INTERVIEW WITH NAV ATHWAL, REALTYSHARES CO-FOUNDER NOLAND ARARACAP
I started my career as an electrical engineer and
Yes, crowdfunding has actually been around for
then I transitioned into working as a Commercial
about half a decade mostly in the donation and
Real
rewards based realm.
Estate
Broker.
Prior
to
Founding
Sites like Kickstarter,
RealtyShares, I worked as a Real Estate and
Indiegogo and Kiva.org were the pioneers of that
Land Use Attorney at a law firm in San Francisco
form of crowdfunding. However, over the last year
where I advised a broad range of real estate
and on the heels of the enactment of the JOBS Act,
clients including real estate developers, property
investment or equity based crowdfunding has
owners, investors, non-profit housing providers,
begun to emerge as a new way for investors to
REIT’s, governmental agencies and renewable
access things like startups, alternative energy
energy companies on some of the largest mixed-
projects and now with RealtyShares, Real Estate.
use
alternative
Unlike donation or rewards based crowdfunding,
energy Projects in California. I have also been an
investment or equity based crowdfunding actually
active real estate investor for the last 5 years and
allows investors to participate in the growth of a
have invested in single family, multi-family, retail
company or asset.
residential,
commercial
and
and ag properties.
For example, at RealtyShares we provide our
I’ve heard of crowdfunding sites for
fundraising, such as Kickstarter and
investors with access to pre-vetted real estate
investment properties or loans secured by real
estate and the ability to invest as little as $5,000
Indiegogo, but not for real estate. Can
directly into these investments.
you please explain to us how
investments that offer immediate cash flow to our
RealtyShares works?
investors.
We focus on
With our loan investments, investor
distributions are made monthly and with our equity
investments, distributions are made quarterly. The
investment process is completely paperless and
streamlined.
Investors can browse investments
directly from their laptop or tablet, choose the
investments that most suit their needs and execute
all investment documents and transfer all funds via
ACH directly from the platform.
All investments are passive so that investors don’t
have to worry about the usual headaches that go
into managing and operating real estate. Another
advantage is that an investor can diversify among a
wider range of investments than they could with a
direct real estate purchase offline.