Once again, PeerStreet has been named a Deloitte Fast 500 Fastest Growing Technology Company. For the past 27 years, Deloitte has been honoring the most innovative, fastest-growing public and private technology companies that hail from cities across North America. The Technology Fast 500 was created to recognize the passion and dedication it takes to be an industry disruptor.
Anirudh Singh sits down with Brett Crosby, CCO of PeerStreet to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, time at Google and building PeerStreet's two sided marketplace. The goal: transform the mortgage finance space to improve the lives of participants and non-participants alike.
A company’s most valuable asset is its workforce. Whether designed for a new hire or a tenured employee, the resources a company invests in the development and support of its team members are critical for its long-term success. PeerStreet recently did a reboot of our values to set the stage for the growth we’re anticipating as an organization. As we build, we are laser-focused on the things that are going to help us better serve our customers and be great leaders.
When it comes to real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. But in a post-Covid-19 world, will the golden rule of real estate hold water with hiring practices?
The pandemic has challenged the leading real estate platforms in unique ways. With soaring prices, foreclosure moratoriums, tight housing inventory and low interest rates there has never been a time quite like today. Add to that challenges with hiring and working from home, not to mention demanding investors real estate leaders have had to adapt like never before. Then, of course, there is the continued proptech disruptions coming from multiple sides.
Reckoning with its historical role in promoting racism in homeownership, real estate professionals are rewriting rules and working to help increase Black homeownership.
Investing in real estate debt can be a complicated process. To the staff of PeerStreet, however, it is their bread and butter. The Los Angeles based company services a marketplace where accredited investors and institutions can invest in and purchase real estate loans.
PeerStreet, a two-sided marketplace for investing in real estate debt, announced the launch of a new charitable initiative, the Evolving Neighborhood Uplift Fund, or the E.N.U.F. project. The aim behind E.N.U.F. is to create a more purposeful and sustainable way to invest in real estate entrepreneurs from underserved communities across the country.
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, PeerStreet CEO Brew Johnson knew his real estate investing platform needed to get involved with forwarding social change. That led to the launch of PeerStreet’s “Evolving Neighborhood Uplift Fund,” a charitable initiative used for a more purposeful and sustainable way to invest in real estate entrepreneurs from underserved communities.
The E.N.U.F. advisory board reviews and selects ten entrepreneurs who best meet eligibility requirements, including demonstrating a passion for real estate investing and community improvement, while identifying as a member of a minority group and of an underserved community.
The Evolving Neighborhood Uplift Fund is designed to provide funding for would-be entrepreneurs in traditionally underserved communities
PeerStreet, a leading platform for investing in real estate backed loans, announced on Monday the launch of its new investment product, PeerStreet Pocket. According to PeerStreet, the PeerStreet Pocket product allows investors to earn more interest on their cash.
PeerStreet also revealed that PeerStreet Pocket was created in response to investor feedback and requests for an alternative to low-yielding banking rates; it is more liquid than other PeerStreet investment products and not directly tied to any given loan. It offers high-yielding interest and monthly liquidity, all with no minimum balances or fees. While sharing more details about the product, Brett Crosby, Chief Customer Officer and Co-Founder of PeerStreet, stated:
PeerStreet, a Los Angeles-based firm that provides a platform for investing in real estate backed loans, has launched technology to enable accredited investors to earn more interest on available cash, the firm announced today.
PeerStreet Pocket is an investment product that was created to provide an alternative to low-yielding banking rates, the firm said. PeerStreet Pocket is more liquid than other PeerStreet investment products and not directly tied to any given loan. It offers high-yielding interest and monthly liquidity with no minimum balances or fees, PeerStreet said.
“PeerStreet Pocket speaks directly to the needs of our investors who would like to make sure every dollar they have on the PeerStreet platform is working for them,” Brett Crosby, chief customer officer and co-founder of PeerStreet, said in a statement.
Set a vision and establish a plan. Ask people to write down how they are going to support that plan. Then, review, edit it to taste and hold them accountable with regular check-ins. We call it OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), but others just call it planning and managing. It works in person or remotely. - Brett Crosby, PeerStreet
While investment crowdfunding rules initially were targeted at early-stage ventures in need of growth capita,l the new rules have fueled the rise of investment platforms for another asset class: real estate investment opportunities.
The difference between REITs and real estate crowdfunding is that with crowdfunding, investors can choose the specific projects in which to invest. REITs are also more liquid than crowdfunded real estate bonds, which can tie up the investor's money for years.
PeerStreet is a real estate debt crowdfunding site for accredited investors. The company allows investors to create their own portfolio of real estate investments or provides an automated investment option.
Brew Johnson, co-founder and chief executive of PeerStreet, an online platform for investing in real estate debt, says it’s “crazy” that people who are highly educated—such as MBAs, accountants, attorneys and other businesspersons can’t invest in certain offerings simply because they don’t have the income or wealth levels. He takes issue with the fact that he didn’t qualify to invest on his own platform when it was first getting off the ground. Some of his employees today also don’t qualify to invest in the platform they are helping to build, which is troubling, he says.
“You don’t want people to make terrible decisions. But the idea that the average person is too dumb to make decisions with their money…is offensive,” Johnson says. Today, there’s much more readily available information and transparency—a significant change from when the rules were first put in place—when only the largest investors had access to the types of information necessary to make critical investment decisions, he says.
“I DON’T BELIEVE WEALTH IS A DETERMINER OF SOPHISTICATION”
PeerStreet plans to use proceeds from the Series C round of funding to hire more employees and scale its marketplace. That means adding more lenders, expanding the number of investors and continuing to build out the technology and automation for lenders. It's also working on technology aimed at improving the entire process. “Our vision is to open the asset class to as many people as possible,” said Crosby. “Historically it was quite complicated and complex.”
According to PeerStreet, CRETech’s RETAS recognizes the year’s most innovative and cutting-edge companies that have played an integral role in advancing tech in the real estate industry.
PeerStreet is named #1 in the "Information & Intelligence" category for crowdfunding companies in 2019.
Congratulations to Rachel Croessmann for being recognized as the Rising Star of 2019 for Geraci Media Group. Read the full article at the link.
“Perspective: gaining it, expanding it and challenging it has always been a key difference maker for me. It is what allows me to be calm under pressure, or try to achieve longer term results when faced with immediate problems.”
"The accredited investor definition effectively categorizes the vast majority of American citizens as less than equal, shut out from many investment opportunities, including platforms like ours.”
Government regulations today are not inclusive for small individual investors. The accredited investor definition effectively categorizes the vast majority of American citizens as less than equal, shut out from many investment opportunities, including platforms like ours.
PeerStreet has been named as one a finalist for the category "Best Alternative Investments Platform."
