News - Crowd Trader

What will happen when the JOBS Act passes?

First learn the background about the JOBS act here: JOBS Well I am not a prophet but that doesn’t mean I can’t voice my opinion. Right now you have a good number of portals working on the internet to gain the investment dollars of less than 90% of the American public which accounts for a $800 Billion dollar industry of private ...

What Is Wrong With Title III Crowdfunding

Not everyone is so convinced about the prospects of Title III of the Jobs Act which was recently passed by the SEC.We thought we would post some thoughts from around the web on the issues with the current legislation. Nav Athwal, CEO of Realtyshares.com voiced his concerns about the legislation because the capital limits effectively exclude real estate deals. Athwal writes: In theory, it seems like ...

Understanding Commercial Real Estate Investment Risks

Everyone is excited about investing in commercial real estate with equity based crowdfunding, after all what could be easier? You just put some money into a great commercial property and site back as you watch the 8-12% returns hit your bank account. You own part of a great commercial asset with no downside and a huge upside as real estate prices ...

Title III of JOBS Act, Equity Crowdfunding for Non-Accredited Investors

Here is a great article from Chance Barnett, CEO of crowdfunder.com about the implications of the Title III for start-ups. The SEC just voted on and passed rules to implement Title III of the JOBS Act, bringing non-accredited investors into the fold for equity crowdfunding. This sets the stage for equity crowdfunding to continue its exponential growth over the next 3-5 years, ...

Title III Crowdfunding Now Everyone Can Invest

Well last Friday it finally happened. The SEC passed Title III of the JOBS Act which effectively allows non-accredited investors to invest in private placement investment deals. In plain English this means when you visit any of the crowdfunding platforms they will allow you to view and invest in their offers without confirming that you are an accredited investor. Well at least in theory ...

The potential of equity crowdfunding

As equity crowdfunding has started to take shape in the past few years and new legislation Regulation A+ was just passed, the equity crowdfunding market is ripe for explosion. The potential that this new asset class brings to the retail investor is unclear and depends mostly on how well the platforms will be able to successfully navigate and adapt to ...

Start-ups: Investing? Gambling? Entertainment?

Ok that might be a very controversial question and I think the answer will really depend on who the investor is. A few weeks ago I posed a similar question to a friend of mine who is a day trader. Basically I asked him if day trading was really a science or investing or just sophisticated gambling. Now I have ...

Skeletons in the Closet: Due Diligence Findings

Here is a great article from Seedinvest.com outlining their strict due diligence procedures for vetting start-ups before they launch on their platform. Warning: some of this is downright scary! It just proves our point that an investor needs to make sure the platform they invest through has strict screening procedures and due diligence. Keep reading and you will see why Seedinvest is a ...

Secondary Markets for Angel Investors

This is a great article about the emergence of secondary markets in the private equity world. Keep reading the full article from Ryan Caldbeck, CEO of Circleup.com one of our favorite equity based start-up platforms. When you invest in a private equity fund or make an angel investment, you are told in big bold letters that this is an illiquid investment and you should ...

REITS vs Crowdfunded Real Estate

You may be wondering, if I really want to enter the commercial real estate market as an investor why would I use crowdfunding to invest? After all there already exists a great way for me to invest and gain equity exposure in commercial real estate in the form of REITs. REITs are an acronym for Real Estate Investment Trusts. These are ...

Regulation A+ Crowdfunding

Recent legislation was just passed by the SEC referred to as Regulation A+ as Title IV of the JOBS act. This new legislation will help solve a major issue faced by most crowdfunding platforms. Until now, for platforms to open up an investment to non-accredited investors the investment would need to have passed approval by each state separately subject to their ...

RealtyShares Announces Over $30 Million in Real Estate Investment in Q3

RealtyShares, has announced topping $30 million in real estate investments during the third quarter of 2015. The accredited crowdfunding platform stated it continues to see solid investor demand across diverse property types. RealtyShares claimed to have some of the most robust deal flow within the real estate crowdfunding sector. “Crossing the $30 million dollar mark for a single quarter is ...

Real Estate Lending: Bridge vs Term Loans

When thinking about investing in any debt instrument there are multiple things that need to be considered. The most important metrics most investors are looking for are loan term and return, but in real estate there are a variety of other considerations that often cause investors to misprice risk. As RealtyShares rolls out its term debt product, the focus of ...

Can Jeff Bezos & Amazon Send Interest Rates to Zero?

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect shows us how small events can create large unexpected changes later. The name comes from the idea that something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings could lead to a hurricane on the other side of the world. Entrepreneurs, engineers, and tech junkies dream about the change they might create within a ...

Guide to Crowdfunding Investing

Crowdfunding has exploded as a great way to raise money on the internet for many different causes and projects. It basically allows anyone to share their project or cause and appeal to the masses for financial backing. It has recently been adopted (thanks to the JOBS Act) by various businesses as a new an innovative way for them to raise capital ...

Fundrise Launches First Ever eREIT

Well Fundrise.com is leading the industry again with their highly anticipate “new product” which just launched today. Fundrise announced the newest investment vehicle which they have dubbed the eREIT. Being that this investment is a REIT any investor is allowed to participate even if they are not accredited. The invest is basically a commercial real estate REIT which offers more ...

Fundrise drone

Fundrise.com is always on the cutting edge of the industry and now they have introduced a drone to aide in the due diligence process. They are always doing their utmost to make sure the investors are protected. Check out their new drone in action.

Equity Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs Raises $15.6M for US Expansion

If you already read our seedrs.com review great, if not then check it out so you can fully appreciate this great news posted on techcrunch . Equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs has raised a $15.6 million (£10 million) Series A round led by Woodford Patient Capital Trust plc (WPCT) and Augmentum Capital, the money from which will be used to launch in the U.S. market. ...

Direct Real Estate Investments Expected to Outperform Public Real Estate Companies

Private, direct U.S. real estate investments are expected to outperform publicly listed real estate companies, including real estate investment trusts (REITs); homebuilders; publicly listed non-real-estate securities; commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS); and investment-grade corporate bonds in 2015, according to real estate market experts surveyed by the Urban Land Institute and PwC, the accounting and consulting firm. “Last year, we indicated that ...

Crowdfunding vs. VC or Angel funding

Will crowdfunded start-ups perform better than purely VC or Angel backed start-ups? This is an interesting question to consider. On one hand if a company can raise money from a VC or Angel it is a big vote to the prospects of the company. I assume most of the really good start-ups or ideas don’t make it to the crowdfunding ...

Cap rate vs. IRR: Who, What, When?

If you have started looking through real estate crowdfunding offers you have almost certainly come across two popular terms referred to as Cap Rate and IRR (Internal Rate of Return). You have probably figured out that both of these are figures that are relevant the return on your real estate investment or in simple English how much money you will ...

A New Option in the Crowdfunding Landscape

Crowdfunding has grown substantially since the inception of Title II of the JOBS Act. One of the most active subsections has been equity sharing in real estate. With over a hundred active companies all offering their own special blend of crowd sourced real estate transactions, it is hard to see how another could innovate a new option for investors. C.K. ...

A CEO’s Perspective Crowdfunding with Title III: Q&A w/WOLACO

Since Title III of the Jobs Act just recently went into effect we decide to get a closer look at how CEOs actually view the new legislation in respect to their future financing needs. We had an opportunity for a Q&A with Terry White the Founder/CEO of athletic apparel company WOLACO. He was able to share with us the company’s history as well as ...