risk assessment methodologies are not publicly available but the general scale – A contains the lowers risk, whereas D-E, the highest risk. Risk methodologies are approved by central banks. Crowdbulls does not include this ratio in the comparison tables as scale is not available and B from one platform could not be compared to the B in other platform.

CrowdStreet: One of the more well-known real estate crowdfunding sites, CrowdStreet provides accredited investors with access to commercial real estate projects that look to deliver high returns on investment. CrowdStreet also provides some minimal due diligence for investors in the form of conducting background and reference checks on developers wishing to solicit their financial contributions. Nonetheless, whether you’re looking to invest in funds (which hold a variety of different real estate projects within them) or individual properties, many offerings require a minimum investment of $25,000. Likewise, any sums that you choose to invest may remain illiquid and have to sit untouched for a period of years.

Traditionally, equity crowdfunding was only open to accredited investors. Accredited investors include banks, pension plans, insurance companies as well as affluent, sophisticated investors. For an individual to qualify as an accredited investor, the person had to earn $200,000 or have a net worth that exceeded $1,000,000.1 One of the benefits to crowdfunding is that it doesn’t take a large amount of money for investors to get in—and in some cases—the minimum is $1,000 dollars to invest in a company. Also, if the company eventually goes public, meaning they issue new stock via an IPO or initial public offering, there could be an enormous potential for investment gains. See additional details on crowdbulls.com.