Bulkestate Review
I started using Bulkestate in March 2018. Since then, I have invested in all the opportunities that have been offered. As all are long-term investments paid in full upon completion of the project (bullet), it takes almost a year (9 months in my case) before you start seeing results. This is reflected in the IRR, which takes its time before reaching the returns announced by the platform (over 13%), provided that the historical rate of defaults remains at 0%. Unfortunately, the platform is not too active, with only one new project per month. My strategy is to continue investing in each new project. See also my last portfolio analysis for the latest updates.
- Platform Type: Real Estate Crowdfunding.
- Start: 2016, Latvia.
- Modalities: Fixed rate. Projects are loans for real estate projects of various types.
- Geographic focus: Baltics States – Latvia.
- Currencies: EUR.
- Return rates: Always above 12% and up to 18%. Return rates and terms are fixed, agreed in advance. Since payments take place at the end of each project (bullet payments), it takes several months to start seeing results. In my case, profitability remained at 0% for eight months.
- Investment flow / Cash Drag: Not too active (about 2.5 per month).
- Minimum investment (per loan): 50 EUR.
- Payment modality: Interest is paid at maturity of the loan (full bullet).
- Terms: Projects are usually one year long.
- Defaults: No default since the platform started operating in 2016. You can check the current default rate on my last portfolio analysis.
- Buyback: None, like for other real estate crowdfunding platforms.
- AutoInvest: Its AutoInvest allows you to choose how much to invest, duration and interest rate. If you don’t use it, there is usually enough time to invest manually in every opportunity, as it takes several days to be 100% financed. The platform sends an email whenever a new project is offered.
- Secondary market: Doesn’t exist.
- Interface / Tools: In February 2020, Bulkestate completely revamped the interface, adding several really useful tools and graphs:
- Tax reports: A tool to create an overview of your income, investments, interests and withdrawals for any period of time.
- Investment summary: Shows a detailed overview of your active and past investments.
- Repayment schedule: Easy to track and export planned repayments.
- Investment planner: Calculate your potential profit according to Bulkestate’s average interest rate.
- Taxes: It doesn’t withhold taxes.
- Customer Support: The only time I’ve contacted them, they responded within 24 hours.
- Languages: English, German and Russian.
- Welcome Bonus: None.