Introduction
AlphaFlow is an online platform that was originally created by a group of private lenders. It has offices in New York City and in San Francisco and its specialization as a company is residential real estate debt in a crowdfunding format. This provides a diversified set of investments for investors once they have been accredited.
AlphaFlow is a passive approach to residential real estate lending. This AlphaFlow review looks at the ins and outs of this offering giving you a proper insight into whether or not you will be of benefit of signing up for an account.
Overall Rating
Pros
-
Hands-off investing
As your funds will be invested for you across a range of different properties, you can sit back and take a passive approach to investing.
-
Diversified loan offering
As all of your investment sums will be spread across 75 to 100 different loans across many different states, your investment will be well-diversified.
-
Strict vetting process
The loans that are available to invest in on AlphaFlow have been extremely well-vetted. Of those applying for a loan through AlphaFlow, more than 80% of the loans are rejected as they do not meet the minimum standards.
-
Easy to use
Investing with AlphaFlow couldn’t be easier. You sign up for an account and then you add funds to your account. These funds will then be invested for you. You can easily keep track of your investments through the great dashboard on AlphaFlow.
Cons
-
Accredited investors only
In order to invest on the AlphaFlow platform, you need to be an accredited investor.
-
High minimum investment
When you sign up for an AlphaFlow account, you will need to invest at least $10,000 starting off, which may be a bit high for some investors.
AlphaFlow was launched by former private lenders – we understand the lending process and what it takes to successfully grow your business.
Where AlphaFlow Stands Above Competition
The passive approach AlphaFlow takes to investing in residential real estate will save people a lot of time, with the offerings and investments being well-diversified.
Where AlphaFlow Falls Short
You have to be an accredited investor to use AlphaFlow and there is no active investing approach you can take.
Fees & Features
There is an annualized asset management fee of 1% in place at AlphaFlow, which is about standards for this type of real estate investing platform. You will not be facing any other types of fees when you are investing with AlphaFlow.
How Does AlphaFlow Work?
If you are looking to become an investor through the AlphaFlow platform, you need to be an accredited investor. You will then sign up for an account and your status as an accredited investor will be verified by AlphaFlow, as well as verifying your linked bank account. You will then fund your account, with the minimum required deposit when opening an account being $10,000. You will then have your money invested for you by the team at AlphaFlow.
A lot of competitors will make you choose your own investments, but this is all done for you on AlphaFlow. The invested total sum will be broken down into a lot of smaller loans. For example, if you deposit $10,000 then this may be invested across 75 or 100 different properties.
You will get paid interest payments as the borrowers pay interest on the principal sum that they have borrowed. These payments will be credited to your account up to a couple of times in a given month. You can easily track your active investments through the AlphaFlow dashboard, which can provide you with very detailed insights into your portfolio.
Portfolio Details
As part of the proprietary AlphaFlow model, you will have your deposits funds invested across a diverse set of properties across the United States. This will see your investment spread across 70 to 100 different loans, with properties in at least fifteen different states being invested in.
At the beginning of the AlphaFlow offering, there were three different managed funds for investors to put their money in. Now, it solely uses the current model of investing funds as the investment experts see fit on the platform.
Products
For the optimized portfolios, there is a targeted return in place of between 8% and 10%. Naturally, this is not going to be a guaranteed return, as there are always risks involved with investing. Only projects that have a max loan to value ratio of 80% will be considered at AlphaFlow for investment for individual properties, with this max dropping to 75% for an entire portfolio combined.
About 80% of the loans that are reviewed by the AlphaFlow team for potential investment will be rejected, so they are only picking out the best of the deals that they are dealing with. There are fifty different aspects of a property or a loan applicant that are considered before approving them for investment through the AlphaFlow platform.
Deposits & Withdrawals
When you set up your AlphaFlow account, you will be asked to link your given bank account. As part of the verification process, it will be verified that this is in fact your bank account. Then you will specify how much you wish to fund your account with and you will be ready to go. There is a minimum required deposit when opening an account with AlphaFlow of $10,000.
As soon as you have specified how much you wish to deposit to your AlphaFlow account, the direct bank transfer will be processed. This will usually take two to three working days before the funds hit your AlphaFlow account.
Over time, when your funds have been invested you will earn interest payments form your loans. These funds will be credited to your AlphaFlow account. You can withdraw these funds if you wish, also by using a direct bank transfer. While AlphaFlow does not charge a fee for transactions, your own bank may have some fee in place for facilitating the transfers.
Customer Support
If you have any issues or questions about the AlphaFlow offering, there is an FAQ section that mainly relates to all aspects of the investment process with AlphaFlow, including how the deals are sourced and vetted. If you have a question that has not been covered in this FAQ section, you can directly contact the AlphaFlow support team.
You can do so by giving them a call by phone, sending an email or a letter by mail to one of its offices in the US. There is also a live chat feature that can be used to solve more straightforward issues you may be having. You can expect a response within a few hours when using this feature.
Security & Reliability
In terms of the due diligence process conducted by AlphaFlow, it has a stringent application process for those who are looking to borrow money. It deep dives into each application, looking at more than 50 variables of the applicant and the respective property to ensure that it is up to scratch before becoming an investment opportunity. About 80% of all applicants are rejected.
In terms of the platform itself, it takes the security of its users very seriously. This includes having the latest encryption technology deployed to ensure that the private data of clients is well-protected. It also allows investors to add extra security features to their account to create additional protection. The company has been registered with the SEC as a Registered Investment Advisor.
What AlphaFlow Is Best For
- Investors looking for diversification. As the invested funds are spread across between 75 and 100 different loans across many different states, you will not be putting all of your eggs in one basket.
- Hands-off investors as once you add the funds to your AlphaFlow account, the investment professionals at AlphaFlow will then decide which of the loans your funds will be invested in. You can sit back and watch the interest payments come in.
- Investors looking for a regular return, as your investments will see you get interest repayments once or twice every month, depositing into your AlphaFlow account.
Suggested For You
The InvestorGreg Editorial Team is a group of financial writers and analysts who cover the worlds of finance and investment. Read more