The Music Has Stopped For Once-Booming Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms John Austin, a retired life insurance salesman in Kansas with eight grandchildren, was looking to boost his retirement savings three years ago. That's when he invested $50K in a $166M Columbus, Ohio, development through an online real estate crowdfunding platform. He was one of hundreds of thousands of small-time investors who funneled money into crowdfunded projects in 2021 and 2022, when near-zero interest rates made real estate deals look like guaranteed money-makers. Instead, many of those investments are at risk of being completely wiped out. 
The developer Austin invested with, Kaufman Development, is now pursuing an “aggressive sale” of the office, residential and retail project which is “facing significant challenges,” including slow office leasing and higher-than-expected interest rates, it told its investors on crowdfunding platform Read the full story here. | 
