This being baseball season, a baseball metaphor seems apt to describe the stunning year-long rise of real estate crowdfunding: dramatic growth aside, we are still in the bottom half of the first inning. Crowdfunding is much like old-style syndication, but with the turbo engine of the Internet behind it.

What’s the outlook for the economy and for interest rates for the rest of the year? Steady as she goes, as long as the Federal Reserve makes no sudden drastic changes to its monetary policy. Rates are likely to rise moderately over the next 18 months to two years, with steadily improving employment and a gradual pickup in inflation. That’s how JLL sees it, as the company recounted earlier this year in its “Interest Rate and Cap Rate Perspective” report.

Senior housing has been a hot topic and a strong commercial real estate investment class for several years. According to Real Capital Analytics, senior housing and care facilities year-over-year sales volume increased by 30 percent in the second quarter of 2014. This asset class encompasses various niches; it is no longer just your grandparents’ nursing home or your parents’ 55+ community.