“I submit my offering to the SEC beforehand, and they review it and clear it,” explained Ben Miller, standing in the shell of a crowdfunded building on D.C.’s H Street NE, a transitional neighborhood on the outskirts of Capitol Hill. “We’re then allowed to let everyone invest. You don’t have to be accredited, and it really fully democratizes the investment in our city.”

Fundrise raises money from hundreds of locals, who invested on average $1,000 each. In return, the investors get an ownership share of the building, as well as a percentage of the income from rent and appreciation. They can also get perks, like discounts at merchants in the buildings. Miller is turning the H Street building into what he hopes will be a popular new restaurant, market and bar on a street where flashy new eateries and boutiques are sprouting from empty lots and boarded up buildings.

(Read more: Crowdfunding for medical devices hits Web)

“The public will help you build your real estate, but actually over time you realize that the public is an incredible partner, is an incredible asset. You democratize an investment in real estate, not only do you get capital, you actually get a social power that wasn’t possible before,” said Miller.

Now that the rules against marketing to investors are gone, Fundrise and others like it can solicit funds far more easily. Owning a part of a building can now be just a click away. In fact, the Miller brothers have already shifted the focus of their business from real estate development to a web platform that will help others use crowdfunding for real estate.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101054808

Compared to second-quarter data from 2010, rents rose 8.6 percent in San Francisco and 9.3 percent in San Mateo County, for monthly averages of $2,400 and $1,800 respectively.

The trend can be pegged to a dwindling rental supply and increasing demand from new workers with high-paying jobs, according to RealFacts owner Sarah Bridge.

“Talent is coming into the area. It’s not that there are so many jobs, but the ones out there are paying well,” Bridge said, adding that although the new tech boom is similar to the dot-com bubble of 2000, it is bringing workers with a more experiential, less materialistic mindset. “They’re not big into being tied down to a big piece of real estate.”

According to the real estate data aggregator Zillow.com, 480 homes were sold in San Francisco in May, down 22 percent in a year-over-year comparison. Meanwhile, RealFacts data show supply running out in San Francisco and San Mateo County, both with a 96 percent occupancy rate, up 6 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

The factors are helping San Francisco maintain its status as one of the most expensive big-city rental markets in the country, which has advocates for current tenants taking notice.

“It’s making it a landlord’s market,” said Ted Gullicksen, executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union. “We could see more evictions, more tenant buyouts.”

Gullicksen said although The City’s rent-control standards keep some costs in check for renters, state law prevents the controls from being applied to units themselves. Like in 2000, Gullicksen said, he fears without cheaper options, residents could be pushed to the outskirts of the Bay Area.

“I think we’re headed back in that direction,” he said.

Of the 43 markets examined by RealFacts, 41 posted rent increases, with the biggest gains seen in the Bay Area. San Jose, the unofficial capital of Silicon Valley, experienced the largest increase at 6.6 percent, up from $1,650 to $1,759 per month.

dschreiber@sfexaminer.com

Average rent per unit type

Average rent increase

Source: RealFacts

Article source: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/peninsula/2011/07/influx-workers-drives-rental-rates-san-francisco-and-san-mateo-county