Investment Thesis: Real Estate Crowdfunding
What’s a REIT?
I was first introduced to real estate focused investment vehicles in the summer of 2007. It was the Independence Day weekend and I was on a road trip with my family to see my grandparents. I had just returned home from New York with a job offer from BMO Capital Markets to join the equity research team that covered REITs. I also brought with me a few examples of research that the team had published and on this trip I had informed my family that I would be focused on reading and learn what the hell a REIT was. Although the dense technical writing on the state of Non-traded REITs did quickly put me to slumber that afternoon drive, my tenure as an equity analyst space did express to me the value of having access to the $15 trillion asset class.
Case for Real Estate Crowdfunding
I thought the access REITs provided would long be the most democratic method in which a person could find investments. However, over the past four years thanks to the rise of crowdfunding, the lack of short-term capital, and changes in the regulatory environment there is a new and more promising way for an investor (accredited or non-accredited) through real estate crowd-funding portals. Real Estate in the United States has been a business that has historically been exclusive to a small number of individuals. These portals will serve…
