Real estate investment crowdfunding site Small Change has closed its first real estate offering available to everyone – not just accredited investors. Small Change is a platform with a mission to build better cities. The company said the real estate offer using the new “Regulation Crowdfunding” or Reg CF securities exemption, represents a historic shift in how real estate development is funded, and who has access to those investment opportunities.
In the past, only the very wealthy and people with deep industry savvy had the capacity to invest in real estate. The JOBS Act of 2o12 changed all of this. Today, companies may raise money online from a far more diverse group of investors. Anyone over the age of 18 may invest regardless of their income or net worth.
Small Change adds that over the last few years there has been a resurgent interest in cities and inner-city neighborhoods. While interest in cities has grown, financing for those innovative projects that make them better has become scarcer. Community banks are disappearing fast, and there are no venture capitalists standing by with cash.
“This was our moment,” explains Eve Picker, Small Change founder. “We saw the need. By connecting investors with developers, we can help to build real estate projects that make cities better. And everyone can participate.”
Small Change predicts there will be many more offerings like the one just completed, each open to all investors.
The New Community Banking.
Small Change reports that investors have funded projects via their platform in cities including Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington D.C. These projects are as diverse as the cities in which they’ve been built. They include Pittsburgh’s first tiny house, a historic main street mixed-use conversion, and affordable housing in Washington, D.C. with the largest residential solar install in the country.
Small Change has now completed its first offering open to all investors — a Starter Home Two project by architect Jonathan Tate. Small Change says that Tate will take odd-shaped vacant lots in New Orleans and turn them into architecturally-bold infill housing aimed at first-time homebuyers.
Mark Roderick, a leading attorney in the crowdfunding sector, explained;
“What we’re seeing is the transformation and democratization of the U.S. capital formation industry. Developers will use crowdfunding to secure capital. Individuals will invest in crowdfunding opportunities to build wealth and benefit their communities.”
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