I have money invested through four sites: RealtyMogul.com, Fundrise.com, RealtyShares.com, and PatchofLand.com. I have been very, very happy with the performance.
The majority of my investments have been in debt deals - lending money to people that are doing "fix and flips". I only invest in deals where 1) I have first position lien on the property - meaning if the borrower does not pay us back we take the property (not what you want to do but it provides security), and 2) the borrower has put in a significant amount of his own money in to the deal (this means there is a financial cushion that will help soften the blow of having to take the property, and it means the borrower has a vested interest in making good on the loan). The loans I participate in are usually no longer than 12 months, with a couple being 18 months.
All of my loans have been paid back prior to the maturity date.
I can't inspect every property myself but I do look up each property on Zillow, Redfin, and other sites. I will put money in if I feel comfortable that the property isn't grossly overvalued (I don't want to be part of a $500K loan on a property that is only worth $250K).
Most interest rates have been between 9% and 10.75%.
I have invested in a few preferred equity deals as well as a couple straight equity deals. The nice thing about the equity deals is the depreciation on the property is passed out to the investors which helps at tax time.
I only invest in preferred equity deals if 1) the sponsor has a significant amount of money invested in the deal and 2) I get paid out before the sponsor receives his payout.
I have only had one "negative" experience so far - a borrower was late on the first payment, clearly not what you want. He ended up refinancing with another lender and we were paid back in full in two months - the bonus was the loan required a minimum of three months interest to be paid so we got an extra month of interest payment.
I have increased my investments in this area and plan to continue maintaining a decent amount of money in this area until something radically changes (the real estate market starts to drop, etc).
I have money in 4 different online platforms because 1) I want to be able to pick and choose investments, 2) each platform is a bit different and offers different types of investments, and 3) I want to be diversified (I don't want a ton of money in any one platform in such a new industry, who knows who will be left standing in 5 years).