Realty Mogul meets and exceeds expectations according to the recent Bisnow article, "Real Estate & Tech: RealtyMogul Surpasses $220M In Transactions". The startup graduated from the Los Angeles Founder institute, and has become a refreshingly disruptive new player in real estate investing. Founded in 2013 by Jilliene Helman and Justin Hughes, Realty Mogul set out to bridge the gap between investors and entrepreneurs through increasingly progressive approaches to technology, ultimately simplifying interplay between all parties.
In simple terms, Realty Mogul is crowdfunding for real estate investors. To make this work the platform they have created makes a number of things that used to be hard very easy. They allow access to opportunities that were tough to find in the past. They offer an entirely new asset class to portfolios building more and stronger diversity and their reputable and fully compliant platform saves time and resources with its offering of promising and pre-vetted deals to review.
Co-founder Jilliene Helman is also the CEO of Realty Mogul, sitting on the board and tasked with determining the strategic direction and operations of the company. To date, she has personally underwritten over 5 billion dollars of real estate and in a former incarnation was a VP in wealth management at Union Bank. She is a wealth strategist trained in business at Georgetown University and holding multiple certifications in her specialty, including series 7, series 63, and series 24 licenses.
Justin Hughes, also a founder of the company is in charge of technological asset management and oversees marketplace administration functions as well. Now a sitting board member, he ran an independent consultancy providing web-based application development and digital marketing services in Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California at Berkley with a degree in cognitive science. Hughes holds a real estate license in the state of California.
The business these two collaborated to create has to date overseen more than $220 million in debt and equity transactions. The platform is not just for investors either. For those looking to raise capital Realty Mogul helps save time by outsourcing investor reporting and distribution and making it possible to raise capital with just a few clicks. No matter the direction of approach, whether as an investor or somebody with a dream who needs to raise some cash to make it happen Realty Mogul makes growing wealth through real estate accessible in ways that were just not available before its inception.
In addition, they have now put together a fund for more committed investors. Open to almost anyone, their MogulReit I fund diversifies with about 55% debt/mortgage securities and around 45% in equity. Entrance starts at $2500.
Realty Mogul has been praised by industry specialists and favorably compared to competitors. Entrepreneur magazine said "Unlike Fundrise, Realty Mogul has been more transparent with their deal flow data...", while TechCrunch is quoted on the Realty Mogul website, noting that "RealtyMogul.com's purpose is access through innovation with investor protection and compliance as guidance principles."
As if all this was not enough the company also works with a range of professional real estate companies, engaging with mezzanine, first position debt and preferred equity.
The bottom line is this; RealtyMogul.com has 80 thousand members, over $220 million has been invested through their platform and more than $45 million dollars have been paid out to RealtyMogul.com investors.
Starting from zero in 2013 and hitting a $220 million dollar milestone in just three years is no small achievement. The creation of their new realty investment fund is a strong indicator that they are only moving forward, a fact that is reinforced by corporate investors like Microsoft and Sorenson Capital. Altogether this is a lot to consider, but it seems clear that RealtyMogul.com is worth a closer look.
