Phoenix

Crowdfunding continues on a steamroll as new forms, including ICOs, roll out into the marketplace. We've also written about several RETechs in the past, but were interested to learn of a new crowdinvesting firm in Arizona - Neighborhood Ventures - that was recently formed to invest in Phoenix area apartments. The interesting thing to observe here is how this brings the crowdfunding movement down to a very local level, something we've reported on in the past that is happening in North Carolina, and reminding us of that saying "Think Globally, Act Locally". Cindy Taylor/Publisher


Want to invest in a metro Phoenix apartment-building boom?

It could cost you as little as $1,000, about as much as a monthly rent payment.

Neighborhood Ventures, Arizona’s first crowdfunding real-estate company, recently formed to invest in Phoenix-area apartments. A veteran Valley apartment broker, a multifamily-research expert and a former Wall Street analyst teamed up to create the company.

Potential investors can sign up now, and the first offering to buy a Phoenix-area apartment complex is expected to be announced by Neighborhood Ventures in a few weeks.

“After 25 years in apartment business, one thing haunts me,” said John Kobierowski, one of the crowdfunding group’s founders.

Kobierowski is senior managing partner at Phoenix-based ABI Multifamily. “I have never really been able to help individuals invest and make money in the Valley’s apartment market. Now I can.”

Arizona crowdfunding legislation that was passed in 2015 allows small firms to raise cash from investors with fewer requirements than firms traded on the stock market must follow. Crowdfunding firms must be headquartered in Arizona and only seek money from state residents.

Another partner with Neighborhood Ventures, former Goldman Sachs tech analyst Jamison Manwaring, said taking crowdfunding to the apartment industry will allow Arizona residents to own part of a multifamily project in their own neighborhood, if they want...