Renren moves into property crowdfunding

Another crucial factor that may hamper the company's expansion in China might be the rise of various investment alternatives that might undercut real estate crowdfunding's appeal.

Unlike a few years ago, when Chinese investors could deposit their savings only in banks or put money into the stock market or the property market, investors are now spoiled for choice, notably the peer-to-peer lending websites. Those operate in a similar manner to Fundrise, except the money flows into a variety of businesses, not just real estate.

As of the end of March, there were 1,728 Chinese P2P companies with outstanding loans of 151.8 billion yuan ($24.48 billion), according to data from Wangdaizhijia, a portal that provides Internet lending information.

Building trust in a foreign market is another daunting challenge. Benjamin Miller admitted that even in the US, it took three to four years to get the business on track.

Still, it is not impossible for the business to find a niche in China. Liu Ying, an economics professor at Tsinghua University who studies Internet entrepreneurs, said wealthy Chinese who have businesses in both China and the US may find websites like Fundrise appealing, as such investments help them to diversify their portfolios and hedge domestic risk.