The September 24th event is one of the largest real estate crowdfunding conferences in the country.
At PeerRealty, we go to a variety of real estate industry conferences throughout the year, and one of our favorites is the RealCap Chicago Conference. This semi-annual event has already become perhaps the nation’s largest conference specifically dealing with real estate crowdfunding. Over 200 people attended the April RealCap Conference, and with the rapid growth of real estate crowdfunding we expect a larger turnout for this month’s event, which will be moderated by Jorge Newbery of American Homeowner Preservation and held on September 24th in Chicago.
So why do we love this event? For one, it brings together some of the leading real estate crowdfunding professionals in the country. Executives from top crowdfunding platforms along with technology and legal experts will all be there to discuss the state of the industry. Many attendees will be real estate sponsors and developers interested in learning more about real estate crowdfunding, and they’ll have the opportunity to hear directly how the process works. Some attendees may even be interested in starting their own real estate crowdfunding platform and would like to know how it’s done (take it from us – it’s harder than it looks!).
We think that the diverse backgrounds of the speakers and panelists helps illustrate something that we’ve long said about real estate crowdfunding. Real estate crowdfunding is an industry that demands knowledge of several different disciplines. Obviously, real estate experience is required because if the deals on a platform are not sound, nothing else really matters. This in turn requires an experienced due diligence team with great proficiency in finance. As we’ve written about many times, equity crowdfunding is heavily regulated. Anyone attempting to operate a platform without attorneys who are knowledgeable about securities laws (some of which continue to evolve) is asking for trouble. And let’s not forget that online crowdfunding is part of the tech industry, and therefore requires web developers and designers with serious technical skills. Hearing from experts from all of these different backgrounds is why we love the Realcap Chicago Conference.
We’re proud that there will be a heavy PeerRealty presence at the conference. Our CEO will contribute to several panels. He’ll be on a panel discussing the evolution of real estate crowdfunding, along with Patch of Land’s AdaPia d’Errico and Eve Picker of Small Change. Mark Roderick, one of the leading crowdfunding attorneys in the country, will moderate the panel. Remember, even just one year ago, real estate crowdfunding was considered only a curiosity in many circles. It’s now become a $2.5 billion industry that is rapidly gaining acceptance among large institutional sponsors and private equity firms. Undoubtedly, this will be an interesting panel on the evolution of the industry.
Our CEO will also be appearing on a panel discussing crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. Crowdfunding legal expert Anthony Zeoli (a PeerRealty advisor and attorney) will be on the panel as well. The question that we probably get asked most often by prospective investors is “When will non-accredited investors be allowed to invest?” Our response has always been “Soon – but we’re not entirely sure when.” We’ve written before on Regulation A+ and the new Illinois intrastate crowdfunding bill, and this panel discussion will go into more detail on how these legal developments affect non-accredited investors and crowdfunding platforms.
There will also be panels on attracting institutional capital, marketing to attract investors, and raising capital with your own white-label crowdfunding platform. We’re looking forward to the RealCap Chicago conference, and we hope to see you on September 24th!
