RealtyShares Reviews - What Is It?

WARNING: DO NOT USE RealtyShares Until You Read This Review!
Is it a Scam? Does It Really Work?

RealtyShares

RealtyShares is a crowdfunding website that was founded by Nav Athwal in order to promote the development of real estate, as well as to help you diversify your portfolio and invest in professionally managed and pre-screened residential, retail, commercial, and mixed-use projects. The company does not only promise to help you buy shares in private real estate investments, but also to help companies access a new source of funding in order to get capital for their investments. You are probably familiar with such crowdfunding websites as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Booster.com, and, GoFundMe which help individuals to raise money for their personal needs and business ideas. Using these sites, you will need to list your project to enable other people help you in case if they are interested in it. They can contribute as much money as they wish. RealtyShares crowdfunding website has entered the market with two major purposes: 1) to help accredited investors invest in real estate projects, and 2) to help companies fund their real estate projects with no need to go through banks or large lenders.

The company emerged online in late 2013 and immediately has gained a lot of media attention. It has been featured on Forbes, Business Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN Money. They claimed to focus on helping people invest in real estate projects and giving them everything they need to invest wisely. RealtyShares is a centralized "zone" where companies who need money for their private real estate projects can encounter investors who wish to buy shares in these projects. According to the company, they give you a chance to make real estate investments in a few steps. First, sign up for an account. Second, browse investments. If you are interested in any, you will be able to access a page devoted to the offering, including legal and financial documents, property information, financials, and investment manager bios. You can finalize your investment through the company's website by signing all documents electronically using DocuSign. You can transfer the funds via Balanced. Before you officially own a share, your money will be held in an FDIC insured escrow account. If this goal fails, all of your money will be refunded.

Customer Reviews - Does RealtyShares Really Work?

RealtyShares, Inc. entered the market in late 2013, so it has been in business for four years only, which is considered to be not big experience. This is the reason why there are few individual reviews available online. However, we managed to find some at the time of our research. The overall customer reputation appears to be quite positive. The users are satisfied with the service and features it provides. All members of the company have access to a personalized dashboard where you will be able to monitor your investments and returns as well as manage your docs. You will also get quarterly updates about the project, and receive tax documents once per year. People who have worked diligently for many years report that RealtyShares helps them to make smart investment decisions. This real estate crowdfunding website attracts a lot of business people who claim that it is definitely worth your attention and time. After all, it gives you an opportunity to invest carefully and you are not going to lose your hard-earned money with this site. It has to be mentioned that this kind of business has been available for a while with such large websites as TechCrunch and Forbes. Most of them seem to be favorable, just like RealtyShares. These companies contribute to the growth of the real estate crowdfunding industry a lot.

When it comes to the choice of a real estate crowdfunding website, remember that RealtyShares differentiates itself from other real estate crowdfunding websites (like Collaperty, Realty Mogul, Fundrise, CrowdStreet) by offering a seamless investment process, complete transparency, lower fees, and access to a wider range of investment opportunities. If you are willing to invest in a real estate project featured on the site we are discussing in this review, the most important thing for you to remember is that you must be qualified as an Accredited Investor. In addition, you must have at least $5,000 to contribute to a project, even though some investments may require only $1,000. There is no maximum amount that can be invested.

"I have had very positive experience with Realty Shares. I have always wanted to invest my money in real estate, but I hadn't encountered suitable options. I was offered to invest in ten different investments (with just $5,000) and I was provided with diverse product types and markets. Overall, my experience was simple and fast, everything was streamlined without any hassle. I would recommend this service to all people who are looking for real estate to invest into."

"Realtyshares seems to offer a good approach to investment. I can say it with confidence, since I have much experience with this concept. I had good experience with this company. Its staff has been responsible and very professional. Despite possible risks about any real estate project, I have had no problems after making more than thirty-five investments using their platform."

"I am completely satisfied with my cooperation with RealtyShares. The company does a good job screening prospective deal sponsors. This is the reason why the projects might include crackpots, underfunded developers, and sponsors who are challenged with organization and planning. These people all get screened out before the platform offers any deal to them. The return/risk equation is quite promising on the majority of deals. I would certainly recommend this service, but only to good friends."

My Final Summary

Taking into account the fact that RealtyShares has got a lot of positive media attention, their site seems to be in a growth phase, just like the whole real estate crowdfunding industry. There are no negative reviews for the company on the Internet, which makes it a solid choice for buying shares in real estate projects. If you haven't invested in any projects through this company, you should do it immediately. You don't need much experience to invest in real estate. The official website of the company provides all the necessary information on how to do it. The explanation is comprehensive even to beginners.

If you qualify as an investor, you will be offered two options: equity investment and debt investment. The latter means that your investment funds a loan for the company offering the project, and based on your investment level, your part of the money received from monthly interest charges will be directed to your account. An equity investment means that you will get a percentage of cash flow from rent, or the percentage of the profits from the sold project. Each investment comes with its own "hold period," an amount of time you will need to wait after a project has been paid off or sold. Usually it is from less than half-a-year to more than five years. With all this in mind, I do recommend RealtyShares.

RealtyShares Pricing and Rates

You can sign up for a RealtyShares account completely for free, whether you are an individual who wants to invest or a company that needs funding. However, according to the company, you will need to pay a fee in order to cover ongoing investor communications and reporting concerning the investment. The fee for each investment can vary, and will be provided in the project's operating agreement.