Groundfloor

Used the platform for a few years now. In general a great experience and GF is one of my favorite investment tools.

[UPDATE: After about a year, the majority of my loans have paid back. Often early. About 10% go into default, but the good thing is that Groundfloor is quick to issue a notice on intent to foreclose. Many of the default loans eventually pay back with the target return (or more). So, of 10% default, a much smaller number is actually a loss. There is a lot of updates about the foreclosure and legal actions to get back investors money!]

Groundfloor.us is a p2p platform for debt-like exposure to American fix n'flips, single-family housing, with yields between 6 to 13%/year. The loans are primarily for fix and flips, but also new constructions, and buy-repair-rent-refinance (BRRR) loans. Soon, they will offer equity-like exposure. The properties are very diverse, located in both high-growth markets like Atlanta and Durham NC, as well as depressed areas like Baltimore.

I have only been involved for a half-year, but here are some of my early observations which may help prospective sign-ups:
– the borrowers' names and companies are available, which is great because investors can do basic DD
– open to non-accredited investors
– no fees for investors (fees on the borrowers)
– volume: about 10-30 loans per month ranging in value between $100k to $800k
– the best loans can sell-out in a few minutes
– returns are between 6-13% annualised interest, mostly bullet-loans (repaid fully at end)
– loans duration between 6-12 months, often repaid early
– low minimums ($10) allow easy diversification
– extensive geographic locations of loans: GA, FL, MD, NC, SC, MA, AZ, OH. However, they are expanding to new areas in 2019 (they conduct pilot studies before expanding into new areas)
– unfortunately, the borrowers' financial statements don't seem extensively audited, so you are just trusting that their financials are correct
– the average borrower seems to have only been in the fix-and-flip market for 3-4 years; many are first-time flippers; a few are established construction companies.
– the after-repair valuations of the properties seem generally in line with external data, such as Zillow Zestimates
– Grounfloor is still relatively new and largely financed by venture capital and crowdfunding equity; the founder has done lots of podcasts, so you can easily learn about the company and its mission.
– I like that they are expanding their partners, such as with 'Flipping America' for equity-like offerings.
– the number of defaults seems relatively high on the platform according to their owns statistics, but their research shows that the long-term expected return is ~10% per year, so long as you diversify across >50-100 loans.

Please consider using my signup code, so we both get $10 for a new account
www DOT groundfloor DOT us /new_referral/a83979