This Dallas-based asset manager just acquired RealCrowd.

Hello GowerCrowders!

As winter fades and temperatures rise, some parts of the commercial real estate markets remain in a deep freeze, with interest rates, office vacancies, and multifamily woes making this an uneasy spring break for many. 

The overall Reg CF market is still chugging along, with Crowdfund Insider reporting a full 5 new funding portals added to their ongoing list since the start of the year. Big changes are underway at RealCrowd, which recently announced they are joining Trinity Investors,  and multifamily is feeling the heat in Houston- where an apartment owner loses 3,200 units to foreclosure as multifamily proves it is not immune to the broader malaise in CRE.

To finish things off, we’ll check out new SEC Filing data (that you can only find on GowerCrowd), and two new podcasts featuring your humble host, including a discussion with Paul Fiorilla of Yardi Matrix and a look at How to Raise Equity Capital During Tough Times.

Let’s get into it.

New Crowdfunding Platform Deals

Sterling Rhino Capital has announced a new ground-up luxury project, promising a projected average annual return of 35%. The project, a multifamily project in Lakewood, Colorado, has a lot of things going for it, including easy access to 7 nearby light rail stations, 45 minutes to the inescapably gorgeous Colorado mountains, a 10 minute walk to downtown Denver, and a an equity multiple of 3.5x-4.5x. See The Cooper for yourself by clicking through this link.

Crowdfunding platform reAlpha has been making waves in the property technology space, securing a spot on Business Insider’s list of Hottest Proptech Startups of 2023. Business Insider asked 20 seasoned venture capital investors in the real-estate and construction technology spaces to nominate what they see as the most promising (and exciting) proptech startups of 2023. 

Making the list this year was crowdfunding platform reAlpha, an Ohio-based firm that is garnering a lot of attention in the real estate crowdfunding space. Check out their story on Business Insider, here.

General Crowdfunding Industry News

Crowdfund Insider recently reported their addition of 5 new Reg CF portals since 2023, The last time they added any new companies on this list was in December 2022. The five new companies include Miami-based Alvear Ventures Portal, BigCrowd, Caravan Funds, the Dentist Fund, and Gigastar Market. You can find the full list of firms, and a brief writeup of each, on Crowdfund Insider, here.

Arbor Realty Trust has foreclosed on four low-income multifamily properties in Houston, valued at $229 million. The properties, purchased by Applesway Investment, include Heights at Post Oak, Redford Apartments, Reserve at Westwood, and Timber Ridge Apartments. 

After Applesway defaulted on mortgage payments, Arbor initiated the foreclosure and eventually won the bid for all four properties, totaling about $204 million. The future for the properties’ residents, many of whom are low-income tenants, remains unclear, though it is likely that the properties will change ownership but continue operating.

While calling this situation the “canary in the coal mine” for multifamily would be premature, it is definitely a piece of news you need to keep your eye on, especially if you’re involved in the multifamily space.

Crowdfunding Platform Updates

Crowdfunding platform RealCrowd just made a huge announcement– they’re joining Trinity Investors as part of a strategic acquisition. While they have yet to roll out full details about these changes, you can find a brief explanation when you head to their website, realcrowd.com. 

As a refresher, Trinity Investors is a Dallas-based asset manager that’s been in the game for more than 20 years, with an average net IRR higher than 24% with an equity multiple of 1.9x over their entire real estate portfolio since they set up shop in 1999. In that time they’ve returned over $1.25BN to investors. Head over to RealCrowd’s main site to learn more.

SEC Filings Graphs

The number of Reg D(b) and Reg D(c) deals rose slightly from last week, coming in at 29, compared to 27 last week. The total amount raised also rose slightly, from $0.70B to $0.75B. California reclaimed its spot as the top state by both dollars raised and number of deals, with 5 deals this week and $0.30B raised, knocking off last week’s top state by dollars raised, Illinois, which has now fallen out of the top 5. 

Most deals last week were small, as tends to be the case, with 10 small deals (less than $10M), 8 medium ($10M to $50M, 4 large ($50M+), and 5 without reported info. Get the rest of GowerCrowd’s proprietary data on my site, here.

Multimedia Links (Videos, Podcasts, etc.)

Finally, we’ll look at two podcasts featuring your humble host. 

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Director of US Research at Yardi Matrix, Paul Fiorilla, one of the country’s preeminent experts in real estate data. In this week’s episode of The Real Estate Crowdfunding Show, we discuss the idea of an incoming commercial real estate crash, and whether or not real issues in the commercial real estate world are being overblown by media pundits. 

If you’re looking to up your knowledge game, and get an unvarnished look at where we might be headed in the days, weeks, and months ahead- definitely give this podcast a listen.

In a similar vein, you also might want to listen to the latest episode of How to Scale Commercial Real Estate, where I discuss my unique career path, my history working in several different industries- from academia to real estate, and how you might be able to raise equity capital during tough times. Commercial real estate is cyclical, and times won’t always be good- as we can see from recent developments- so you should give this podcast a listen if you’re interested in creating your own hedges against market downturns.

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!