ATLANTA—Alternative financing started gaining momentum in the capital markets crunch after the Great Recession. However, these models—such as mezzanine financing EB-5 capital, of course, crowdfunding—are coming into their own. Crowdfunding officially qualifies as a bona fide industry buzzword.

Allen Shayanfekr, CEO of Sharestates, an online crowdfunding platforms, tells GlobeSt.com the the impetus for crowd funding, more generally, was twofold. “First, to provide more widespread access to capital for entrepreneurs who needed capital, but couldn't raise much money or couldn't afford the expensive legal fees associated with putting together private placements,” he says. “Second, to give investors an opportunity to get into companies at the ground floor, rather than when they're already massive and much of the upside is already gone.”

Steven Fischler, founder and principal of New Gables Capital, a real estate private lending company, predicts alternative lending is going to continue to become more and more prevalent in the commercial real estate industry. That's because with banks constantly being put under harsher regulations, and the new regulations that kicked in at the end of 2015 for CMBS, there is a definite void in the market.