Sometimes, when you cover your ears to escape all the chatter about real estate crowdfunding, you may ask yourself, “What is the big deal?”

After all, crowdfunding is not new. Indeed, it’s ancient.

“At the end of the sermon, they’re passing the plate,” crowdfunding expert Sydney Armani said at a recent crowdfunding conference hosted by The Soho Loft, a financial adviser for crowdfunders.

Real estate finance is also no stranger to crowdfunding. For decades, intermediaries have aggregated and funneled money from investors to real estate companies that use the money to purchase or develop property.

But the fact is, the technology-fueled method of pooling money for real estate investments that has come to hog the label of “crowdfunding” iterates on its predecessors in a fashion that could transform real estate finance in a big way, particularly once the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fully implements new regulatory changes.

As a result, the differences between crowdfunding and its ancestral forms may be worth exploring. If you’re interested, they boil down to two words: access and transparency.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/25/real-estate-crowdfunding-why-its-a-big-deal/#sthash.3q46y8J9.dpuf