Real estate crowdfunding is continuing to gain traction as a source of financing for home flippers.
Realty Mogul, which lets investors buy slices of property or help fund debt used to buy or develop property, announced that it will funnel $73 million in loans from Direct Lending Investments to “professional rehab investors seeking an alternative source of capital.”
Realty Mogul CEO Jilliene Helman told Inman News that the “rehab investors” are home flippers.
Direct Lending Investments, which Realty Mogul said is the general partner of the first peer-to-peer, small-business loan fund, has committed the funds to offer “potentially strong returns from short-term, high-yield real estate loans” to Direct Lending investors, Realty Mogul said in a statement.
“Continuing our tradition of working with only the best online lending platforms, we’re excited to expand the fund’s repertoire of peer-to-peer loans to include high-yield real estate assets,” said Brendan Ross, president and portfolio manager of Direct Lending Investments, in a statement.
The deal marks the first partnership between Realty Mogul and an institutional investor, Helman said.
How does a large commitment from an institutional investor amount to “crowdfunding”?
“For us, crowdfunding means pooling capital online,” Helman told Inman News. “We have worked with accredited and institutional investors only from the beginning, so this has always been part of our business.”
Other real estate crowdfunders that are financing the purchase of residential real estate include Fundrise, which recently raised $31 million; iFunding; and RealtyShares.
