Using Crowdfunding for Investment Capital - The Next Big Thing

[Zack Bloom]

A very interesting read on using equity crowdfunding for real estate investment capital - http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/2.... Different from donation based crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, equity crowdfunding was only recently legalized by the 2012 JOBS Act that allows crowdfunding to be used for startups and ventures. 

Fundrise and RealtyMogul are some of the real-estate crowdfunding sites that popped up recently for funding real estate investing through crowdfunding. What are your thoughts? Would you use crowdfunding platforms for real estate seed capital?

[Don Konipol]

All popular, successful real estate EQUITY crowdfunding platforms heavily vet the deals they offer; i.e. most only accept heavily capitalized, experienced sponsors with a verifiable track record.  There are some secondary platforms that will accept any deal in which the sponsor pays an upfront fee; their success rate is very low.

Real estate DEBT crowdfunding platforms are more concerned with the property and deal, as long as you have the 25-40% down payment requirement.