CrowdEstate

CrowdEstate Review

I started using CrowdEstate in March 2018. Some payments are delayed, but end up getting paid (plus the corresponding compensation for the delay). About half of my portfolio are projects that are paid in full at the end (bullet), which implies that it takes several months for the return rates to reach its peak. I have invested in each of the projects offered. At first, I invested 200 EUR per chance, but soon changed to the minimum allowed per project (100 EUR). My strategy is to continue investing in each new project.

In February 2019, CrowdEstate reached 28,200 investors, 140 projects, 58 million raised and a 19.2% historical return.

• Platform Type: Real Estate Crowdfunding.
• Start: 2015, Estonia.
• Modalities: fixed rate. Projects are loans for real estate projects of various types. Some are funded in multiple stages over several months.
• Geographic focus: Estonia, Latvia, Italy and Romania.
• Currencies: Euro
• Return rates: In my case, between 11 and 19% for a 14.1% average.
• Investment flow / Cash Drag: Medium activity (about 6 projects per month on average).
• Minimum investment (per loan): 100 EUR.
• Payment modality: About half of the projects are paid at the maturity of the loan, while the other half generates interests every month.
• Terms: Projects of 3 months to two years.
• Defaults: No default since the platform started trading in 2015, although there are several delays. On the platform, payments that have been late for 1-90 days appear in yellow, and 90+ days in red. You can check the updated default rate for all platforms on my last portfolio analysis.
• Buyback: None, like for other real estate crowdfunding platforms.
• AutoInvest: The AutoInvest allows you to choose the type of project (depending on several characteristics), the amount to invest, the duration and return rate. A new feature that has been recently added to the AutoInvest is the possibility of investing (or not) in projects that are financed in several stages or tiers (“Multiple investing rounds”). I have decided not to invest in second rounds, as I think it goes against my principles of diversification. Basically it would be like investing several times in the same project. If you do not use AutoInvest, it is easy to miss the opportunities because they are financed quite fast. The platform sends an email every time an opportunity comes up.
• Secondary market: Yes. As of May 4, 2020, all transactions on the secondary market will be subject to a 2% transaction fee.
• Interface / Tools: Quite complete. You can access graphs that show you how you’ve been investing over time, interest earned and (very interesting) those that will generate over the next three months. You can download reports in pdf format, but not in Excel or CSV. And neither can you download the list of projects and their characteristics.
• Taxes: It doesn’t withhold taxes.
• Customer Support: Excellent, through a chat on their website, so you get a reply within minutes.
• Languages: English, Estonian, Russian, German, Italian and Romanian.
• Welcome promotion: None.