Rich Uncle’s, found online at Rich-Uncles.com, is a company who says their goal is to create a platform that makes real estate investment accessible for everyone who wants to get involved.
Traditionally speaking, real estate investment was thought to only be available to people who had large sums of investment capital that they could translate into large stakes in investment opportunities.
Rich Uncle’s has a goal of making this type of investment available to people with different levels of capital available, so this type of investment opportunity is no longer off limits to the general public.
How Does It Work?
The whole concept of Rich Uncle’s rests on something called a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, which is a corporation that takes capital from many different investors and uses it to buy and then operate income producing real estate.
In addition, REITs are exempt from taxes if certain standards can be met, including the distribution of at least 90% of the taxable income. REITs make this possible by generating and distributing this income to their shareholders in dividends.
Finally, this company does not pay commissions, instead choosing to use the internet for advertising and finding investors, which reduces their overhead and increases the percentage of returns they distribute to their members.
Is This a Legitimate Opportunity?
This company is funding real estate investment opportunities through a specific type of a crowdfunding platform. They say that their potential investors can begin purchasing ownership in REITs with investments of just $500.
Using the crowdfunding platform to raise capital for real estate opportunities is becoming a popular new concept in real estate investing. It not only opens up real estate investing to people who only have small amounts of money to invest, but it is beneficial for the properties and owners themselves.
Crowdfunding often allows these properties to be funded easier and faster than going through the traditional routes of finding bank funding or investors with large amounts of capital who are interested in the opportunity.
So this type of real estate investment is growing in acceptability and popularity, and people who are interested in it can look at the opportunities available through Rich Uncle’s, or other companies that take a similar approach.
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For that volatility, you are richly rewarded with yield (again, mREITS) of 8-9%, and if you have a long time window as you should with RU, you'll probably be OK. Based on that, I'm unsure as to what advantage this give, except that its equity based and is much more than the typical Equity REIT yield of 3-4%.
If you research any (all) listed REITs over a 12-month period you will find volatility of 25% (up or down, depending on the year). During that same period if you research the REITs income (called FFO - funds from operation) it is likely stable. So why the volatility? Because publicly traded REITs behaves like stocks which defeats the purpose of diversifying into an investment that acts characteristically different. Rich Uncles REIT, alternatively, re-values shares once a year based on Net Asset Value which is essentially an appraised value of the real estate holdings. Cash dividends are paid monthly along with liquidity allowing people to sell back to company at share price. Some limitations apply - but overall - we believe it's a better mouse trap for investors.
Who is behind this? Google him for yourself: Ray Wirta
His goal is deliver a better investment opportunity for the masses.
August 3rd, 2016 at 10:30 am
All dividends have been corrected. It was a minor accounting issue associated with a major system upgrade.
Rich Uncles says:
July 28th, 2016 at 3:45 pm
Rest assured all accounting will be promptly rectified. We did switch systems and apologize if any error did occur.
Analyst
“I was hesitant at first, but once I inquired and all my questions were answered, I made the choice to invest. ”
Main Chang
Private Lending
“By far, this is one of the safest investments that I've come across. I met both Harold and Howard prior to investing with Rich Uncles, mainly because I was skeptical and had a lot of questions. They answered all of my questions to my satisfaction and they were also very "down to earth" people. All I can say is that these guys real deal.”
Douglas Hanchar
Associate at Barnes Law LLP
“As a Real Estate attorney, I have seen very few investment vehicles as well organized and thought out as Rich-Uncles. They have an ideal business model for private commercial REIT’s in this economy. The relatively low minimum investment requirement allows the average person to participate in a method of investing that would otherwise be restricted to high net worth 'qualified investors' under SEC regulations.”
Larry VanderPloeg
Solar Energy Inc.
“Seemed too good to be true. Own real estate without the hassles? Thats why it took me about a year to actually start investing. That was a year of dividends not realized.”
Jorge Salazar
Police Officer
“I was really skeptical to invest money at first, but now I can’t wait to add more funds to my account! I really like the idea of investing in commercial real estate as a group since I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own. As soon as I heard the radio commercial on KFI, I knew this was something I would be very interested in, but felt I couldn’t just jump in. So a few weeks later and after some research I decided to invest! I’m glad I did!”
Blair Pettyjohn
Project Manger in the Broadcast Industry
“Rich Uncles has afforded me the opportunity to dip my feet into the real estate investment pool without heavy burden of actually having to manage the investment. I should see my first quarterly dividends quite soon – time to invest some more…”
Chirag Amin
Orthopedic Surgeon
“Hello fellow investors, my name is Chirag and I am an orthopedic surgeon in the Inland Empire. I consider myself a seasoned investor, holding everything from stocks, real estate, precious metals, and even have fractional ownership in various oil and natural gas wells. The challenge in investing for retirement has always been doing the research and due diligence, staying on top of one’s investment decisions by keeping track of performance, and keeping well-diversified. The great thing about this RichUncles investment is that you get a great investment return, a diversified portfolio of strong income-producing properties, as well as a highly experienced management team that makes smart decisions yet know how to keep expenses in check. I am so glad to be an investor with Uncle Howard, Uncle Harold, and Uncle Ray. Keep up the great work. God Bless.”
the truth is plain to see. Avoid at all costs or you will likely lose
your money. Remember, be more concerned about the return of your
investment rather than the return on your investment. Caveat Emptor.
It appears that there are a number of web businesses using the name "Rich Uncle" is various combinations and permutations.
Richuncle.com
Richuncles.com
My-Rich-Uncle.com
The BBB says Richuncle.com in Costa Mesa, Ca. is good. 100% no complaints ... ( I'm not a fan of the BBB ... )
So ... all of these posting just go to demonstrate that it is TOTALLY upon the individual investor to know where exactly you are placing your money ... and what are the terms of the investments.
It appears that the majority of complaints posted have been addressed ... If you call the company and talk to someone ... and don't even get that persons name ... you either have to much money ... or have no business investing ...
I am Howard Makler, President of RichUncles.com. This is the only site that is offering a Registered Public Offering in the form of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with 3rd party audited financials (Ernst & Young is our auditor) and fully disclosed financials available on the SEC website. We are not perfect and sometimes have/do make errors, all of which are addressed promptly and professionally.
We have grown from a $25,000,000 portfolio to over $100,000,000 in real estate between our CA REIT (now sold out) and our recently launched national offering. Debt is always limited to 50% or less. We collect rent from creditworthy tenants who pay all property related expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance) and distribute a cash dividend monthly. It's a fantastic formula for success.
The owners take personally a strong desire to be know for delivering Integrity and Capability in delivering Real Estate Investing for Everyone via the consumer direct RichUncles.com website.