Top Rated For:

Best for Commercial Real Estate

Our Take

RealtyMogul is an online real estate crowdfunding investment platform that offers both accredited and non-accredited individuals the ability to invest in commercial, residential, and industrial properties for passive income and growth. Because of RealtyMogul's strength of offerings, it has earned Investopedia’s choice as the best platform for commercial real estate. While investors will find its historical returns appealing, they may be dissuaded by high investment minimums and the platform’s convoluted fee structure.

Pros & Cons 

Pros Explained

• Established company with a good track record: Real estate crowdfunding is a relatively new concept, but RealtyMogul was one of the earlier players within this sector and has been around for over 10 years. During this time, the company has been able to provide investors with an overall 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:internal rate of return (IRR) of 20.6%, which is higher than many competitors.
• Access to customer service: RealtyMogul offers customer service via telephone, email, and direct access via social media. It’s common for real estate crowdfunding companies not to offer much assistance in terms of customer service. RealtyMogul does well in providing help to those who need it in the space.  
• Real estate offerings across several sectors: While many competitors in real estate crowdfunding focus on very limited property types, RealtyMogul offers investment opportunities across residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.

Cons Explained

• High investment minimums: Non-accredited investors have a minimum investment of $5,000 for a REIT, while accredited investors have a minimum investment of $25,000 for an individual property.
• Low liquidity: Accredited investors in individual properties are expected to hold the investment for the duration of the property holding; REIT investors have a 12-month lock-up period and then are eligible for a repurchase program within the REIT.
• Limited options for non-accredited investors: Non-accredited investors only have two REITs to choose from currently: Income REIT and Apartment Growth REIT. No individual property options are offered to non-accredited investors at this time.

Company Overview

RealtyMogul was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Los Angeles. The company came a൩bout when its CEO, Jilliene Helman, was working in wealth management and noticed three essential factors that separated the wealthiest clients from the rest:

• The wealthiest clients were real estate investors.
• Their income was not correlated to their time spent working.
• They focused on passive cash flow through real estate investments.

How Does RealtyMogul Work?

RealtyMogul is a platform that allows investors to evaluate and invest in commercial, ⭕residential, or industrial real estate. Non-accredited investors are able to choose from two REITs and accredited investors also have the ꦉoption to invest in individual property offerings. Investors can make money on their investment with either an income or a growth focus. 

• Income REIT: The Income REIT boasts an 85-month consecutive distribution period, giving investors a monthly distribution, with an annualized distribution of 7.79% since the fund's inception.
• Apartment Growth REIT: The Apartment Growth REIT had 23 quarters of consecutive distribution periods and a return of 6.4% since the fund’s inception. Like the Income REIT, the Growth REIT focuses on income. However, this REIT also has another focus: capital appreciation of the property itself.
• Individual properties: Accredited investors are able to choose from individual properties in which to invest. Investors have access to research and reports on the property, target IRR, and other information. 

Key Features

While RealtyMogul does not provide direct advice regarding investing, it does provide ample research and financial information for each p♈roperty and REIT. RealtyMogul also provides standard disclosures for each individual property, as well as a fact sheet for the REITs, causing them to stand out in the crowdfunding industry when it comes to reporting. The company also stands out in the industry when it comes to commercial real estate sector offerings, which range across commercial, residential, and industrial.

Fees

Becoming a member of RealtyMogul and using the platform is free. However, there are fees that members must pay in conjunction with each investment. The fees are decided by the real estate company offering the investment. The amount the investor will pa༒y depends on the type of investment they are interested in (loan or equity) and the kind of transaction. RealtyMogul discloses its fee structure for every investment opportunity it offers. This allows the investor to adequately evaluate and de🌺termine each offer to make a well-informed decision. Key fee details are as follows:

Income REIT

• Organizational and offering costs: Capped at 3%
• Asset management fee: 1% annualized, payable monthly in arrears 
• Upfront selling commissions: 0%
• Servicing fee (debt and preferred equity only): 0.5%

Growth REIT

• Organizational and offering costs: Capped at 3%
• Asset management fee: 1.25% annualized, payable monthly in arrears 
• Upfront selling commissions: 0%
• Servicing fee (preferred equity only): 0.5%

Individual Investment Offerings

• Upfront selling commissions: 0%
• Asset management fee: 1% 

Individual investment offerings are available to accredited investors only. Additionally, accredited investors will have fees that will be paid directly or indirectly in association with each investment. The fees are decided by each real estate company offering the investment and are dependent upon the investment type (investing in a loan or equity) and the nature of the transaction. These fees cover items such as administrative and legal expenses and the ongoing reporting for the investments. These fees vary from property to property; investors can find the exact fee structure for each investment opportunity as a standard disclosure by real estate companies on the RealtyMogul platform.

Transparency

The RealtyMogul website is very transparent about the fact that invest🍸ing in its offerings is a long-term investment with very limited liquidity. While RealtyMogul is upfront about the fees that investors can expect, the fees are not stand꧟ard and may vary from investment to investment. The website is quite detailed in the types of fees that investors can expect; however, it can still be a convoluted process for investors to be able to figure out their exact fees. 

Members have access to real-time updates regarding their investments when they log onto the RealtyMogul dashboard. There they can view information about their distributions to date, upcoming milestones, and overall investment performance. Members receive updates via email and through their RealtyMogul dashboard from real estate companies at least quarterly. Investors can also expect to receive yearly tax documents for distributions related to their particular real estate investments. 

