Patch of Land 2024 Comprehensive Review and Ranking

What is Patch of Land?

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To avoid the financial conflicts-of-interests that are rampant on virtually every other review site, I DON'T accept any money from any outside sponsor or platform for ANYTHING (including but not limited to affiliate ads, advertising etc.). See code of ethics  for more.

Patch of Land focuses on short-term debt on residential (and occasionally commercial) properties.

 

What's the latest feedback on Patch of Land?

August 23, 2023: Patch of Land's website has ceased responding and they appear to be shut down. The existing review is being kept for historical purposes and it is being kept to the lowest tier (challenged/exited). [Update March 11, 2024]: This looks like the final nail in the coffin: State of California suspends Patch of Land's lending/brokering license for failure to file annual report.

Update June 3, 2022: Last update, Patch of Land was rated as lowest ranking of "Challenged (due to investor complaints)" due to allegations of unacceptable amounts of defaults. So a new survey was just done to see what the current investor sentiment is.

Survey takers alleged they currently have anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 invested on the platform. And when asked the question "Would you recommend that your friend or family member invest with them?" the answers were:
 

• Yes: 0% 

• No: 100% 

• Not sure: 0% 
   

This was one of the worst performances in this year's survey. Multiple investors expressed dissatisfaction with multiple aspects of the platform and alleged things like "terrible underwriting and communications", "loans go into default too much" and "disaster of a platform". Another claimed "terrible in all aspects: poor communication and property valuation suspect." Another alleged, "They are shutting down the site and trying to just get out of it don't seem to be inclined to put in the work to maximize our recovery and returns" and another claimed "terrible job of collecting".
 

As a result, Patch of Land continues in it's current category of "Challenged (by investor complaints)".  And we hope they will improve in the next review.

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2021 Update: 2 years ago, it was the most praised site by investors and ranked #1 on the site. Since then it has become one of the more heavily criticized for their alleged default rate and for alleged customer service issues.

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Investors are alleging that the default rates on the site they are experiencing are significantly higher than competitors. Some  examples:
 

• "I've made a total of 20 investments since December 2015. in 2017, 3 (15%) are in foreclosure. An additional 2 are now late paying interest." In comparison, Peerstreet has less than 1% in foreclosure.

• Another investor claimed a 16% uncured default rate on a 30+ loan portfolio (with all of those loans in foreclosure). In comparison, other hard money loan funds and underwriters are currently experiencing a 1-2% uncured default rate

• Claim on 2017-07-31 "I am a long time user of POL. Currently I have more than 15 loans, about 30% are in foreclosure. Counting other problems, 45% have issues".
• Claim on 2017-08-31: investor reports 30% uncured default rate on 13 loan portfolio = 30%.

Unlike competitors (including both of the top-ranked hard money loan sites), Patch of land does not disclose the performance of its loans. I am calling on them to do so now, to show investors what risks they may or may not be taking.
 

Other investors reported dissatisfaction with getting prompt information when investments went sour. One investor alleged: "In the Spring of 2016, everything was great.  Then, it started to deteriorate - call, leave a voice message, and no return call.  Same with emails. Incredulous in this technical age." 

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Additionally, in comparison with previous years,a significant number of the loans appear to be higher risk high LTV/ARV loans.​ (See the article series on "hard money loan roulette" for more on the possible risks).

Last year, Patch of Land suffered a mass layoff.

Finally, a person listed on the Patch of Land advisory board, has allegedly been visiting real estate bulletin boards and groups, and (in semi or full disguise) verbally attacking people who report anything negative about the company (and without disclosing his conflict of interest in advance).

 

What are the Pros and Cons of Patch of Land?
 

• Advantages: Pre-funding,  $23.6 million in venture capital funding, superior bankruptcy protection.
   

• Disadvantages: Increasing LTVs, alleged reports of much higher than industry level defaults, decreasing yields, alleged customer service reporting issues, perhaps  inappropriate behavior by advisory board member, and turmoil last year with mass layoffs.
   

• Accolades: None
   

• Alleged problematic investments (as reported by investors)

  • November 2018: SFR Fix and Flip in northwest Chicago resulted in 47% loss to investor. The loan was for $186k on a property that was pitched as an after repair value (ARV) of $280k. If the ARV had been accurate, that would have been a conservative 66% loan-to-value (LTV) and plenty of equity cushion ($94k) to absorb default without loss (arguably even in a recession). However, when the default occurred, the property only sold for $160k, or 57% of its claimed value. Then on top of that, this was in a judicial only state where foreclosure is extremely expensive. Legal fees cost $48k, or 30% of the proceeds of the sale. The result was a 47% loss to the investors ($88k).

  • 2018: Berwyn, IL Fix and Flip 1429 Cuyler Ave: Investor claims they released final funds when the project was only halfway completed (which the investor claims was blamed on bad information from inspector)

  • Atlanta Luxury Property Rehab - Final Tranche: uncured default.​

  • Atlanta Luxury Property Rehab - Tranche I: uncured default.

  • Berwyn, IL Fix and Flip: uncured default

  • SFR Fix and Flip in Northwest Chicago: uncured default

  • April 2016 loan - "Columbus Suburb Refinance" 458 W Orange Rd, Delaware, OH: foreclosure

For more raw data on the site (including investor and sponsor fees, legal structure etc.), or to easily compare it with the data of competitors, see the feature by feature comparison matrix.

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Where can I discuss Patch of Land deals further?

You can do this with thousands of other investors in the private investor club. While the club is free, membership is restricted to investors who have no business connections to sponsors or platforms. Also, all members must agree to keep all club info confidential by signing a nondisclosure agreement. Click here to join or get more info.

Who are Patch of Land Competitors?

 

Here are the reviews and rankings for other residential debt sites:
 

• Peer Street

• Fund That Flip

• ShareStates

• Zeus Crowdfunding

• AlphaFlow

• LendingHome

• InstaLend

• YieldStreet

• Patch of Land

• GroundFloor
   

• All other sites (ranked)
   

• To compare this site directly with competitors, see the 
  feature by feature comparison matrix.
   

OR...if you're looking for more volume and/or more conservative LTV's than most crowdfunding sites provide, then a fund might be a better choice for you. If so, here is our Guide to the Top 15 Hard Money Loan Funds (and honors). 

Debt Investing Tutorials:

 

Looking to learn more about debt (hard money loan) investing? Here's our 4-part step-by-step series.

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• Hard Money Loan Roulette. Part 1: What's a hard money loan and what are the hidden costs

• Hard Money Loan Roulette. Part 2: How to protect your money

• Hard Money Loan Roulette. Part 3: A due diligence checklist

• *Hard Money Loan Roulette. Part 4: Top 15 Hard Money Loan Funds for 2018 (And Honors)

Related:
 

How to pick? Check out our step-by-step guide.
 

• The quick guide to picking conservative real-estate deals
   

• Top 100+ accredited investor sites (ranked and reviewed)