Ideas

I like it. I wanted to do something like this before (but not Internet related). It would be a great way to invest in properties outside of your city / region.

I do an issue with trusting the other people, and trusting that the person is buying a good profitable house

I think this is a great idea. As house affordability continues to decline, group home/property purchases are going to become prevalent. At a minimum, this site will allow like-minded people to find each other.

As mentioned by hpeters, the trust factor will be a problem though. Getting into a property is sufficiently illiquid an investment that you need to be confident your partners are on the same page as you.

But I see a way around this by considering those "stakes" in each property as a "share" in a company, that could be traded just like a typical equity market. With enough supply/demand in the market, such stakes could become relatively liquid, thus negating the need for highly reliable partners. The investment is then thought of much more coldly, i.e. simply as an investment, rather than a relationship.

Hmm, yeah I'm liking this idea. I'm upgrading from "Love" to "Wicked".

These are some of the things I am trying to accomplish with my idea Housing Funder : http://www.cambrianh...er/ideas-id/XRDGU0R/

What I love about this idea is that it finally lets investors with less capital to toss around invest in a very lucrative market that they normally would have a high barrier of entry into.

Great idea!

I would use this site if an expert party with a track record were managing the investment or the money was handled through escrow etc so it wouldn't disappear.

I would focus it on the investment aspect of your idea, like Prosper for joint investment ventures.

Get experts in real estate investment to sign up and be verified with a reputation system. The site could make money off of successful deals perhaps.

Combine with book "Trading natural gas" - there could be interesting side businesses to stip apart real estate into pure risk components, where traders can bet on this and that as purified commodities, to cover all aspects of a transaction, and restructure the industry. see also www.zaio.com which may complement in reaching scale. instead of 4 investors going 25% each, one is betting on floods and hurricanes, another betting real estate goes down, another up, another betting against the contractor finishing on time, etc.

Cool!

So simple I am surprised it is not already there.

Small investiors can access large profitable business. I wont limit it to real state though...

Wonderfull and profitable idea.

This seems like a good idea, but I'd be skeptical to put money in with strangers. Sounds like it would be too easy for people to fall into a florida swampland scheme.

I love this idea. Real Estate opportunities are always more lucrative in the higher markets...this makes those markets available to more people. People comfortable with the investment risk but lacking the capital. Nice work.

my friend is in a real estate network group and they do this sort of thing all the time, but there's just not an online interface. I love this idea!

This idea definitely requires some really strong partners with good real estate investors. By applying the prosper model though, you can diversify your investment across a number of real estate properties across a number of states. That would be a pretty neat way to invest.

I think I really would use this. My only concerns would be that the correct legal framework would be a must.

The transactions or partnerships that I made on line would involve lots of money (potentially all I had) so I would have to be secure in the knowledge that I have the backing of a good legal document binding the partners together.

Also, international purchases might be a challenge and would have tailored agreements depending on the country of purchase.

I think the idea is ahead of it's time: I don't think the housing market would be ready for something like this!

Is this not just a real estate trust? If so, it's been done. Google "real estate trust" to see what I mean.

Aside from that, real estate is in a bubble and we're already starting to see it crumble in the States.

IMHO, it's a bad time to invest in real estate.

First of all I want to say that I think this is a great idea and if you can find a way to pull it off, I'm in...but here is what I learned when I tried to do something similar (and just ran out of steam pursuing it).

When pooling money to buy an investment (includes real estate) it becomes a security and the SEC has strict rules. Each state is different, for example in NJ, once you hit 5 people pooled, there are a LOT of regulations. If you fail to comply you can wind up in J-A-I-L.

The Legal aspect of this should be researched thoroughly! It can be done - it just needs to be lookied into - I would suggest staying below SEC thresholds per state (i.e. only pool up to allowed dollars, investors) to avoid having to do all that paperwork, reporting, etc.

Btown as in real estate
had to be regional in nature.
A BTOWN CANADA, BTOWN USA,
BTOWN MALAYSIA, BTOWN ZIMBADWE
IN ADDITION A TO WORDWIDE BTOWN

is this idea happening?

I love this idea because it casts no shadows on individuals based on their income, done right i think this could give the average Joe an opportunity to make a few bucks in the real estate game, love it!

Hi,

Check also out idea posted by motiggidy, has some same lines in there, maybe cooperation would be more intensive.. Anyway, you have my two cents, I really would like to work for this idea!

marko1110

I wonder if you could hook up with Zillow.com to get it started?

I would be very interested.

I could see property managers competing to get the management business and then rental income could be distributed in a percentage fashion to the investors or reallocated back into the building.

I just wonder how the tax implications would be handled. I guess it is another reason for Fairtax.

any word on this project?

I like it. But seems a like confusing.
It's something like Zabo?

good idea...

I suppose the attraction is the potentially bigger returns, but there are associated higher risks.

Why wouldn't someone just invest in a fund or buy shares in a company that invested in Property only?

The idea is sound, jim_lewis the problem with investing in a fund is that you have to be an official accredited investors as per SEC regs etc...the other way you mention is a simple REIT but those returns are bond like...the issue is pooling collective cash to "increase" buying capacity and spreading risk that way by buying more real estate assets. I started an investors club in Austin Texas with a CLOSE group of friends and family and we are effectively doing this concept but OFFLINE not a web business (we have two deals already done one a land deal the other is a hotel). I like it that way as I can control the deals and my partners. BUT it is a good way to get cash...the issue is really the legal ramifications around investing etc...this is NOT something to mess with unless you are sure as to a track record of the investing group and their goals, types of assets, investing strategy..i.e. what risk are they willing to bear in deals..etc.
Great idea but very tricky as an online business!!

I asssume you intend to share the profit of the sale proprotionally but how are you handling taxes and accounting of amortizing?

You can handle the original crowd who fund as share holders of the association and the people how ad money later as money lenders. This means share holders profit after sales, tax and interestis paid by appreciation in value, and lenders profit by charging interest.

Wait until you get scam, then lets see if you like the idea. Prosper will soon find scammers on the site, oh I have so much credit cards I need to pay them off for a lower rate, please help and find out its a china man using a ssn from a us person. :( Then I will create a product so you could cry and I could see you via web cam, LOL.

Do it do it do it. I would sign up today. It could also be for companies with money to invest.

Who is the decision maker for the group? Is it one single person or is it a consensus? That is, who decides if the real estate is worth purchasing or developing and how do you know that person is qualified to make such risky executive decisions? What's more, once a qualified leader is found what keeps them from funding it themselves instead of using your service? That is, investors/lenders are going to expect a much higher return than the cost of a bank loan. Why wouldn't someone just get a loan and pocket the all the profits instead of taking on investors and sharing the profits?

Just browsing some old ideas.
Did you actually build this?
Tommy

I work at a private equity firm and raise money for real estate investments on a regular basis. I think this is something many of my investors would like.
Would would need to figure out how debt is arranged and exit strategy etc but the concept is good enough to explore further.
Let me know if you have the right team to work on this and how you plan on implementing. We might be able to add some value here.