Trend Watch 2015: Crowd-funding Condos?

May 1, 2015 — You've probably heard of crowd-funding, especially if you're on Facebook or any similar social media. It's a way for people to solicit funds for any number of projects via a crowd-funding platform. So, if you're a musician who doesn't have a powerful label backing you, you might use a crowd-funding platform to raise money for your next album. A craftsperson might use it to try to get his or her first business off the ground. Many people even use crowd-funding for charitable efforts or to try to offset medical expenses. Well, hold onto your hats, folks, because New York City's first crowd-funded condo project is about to hit the market. According to the New York Daily News, the project was "partially financed by investors who chipped in as little as $50,000 for a share." With apartment prices starting at $1.2 million, says the Daily News, "for once, the profits from the sale of pricey condos won't only enrich the developer." That's something. The project is a joint venture between crowd-funding platform The Prodigy Network and corporate apartment provider Korman Communities. The team "raised more than 10% of its equity from small-time investors to acquire and renovate the building. [And] those investors will catch their fiscal windfall when the building's condos sell out — and stand to make the 15% return that would normally line the developer's pocket." Not too shabby. The condos, located at 234 East 46th Street between Second and Third avenues, are all one-bedroom units and will very likely get snapped up by United Nations delegates. After all, nobody can resist a nice digs and an easy commute.

Photo by Prodigy Network