Crowdfunding is attracting quite the crowd when it comes to real estate investing.

Last year, real estate crowdfunding grew 156 percent to cross the $1 billion mark. This year, it is forecast to grow 2.5 times that to $2.57 billion, making it one of the fastest growing industry segments of crowd capitalism, according to industry research firm Massolution. In 2014, real estate campaigns ranged in size from less than $100,000 to more than $25 million. North America ranked as the largest region by funding volume, grabbing a 56 percent market share.

Since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act in 2012, a number of crowdfunding platforms have emerged that allow accredited investors to pool their resources to buy or finance commercial and residential real estate deals. Some platforms allow nonaccredited investors to take part in deals that are less than $5 million.

This has opened the doors to real estate opportunities that were previously marke