Liquidity

RealtyMogul is upfront with its 280,000-plus investors investing in the REITs or any individual offerings, which are considered long-term investments. Since real estate investments on the RealtyMogul platform are private transactions and not available on the stock market, they cannot be easily sold or traded. For individual property investments, investors are expected to keep their investment for the duration of the property holding. Investing in either of the REITs is also considered a long-term investment, however, each REIT has adopted a Share Repurchase Program. Within this framework, each REIT may purchase shares back from investors. This program is intended to provide each REIT’s shareholders with limited liquidity.

For the REITs, there is a 12-month lock-up period, during which shares are not available for repurchase. After this holding period, shares may be repurchased at the most recently announced NAV per share multiplied by the effective repurchase rate. 

Details regarding the effectꦿive repurchase rate purchase 💫schedule are as follows:

There are restrictions on investment limits for both REITs, subject to whether an investor is accredited or non-accredited. Specific amounts are not given, as that is dependent upon annual income or net worth for non-accredited investors, and RealtyMogul will help calculate that exact amount when an investor initiates an investment on the RealtyMogul platform. 

Investment Selection

RealtyMogul members are able to invest in properties based on the type of property and the investment strategy. Non-accredited investors are limited t𒅌o REITs, while accredited investors can invest in REITs or individual property offerings. Some investments may even be eli🤡gible for self-directed IRAs or other types of retirement accounts. At this time, RealtyMogul does not offer alternative investments beyond real estate.

Sectors and Domains

RealtyMogul offers several investment options across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. Accredited investors have the most options, being able to choose individual investments from any of these sectors. Non-ac🍸credꦚited investors have fewer options, only being able to choose to invest in one of two REITs: the Income REIT, which is composed of both commercial and residential properties, or the Apartment Growth REIT, which is made up of multi-family residential apartment properties.

Individual deals for accredited investors may include:

• Apartment buildings
• Offices
• Retail
• Industrial
• Mixed-use
• Ground-up development
• Self-storage
• Cold storage
• Mobile home parks

Income REIT properties may include:

• Multi-family
• Office
• Retail

RealtyMogul Apartment Growth REIT properties are:

• Multi-family 

Educational Offerings

RealtyMogul does not offer educational training videos, webinars, or live training at this time, which is relatively weak in comparison to the rest of the industry. However, it does offer specific investment analysis and research for its investment options, as well as a blog featuring several investment topics relating to investing in commercial real estate, REITs, wealth-building, and passive income.

Customer Support 

RealtyMogul stands out in the industry when it comes to customer service, offering several options for investors to connect. The website offers direct phone numbers and email addresses for general inquiries, investor relations, and press inquiries. The website also has a support button at the bottom right of the screen where investors can directly submit a query and also attach files, if necessary. The company also has a strong social media presencꦛe with accounts on X, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and LinkedIn, including messaging a𒐪nd communication options on those platforms as well.

The Bottom Line

RealtyMogul has an over 10-year track record of solid returns for investors in a relatively new industry. The company also takes pride in transparency and providing investors with relevant and timely information regarding its large selection of current investments and potential investment options. With the high investment minimums and five- to 15-year investment expectations, this platform is better suited for more sophisticated investors who have a bit of extra cash t𒁏hat they are looking to invest for the long term. 

Why You Should Trust Us

Investopedia analyzed 19 real estate crowdfunding companies and scored each based on eight major categories and 38 criteria that are crucial in evaluating the offerings and usability of these platforms. We used this data to review each company for their fees, investment selection, transparency, and other features to provide unbiased, comprehensive reviews to ensure our readers make the right decision for their needs. Investopedia launched in 1999 and has been helping readers find the best real estate crowdfunding platforms sinc🔯e 2020.

What Is RealtyMogul?

RealtyMogul is an online 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:crowdfunding investment platform focused on building wealth fo♊r investors through institutional quality real estate.

Is RealtyMogul Legit?

Yes. RealtyMogul has been around for over a decade, longer than many of its competitors in the real estate crowdfunding industry. It boasts a 20.6% overall realized IRR, 227 realized investments, over 280,000 members, and over $1 billion invested on the p🌃latform. 

RM Adviser, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of RealtyMogul, is an SEC-reg𒊎istered investment adviser. RM Advisor provides investment management services solely to certain REITs and single-purpose funds but does not provide investment advisory services to the platform’s users.

How Can Investors Withdraw From RealtyMogul?

RealtyMogul is designed to offer income or growth potential to investors with the commitment of a long-term (five- to 15-year) investment. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Withdrawing money is not easy, as these are not publicly traded properties and investors are expected to hold their investments for the duration of the holding for individual properties. The REITs provide a bit more 🔯liquidity, as there is a repurchase process in place if investors need to sell after the initial 12-month lock-up period.

Should I Invest in RealtyMogul?

Those looking t🦋o 💙invest in RealtyMogul should have a firm understanding of how to analyze investment financials and disclosures to make an informed decision. Investors should also be willing to hold the investment long-term, five to 15 years.

Ho🍌w We Review Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms

To evaluate and review real estate crowdfunding platforms, Investopedia’s team of researchers, data collectors, and industr🅰y experts spent nearly two months conducting in-depth industry research, company survey data collection, and hands-on evaluations of 19 companies. We grouped the 38 criteria that we collected, like investment selection and minimums, holding periods, and curated portfolios, into eight categories. We then scored these criteria and weighted the categories to determine which real estate crowdfun🧜ding platforms are best for both accredited and non-accredited investors:

• Fees: 15%
• Account Services: 15%
• Investment Selection: 15%
• Liquidity: 12.5% 
• Transparency: 12.5%
• Sectors and Domains: 12.5%
• Customer Support and Usability: 10%
• Educational Offerings: 7.5%

Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of real estate crowdfunding platforms. Read 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:our full process for more information on how we review re⛄al estate crowdfunding platforms.