Housers.com is a real estate crowdfunding company. It was founded on April 27, 2015, in Spain, by Alvaro Luna of Madrid and Tono Brusola of Valencia. Through its online platform, investors choose where, when, and how much to invest into Spanish real estate opportunities recommended by experts.
Video Housers
History
In 2008, the Spanish real estate bubble popped, and prices dropped by some 40%. Prices eventually began to level out again in 2014.
Around that time, Luna and Brusola began looking for investment opportunities. However, at this time, foreign investors dominated Spanish commercial real estate opportunities. Of the EUR 10.2 billion invested in Spanish commercial real estate in 2014, half came from foreign investors. This made it more difficult for smaller, local investors to get into the market. Luna and Brusola found that most of their investors were able to contribute only a small amount. "We said, 'To do this we really should have a crowdfunding site. How weird that there isn't one,'" recalled Brusola in a 2015 article.
Housers' first two investment opportunities - offered the week the company opened - were an apartment in Madrid and a storefront in Valencia. Crowdfunders were required to invest at least EUR 500 to participate.
In September 2015, Housers acquired its first apartment. This was the first real estate purchase in Spain ever to be purchased entirely through crowdfunding. 49 crowdfunders bought the apartment for a total of EUR 62,000, an average of about EUR 1,265 ($1,427) each. They spent an additional EUR 80,500 (about USD EUR 1,642 each) for taxes and renovations. The crowdfunders planned to rent the apartment for EUR 450 per month, splitting profits based on investments. Housers anticipated a total gross return of 67.8%, or EUR 33,123, over five years, on this first property.
Maps Housers
Growth
Since its inception in 2015, Housers has grown to employ 42 individuals in nine different departments. Though created and based in Madrid, there is now a Housers Italy in Milano.
A 2015 article credited Housers with "helping to get the Spanish real estate market back on its feet, using crowdfunding from everyday people."
In 2017, Housers became the first real estate crowdfunding company in Spain to be authorized by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), a government regulating agency similar to the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission.
Services
Housers handles the legal and administrative aspects of investment and advertises that "you can make the most of your money from your home's sofa." One review summarized the business thusly: "From as little as EUR 50, Housers crowdfunding platform can create and manage your own property portfolio - with 'interesting' results."
Investors' contributions are safeguarded by a private financial institution, and can be withdrawn at any time.
As of May 2017, Housers had about 43,000 crowdfunders. About 65% of these investors decide to diversify their investments by contributing to other Housers projects.
Properties
Since its inception, Housers has raised almost 23 million euros for collective financing of 92 properties:
- 73 in Madrid
- 9 in Barcelona
- 7 in Valencia
- 2 in Palma de Mallorca
- 1 in Marbella
Housers "expects to exceed 160,000 users and reach 90 million euros of collective financing for the acquisition of 300 properties in Spain, for subsequent rental and sale," according to one article.
Opportunities
Housers offers three types of crowdfunding opportunities:
Investment opportunities
When crowdfunders raise the sale price for the property, they buy it. They must keep their investment until the sale price is raised and the property is sold. When they sell the property, each of the crowdfunders gets their investment back.
Saving opportunities
Crowdfunders each buy a portion of the property and get a monthly income check. The property is not sold right away. It also does not have a fixed sale price. Instead, it is treated as a longer source of savings income. The crowdfunders decide when they want to sell the property.
Sales opportunities
Crowdfunders purchase social shares of the real estate company investing in the property. They must keep their investment until the sale price is raised and the property is sold. Once the property is sold, the crowdfunders get a share back.
Incentives
Accessibility
Proponents of crowdfunding say that it "evens the playing field and offers regular people a ticket to a profitable investment class from which they were once barred." Rodrigo Niño, a Columbian developer who developed one of the first real estate crowdfunding projects, described the benefits thusly:
Economic market
Many of Housers' properties are in Barcelona and Madrid, which have been described as "key investment hubs." Barcelona, in particular, was a hotspot of real estate investment during 2016.
A 2015 guide explains Spain's unique advantages to investors:
Additionally, as of 2015, the Spanish market featured both "rock-bottom prices" and strong economic growth potential, making it a promising environment for real estate crowdfunding.
Returns
Brusola claims that some of Housers' properties return a 60% - 70% investment over four years: "These are small but very profitable deals."
Requirements
Crowdfunders must have both:
- A monthly income to invest; and
- A real asset to use as collateral.
There is no cost to join Housers and no membership fee, though investors do pay a 12.5% fee on the profits they earn. Membership is open to any individual of legal age, either from Spain or a foreign country; and to legal entities registered in Spain.
Participants must invest at least EUR 50 per investment opportunity. Most participants can invest as much as they choose in a given opportunity. The organization's "accredited investors" - their wealthiest, most aggressive investors - may spend no more than EUR 3,000 per project, or EUR 10,000 in 12 months.
Criticisms
Real estate crowdfunding has its critics. For example, real estate developer Lane Auten opines:
When Housers performed an equity raise via Crowdcube in 2017, multiple investors draw criticism to the company's valuation suggesting that it was too high.
External links
- Housers: Funding and organizational details
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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