Hang on. Are you claiming the real estate market's collapse wouldn't have affected stuff like Realtyshares? How so?
REITs got crushed because the underlying real estate got crushed. As did the rest of the economy.
Some impact sure, but let's take an average Fundrise investment. They buy an apartment complex for $20 million and it is at 90% occupancy. They plan to sell it after holding for 10 yrs. If the market was terrible at that time they could hold it a bit longer, and in the interim it is still at 90% occupancy and generating income.
The big difference is you get to choose to sell or not with a REIT but not with Fundrise.
(not to mention occupancy and rental rates are affected during a housing crash)