The Harvard Business School Club is presenting Innovations in Real Estate: Crowdfund Investing from 6:30 pm to 8:15 pm today at 130 E. 59th St. I’m honored to be moderating for this panel of industry leaders as well as former Governor David Paterson. Other panelists include: Elvin Ames, Golden Eye Investments; Jason Fritton, Patch of Land; Scott Lichtman, Heartland Real Estate; William Skelley, iFunding; and Alex Twining, Twining Properties.
Please join us for what promises to be a very exciting and informative evening. If you’re unable to attend and still interested in listening in on the conversation, follow the hashtag #crowdfundrealestate on twitter or send me a tweet @Crowdfundattny.
Event Overview:
Learn how crowdfunding will affect fundraising by developers/operators, alternative investment opportunities for individuals, and community development initiatives in cities. HBSCNY, with the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York, and the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization, invite alumni and all interested individuals to an evening panel and networking event, where real estate operators, entrepreneurs, an investor and attorney discuss the impact of real estate crowdfunding.
The federal Jumpstart Our Businesses (JOBS) Act has made it easier for web entrepreneurs to facilitate wider participation in private investments. As a result, over a dozen websites are in a race to become leaders in the RE crowdfunding space. Real estate is poised to join consumer lending, angel funding and other asset classes – which together generated over $5 billion in online transactions last year – that are that are undergoing fundamental changes in fund-raising.
Though promising, RE crowdfunding will no doubt face questions along the way. Do the newer investors appreciate the risks they are taking on? What will happen when a project first undergoes foreclosure? How do the projects’ operating agreements, as well as the corporate structure of the crowdfund websites, affect future performance? And, which sites will emerge on top? The evening is an entrée to meet those leading this field and understand opportunities for participation.