GroundfloorReviews of groundfloor.com

I just finished transferring my last little bit of funds from Ground Floor back to my bank. I lost $284 on a $1000 investment. Waited several years on this one to foreclose and finally get something back. Out of 15 total investments with Ground Floor I made a total of about $700 since 2021. About half of the 15 were late to very late paying the loan back. All and all the result was about 4 percent, not the 8 to 10 that they tell you. The the risk is just not worth it. I'll be closing my account as soon as this this transfer is complete.

I started investing with them in 2021, mostly in notes but also in some early LROs. My experience isn't an investment or two, but rather across hundreds of transactions over nearly five years. Generally speaking, the LROs are garbage loans that aren't collected for many years, if at all. They foreclose, the property is eventually sold at a loss, then they apply their costs and fees and pay you dimes on the dollar. It's important to distinguish the LROs and specialty products from the Groundfloor notes. The GF notes I invested in were all repaid on time as agreed. I'm unlikely to invest further, as I've found their transparency to be lacking, especially in obtaining financial information about Groundfloor itself. Based on the limited financials they have released, they lose tons of money and don't seem to have a clear path to profitability. Quicken calculates my overall annual return with them at 8.46%, but that's over 95% in notes averaging close to 10%, with losses on the small amount of LROs bringing down the IRR. I also have some cost basis remaining from old LROs that are unlikely to ever see a recovery, so at the end, the IRR will be in the 7's. My experience is that a simple ETF produces a much better result, provides liquidity, and results in a lower tax burden. GF desperately needs a publicly traded buyer or to be shutdown. In my opinion, their current business model is unsustainable.

They are efficient in securing loan approvals; however, the disbursement of approved funds can be slow and challenging. Their draw process and communication delays often extend the construction timeline, resulting in increased overall project costs.

Recently the website and app no longer provide detail info on individual LROs. Half of the LROs I've invested in are now in default and if they repay at all return less than 70% of my investment. Status updates are not refreshed regularly. I DO NOT RECOMMEND.

I am writing this review after a full audit of my Groundfloor LRO activity from 2021 to 2026. My goal is to provide a factual account of my experience for anyone considering this platform as a "safe" real estate investment. I made a total of 93 LRO investments across various states and credit grades (A–E). At the time of my investment, the platform’s marketing suggested low single-digit default rates and protected principal via sub-80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. My actual results have been the opposite: 24% Default Rate: Out of my 93 investments, nearly a quarter went into default. This occurred despite my attempts to diversify across different borrowers and geographic regions. Persistent Unpaid Loans: Five years into this journey, 8 loans remain unpaid with no clear resolution in sight. These were originally marketed as short-term (6–18 month) obligations. Misleading Valuations/LTVs: I recently received a final repayment on a loan that was y3 full years past its due date. Despite being marketed with a 70% LTV against the appraisal, I recovered only 50 cents on the dollar of my principal. For a 70% LTV loan to return a 50% loss, the original appraisal provided to investors appears, in my view, to have been fundamentally disconnected from the property's actual market value. Net Performance: While most loans were eventually repaid, many involved varying losses of principal. When factoring in these losses and the years of frozen liquidity, the risk-adjusted return has been significantly worse than a standard high-yield savings account or a total market index fund. In my experience, the "protection" advertised through appraisals and LTVs did not manifest in the actual recovery process. I am sharing this so other investors can understand the high probability of principal loss and the potential for capital to be locked up for half a decade. Approach with extreme caution. Final comment: They don't get one star because in my early years with Groundfloor, I also invested in 12 of their 1-yr Notes and these were all repaid on time and as advertised. It was the poor investment results from the LROs that made me give up on Groundfloor as an investing option. As an edit based on Groundfloor's response to my post, their comment is misleading. 24% of the totality of LRO's I invested in went into default. Some were eventually paid back at a loss. The percent in default stands today at 100% and it's been 100% in default for quite some time. Yes, I stopped investing in LROs years ago when I realized significant loss was almost certain. Now, I don't really anticipate seeing much if any of the principle returned. Loss of principle is a risk in any investment. That's what I experienced and simply sharing the data about my Groundfloor investing experience. Groundfloor gets paid their slice upfront and it's hard to say what, if anything, motivates them to recover defaulted loans but protecting customer investments does not appear to be a priority. Groundfloor, for me, has just been a stupendously poor investment choice and the chance that I would invest more money in anything this company offers is 0%.

BUYER BEWARE. Don't plan on getting all your money out. Many loans go to default and drag on for years. Only invest money you can afford to lose.

Many loans are in default. May never recoup full investment.

I started investing with Groundfloor in 2021 and returns have been very underwhelming. Despite advertising that investors can get 10+ percent returns, my actual returns have been MUCH less that that - probably on the order of ~5 percent. I felt I could have done better with much less hassle simply putting the funds in a high yield money market account. As others have mentioned, way too many of their properties go into default and foreclosure (how is Groundfloor screening these borrowers?), meaning that the investor doesn't even receive all their invested capital back and to add insult - has to wait multiple YEARS in some cases beyond the projected payout date to get anything back. The cruel reality of investing in this platform is that even when you select good properties, in many cases you don't get to enjoy receiving the 10+ percent interest for the entire projected timeframe of the loan because the successful borrowers tend to finish their rehab projects and pay off the loan early - meaning as an investor you have to go and try to find another property to get a 10 percent return. Over time you your portfolio gets overweighted with dogs in default and foreclosure. In the past on multiple occasions I have tried to reach out to Groundfloor to get clarification / resolution to these issues but I have found their responses vague and unhelpful. I'm currently unwinding my positions with Groundfloor - which will probably take a couple more years :(