Learn how to weather the real estate bear market.

After a one-week hiatus, we’re back with our inaugural issue for summer 2022. This week, on “The GowerCrowd Real Estate Crowdfunding Newsletter,” we’ve got a Southeast SFR Portfolio that was purpose-built to beat inflation, an update on the Crowdfunding Issuer 420 Real Estate’s recent legal troubles with the SEC, as well as a look at the enormous capital inflows pouring into the crowdfunding ecosystem via a piece penned by Kelsi Maree Borland over at Globe St. 

We’ll finish off with a look at what you can expect to see in a real estate bear market, brought to you by Paul Fiorilla of Yardi Matrix and our very own Dr. Adam Gower. 

New Crowdfunding Platform Deals

Inflation is on the mind of most investors, real estate or otherwise. Are you on the hunt for a durable, cash-flowing asset that has the potential to meet or exceed inflation? If so, you might want to take a look at the Southeast SFR Portfolio on CrowdStreet, a newly released portfolio of 101 single-family rental homes in several different markets across the Sunbelt. These markets were specifically chosen to beat the U.S. averages when it comes to rent, population, and home price growth and to hedge against inflation. Head over to CrowdStreet to check it out, here.

Now join us as we head to the San Francisco Bay Area’s tony North Bay suburb of Greenbrae, which sits in idyllic Marin County, home to George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and some of the most beautiful green space on the planet. On Thursday, June 9th, from 9 am to 10 am PST, the fine folks over at RealtyMogul plan to host a webinar for a 23-unit value-add multifamily property in the city, 210 Lower Via Casitas. If you’re interested in getting a piece of this Bay Area paradise, sign up for the webinar on RealtyMogul, here.

General Crowdfunding Industry News

Here at the newsletter, we’ve covered the saga of disgraced crowdfunding issuer Robert Samuel Shumake, Jr, and his company, 420 Real Estate. Long story short, Shumake Jr. was charged and recently had a final judgment made against him and his company for conducting an unregistered, fraudulent crowdfunding offering through 420 Real Estate via TruCrowd Inc., a registered crowdfunding platform. 

Additionally, Shumake and others working with him bilked $888,180 from retail investors in the scheme. Crowdfund Insider has a short write-up on the case, or you can go directly to the source and check out the final judgment at the SEC’s website, here.

Crowdfunding Platform Updates

It’s been 10 years since the birth of crowdfunding platforms, which came to life as a result of the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, which significantly reduced barriers for unaccredited investors to participate in investment funds. In a sign of the stunning success of this piece of legislation, crowdfunding platforms across the country, including real estate-oriented portals, have seen tremendous growth and are now raising incredible amounts of capital for real estate deals. 

Some platforms like RealCrowd and CrowdStreet host deals that raise not just millions but tens of millions of dollars. Globe St. has an interesting write-up on the success in the space, which you can read for yourself, here.

Multimedia Links (Videos, Podcasts, etc.)

As interest rates rise and we continue to see COVID-19 and energy shocks, it’s probably a good idea to think about the future. As an investor, you want to conceptualize what a bear market in commercial real estate might look like- mainly because it has been a while since we’ve seen a true bear market, all the way back to the 2008 crash and the first few years after the crisis. 

If you’re interested in learning more about what a commercial real estate bear market might look like, you might want to watch this conversation between our own Dr. Adam Gower and Paul Fiorilla of commercial real estate data and research firm Yardi Matrix. They discuss several topics related to a potential slowdown, including how real estate stocks may fare in a falling market and whether you should buy or sell during a down market. You can read a summary of their discussion here, watch the podcast and check out the roundtable discussion – all in one place.

That’s it for this week’s update- but we’ll see you next week with plenty more news stories, platform updates, real estate crowdfunding multimedia options, and more. See you then.