LOS ANGELES—The claims made by media types over the impact of crowdfunding are pretty outlandish. Google the concept and you'll see otherwise staid print and media outlets using such terms as revolutionary and redefining. The ironic thing is that they just might be right.

Certainly, Elizabeth Braman, CCIM, thinks so. The chief production officer of locally based Realty Mogul believes the ability for investors, institutional and otherwise, to access commercial real estate transactions has only begun to catch on. You can expect her to attest to that next month, when she joins other crowdfunding experts for CCIM THRIVE, taking place at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel here October 21 and 22.

But she also explained her position in a recent exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com. For those of you who are still unsure about the crowdfunding phenomenon, or if you just want to get a taste of what you'll hear at the conference, read on:

GlobeSt.com: We can thank the JOBS Act for the explosion in crowdfunding, right?

Braman: It lit a fire under crowdfunding online. Syndications have been around from time immemorial.  The securities regulations were designed to protect consumers, so people weren't putting their money into sham real estate transactions.  The JOBS Act changed everything and allowed for online marketing of securities, which is basically what we are doing.

GlobeSt.com: How big is the market now?

Braman: It's hard to say. Almost any commercial real estate transaction can be capitalized online. We just hit $30 million on our platform. We're the largest of all of the real estate crowdfunding platforms from the standpoint of money raised.  To date, we've distributed $3 million to investors.

GlobeSt.com: What's the appeal here?

Braman: Access and diversification. Generally speaking, in the past, small capital raises were done when, let's say, a developer allowed a small group of friends in on a transaction and each would put in $100,000 or more.

There's always been this sort of glut in the market for deals that were more than $1 million but less than the institutional $5 million or $10 million. But it's a very inefficient way of raising capital. That's where crowdfunding fills this wonderful niche, at the same time allowing investors to come in at lower price points because technology handles the distribution.

Through crowdfunding, a $100,000 investor can now diversify and put that into 10 different assets. They can create a beautiful portfolio that offers product and geographic diversification. Plus, the reporting is much more efficient. We have quarterly reporting, quarterly distribution and annual taxes. I can do all that on behalf of the sponsor using my automated platform, saving them time and money.

GlobeSt.com: Are you seeing trends toward particular product types or geographies?

Braman: Yes and yes. Investors right now love Florida and Texas, because you can get yield. And they love the less institutional asset classes. Mobile-home parks and self-storage are doing really well on the platform. We're also seeing huge demand for multifamily and retail.

GlobeSt.com: When companies like ARCap launch a crowdfunding platform, does that legitimize the market?

Braman: It does help legitimize the market for sure. They're a large company with a lot of visibility in the real estate space. But we haven't been lacking visibility. Our CEO is on Fox and Bloomberg almost every other month and we've been in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the New York Times.  I don't think ARCap is creating the market. People are always shocked when I tell them we have institutional investors on our platform. It should come as a surprise to no one.

GlobeSt.com: Is crowdfunding being overhyped by the media?

Braman: No. They're hitting the nail on the head. The mortgage industry and the capital markets have been an imperfect environment for a very long time. This movement is finally acknowledging what many industries did 10 years ago, that we're in an online world. When you buy your plane ticket you don't call your travel agent anymore. When you check your stock portfolio you don't call a stock broker. You go online, which offers the most efficient and lowest cost of doing business. And when you bring efficiency and lower cost you get a better experience for consumers.

GlobeSt.com: We're talking in a year.  Where will the trend be?

Braman: A lot of the sexiness and buzz will start to fade because it won't be such a shiny new toy. But we're going to see a lot more adoption. There'll be a lot more people seeing a lot more opportunity to invest in real estate. On the flip side, more people will realize they can get capital from a crowdfunding site as a viable source. They'll also be hearing more of their colleagues talking about the deals they did, and you'll see a trajectory of adoption.

GlobeSt.com: So where in a year?

Braman: We're at $30 million now. I would expect many multiples of that.