How Three Traders Broke the Bank of England in One Day

Howdy, GowerCrowders!

I’ve got quite a bit in store for you today, including new deals from EquityMultiple, 799 Manhattan Ave, and RealtyMogul, Gordon Road Capital’s West End Place. We’re also going to look at a report from the Seattle Times about the Oculis Lodge Project near Mount Baker, Washington, a crowdfunded project with a colorful history. 

Moving on, I’ll check out the latest Modest Money review of farm-focused crowdfunding platform FarmTogether, look at our Week 11 SEC Filing Data, and cover the latest edition of the Fundrise Onward podcast: How we broke the British Pound, with Rob Johnson

Let’s get into it.

New Crowdfunding Platform Deals

First up is 799 Manhattan Avenue, a multifamily project hosted on EquityMultiple. This majority LP equity investment is for a 6-unit multifamily building with included ground-floor retail in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood. It’s distinguished by a tight local residential market, close proximity to Manhattan, and dramatically rising local rents. 

This project has a target hold of 3 years, a target new equity multiple of 1.6x, a minimum investment of $15,000, and a target net IRR of 17.1%. Check out this deal from Peak Capital Advisors on EquityMultiple, here.

Next up is Gordon Road Capital’s West End Place, an opportunity zone-eligible project located in the center of Charlotte’s West End neighborhoods.This 83-unit build-to-rent community gives investors access to a submarket that has very high barriers to entry compared to most build-to-rent projects. 

The site was recently rezoned for residential, and sits in an opportunity zone, giving investors the potential to benefit from significant tax advantages. It has a minimum investment of $35,000, a target internal rate of return of 22.9%, a target equity multiple of 3.14x, a target cash yield of 11.9%, and a target investment term of 10 years. Learn more about this build-to-rent OZ opportunity on RealtyMogul, here.

General Crowdfunding Industry News

The Oculis Lodge, in Glacier, WA, about 30 minutes from Mt. Baker, plans to offer visitors 21st-century “glamping” aka luxury camping, enticing them with slogans like “The Sky is Your Ceiling.” Renderings of the not-yet-constructed lodge promise visitors luxurious eco-friendly igloos in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. 

In less than one month, project sponsors raised more than $1.22 million from 1,750 backers, with the distinction of being “the most funded lodging in Indiegogo history.” 

However, due to alleged hiccups in the permitting process in Whatcom County, where the project is to be constructed, delays have plagued the project- with many backers expressing their displeasure on the comments section for the deal page. Get the rest of the scoop with this Seattle Times article

Crowdfunding Platform Updates

We often cover deals from AcreTrader here on the newsletter, but did you know that there is another farmland-oriented crowdfunding platform out there? FarmTogether is an online platform that offers investors a relatively simple way to invest in farmland, multiple investment opportunities, and the portfolio diversification that is a hallmark of crowdfunding investments across asset types. 

Fees for projects listed on FarmTogether include a 1-2% admin fee, a 1-2% annual management fee, and a 5% net operating income fee. Learn more about FarmTogether on Modest Money, here.

SEC Filings Graphs

Now to an exclusive look at the Week 11 2023 SEC Filing Data you can only find here on GowerCrowd. We saw 1 more deal in Week 11 compared to Week 10, with a total of 27 Reg D (c) and Reg D (b) deals in Week 10, compared to 28 in Week 11. However, the total amount raised actually doubled from Week 10 to Week 11, with an even $1 billion raised last week, with a range of investment sizes from $1,000 to $500,000. 

In Week 11, Illinois supplanted California as the top state by dollars raised, with $0.22 billion, with California, last week’s leader, coming in 5th at $0.09 billion raised. The top five states by number of deals stayed relatively static, with California coming in first both Week 10 and Week 11, and Illinois and Texas also making repeat appearances in Week 10 and Week 11. For a deep(er) dive into the data, check out our Week 11 SEC Filing Data, here.

Multimedia Links (Videos, Podcasts, etc.)

Finally, I’m going to finish off with a podcast that covers a topic I’m intimately familiar with as an American by way of the United Kingdom- the breaking of the British pound in 1992. The latest episode of Fundrise’s Onward podcast has CEO Ben Miller sit down for an interview with economist and trader Rob Johnson, among the most experienced investors on the planet. 

Johnson was one of the members of the small team of traders that broke the Bank of England in one day with a $12 billion trade. You might know the other two members of that team- Stanley Druckenmiller and George Soros. 

It’s a fascinating story, and I’d suggest you give it a listen on Fundrise, here.

That’s it for now- but I’ll see you soon with even more real estate crowdfunding news, new deals, platform updates, podcasts, and more! Until then!

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