Fundrise (like lending club for RE) - thoughts?

[dios.del.sol]

I recently heard of fundrise, which seems to be like lending club for real estate. I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts, especially any direct experience with it. (Sorry if there is already a thread on this. The search feature was buggy this morning.)

[Awenthomas]

Hi,
The Fundrise is the leading investment platform for real estate that offers up to $50 million in shares to the public for the launch of its online real estate investment trust. It features both, public as well as private by offering availability to local investors and accredited investors.
Thanks!!

[Mr. Green]

I don't know about "leading platform" but it's one of a number of crowdsourced real estate investment platforms. I'm not familiar with Fundrise but others like RealtyMogul and RealtyShares require you to be an accredited investor, so unless your net worth is $1 million+ or your income is 200-300k, using those vehicles is not available to you. Of course you can always lie on the paperwork but I believe all that stuff gets filed with the SEC so I'm not sure how comfortable I would be with that. If you're not familiar with real estate to the level that would would invest in a home yourself, I'd encourage you to do some research. These platforms allow people to blindly invest in projects and assume the platform has already vetted the person or company asking for money. If the platform is a good one it will contain all the necessary financials, documentation, etc. for a particular project to allow you to do your own due diligence.

I use RealtyShares because I liked the package that platform provided. I would encourage anyone considering crowdsourced investing, who is an accredited investor, to sign up for multiple platforms and compare what is offered before investing.

[Jim2001]

I don't know about "leading platform" but it's one of a number of crowdsourced real estate investment platforms. I'm not familiar with Fundrise but others like RealtyMogul and RealtyShares require you to be an accredited investor, so unless your net worth is $1 million+ or your income is 200-300k, using those vehicles is not available to you. Of course you can always lie on the paperwork but I believe all that stuff gets filed with the SEC so I'm not sure how comfortable I would be with that. If you're not familiar with real estate to the level that would would invest in a home yourself, I'd encourage you to do some research. These platforms allow people to blindly invest in projects and assume the platform has already vetted the person or company asking for money. If the platform is a good one it will contain all the necessary financials, documentation, etc. for a particular project to allow you to do your own due diligence.

+1  I agree with Mr Green.  Do your research.  Don't lie on the application forms. Check multiple sources.  Understand where you're putting your money.  Most of the crowd sourcing platforms appear to have little to no liquidity.  It's also very important to understand how the sponsor gets paid.  If they get paid no matter what, question why.  If they only get paid if you get paid, then it's more likely they will manage the investment in your mutual interests.