Housers

Housers Review

Housers was the first platform that I started using, in September of 2016. Since then, I have invested in all the available opportunities except for a couple I missed. Today is by far the platform in which I have the most volume invested. My portfolio in Housers is currently quite mature, so I have stopped increasing my positions and only reinvest the benefits plus principal of the projects that are maturing/refunded. Check my portfolio analysis for the latest updates.

• Platform Type: Real Estate Crowdfunding.
• Start: 2015, Spain.
• Modalities: It is the most diversified of all real estate platforms. You can invest in opportunities of 1) Savings (renew-rent-sell, with a term of 24 to 60 months usually); 2) Investment (rehabilitation / construction and sale, one year normally); or 3) Fixed rate (loans to promoters for new construction, one year mostly). They have also offered a few opportunities to invest in art or in Green (sustainable) projects. Housers awards a risk level to each project ranging from A to F (saving < investment < fixed rate). As expected, with higher risk, higher profitability.
• A new feature since July 2019 are the Flex Contracts, which only apply to development loan opportunities, specifically for the investment as well as promotion modality. The Flex Contract has a duration of 12 months that can be expanded up to 6 months more. These contracts will be available in some projects that will be published on the platform, starting from the 1st of July 2019. The Flex type of contract has been created in order to give more flexibility to those projects that can risk being subjected to delays, mostly due to reasons that don’t directly depend from the project developer, e.g. delays in the licenses’ assignation from the City Councils or to delays in the construction for reasons that are not directly connected to the developer. Therefore, the Flex contracts give more flexibility to project developers, enabling them to ask for an additional period of 6 months. However, the contract’s extension has a benefit for the investor as well: when a project is prolonged, the investors will benefit from an increase in their yields. In addition, the funds will be paid 6 months later compared to when they had to be paid originally.
• Geographic focus: In Spain, with some opportunities also outside (around 10-15%) in Italy and Portugal. Around 50% of all opportunities are in Madrid.
• Currencies: EUR.
• Return rates: It can take over a year to reach the maximum profitability of the platform. Effective return rates per project, except for fixed rate loans, can deviate significantly from the advertized returns at the time of marketing the project. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Sometimes, there are promotions that can increase profitability during some periods or for some projects that take longer to sell. Obviously, in rental opportunities, the bulk of profitability comes at the time of sale. In addition, rental projects usually come with InstantRent, which means that you receive income from the first month, before the property is rented. In February 2019, Housers launched an excellent promotion: Housers Private Investment. This is a service for those who have completed a minimum investment of € 10,000 on opportunities for sale. Includes access to a manager, attending events … But by far the biggest advantage is the discounted fees (up to 100% for 24 months!): 1) SELECT (10,000 € – 50% off commissions for 12 months); 2) PRIVATE (20,000 € – 100% discount for 12 months); and 3) WEALTH ( 50,000 € – 100% for 24 months). Considering that the commissions of Housers account for 10% of the profits, this is an important feature.
• EARLYIELD is a new functionality launched in July 2019 that will be applied to all on-sale projects. It means that from the moment you make your investment in any of the opportunities, you will get an annual return of 10% until the moment the project is financed.
• Investment flow / Cash Drag: Quite active. About 60 opportunities per year (5 per month).
• Minimum investment (per loan): 50 EUR
• Payment modality: Interests (or rent) are paid every month, meaning that one doesn’t have to wait until the maturity of the project to start seeing some returns (except for renewal-sale opportunities in which all benefits are obtained at the end).
• Terms: On paper, almost all projects are for one year, except those for rent that can be up to 60 months. The terms in the non-fixed opportunities (those of renovation-sale and renovation-rental-sale), at least for the time being, are usually finishing in advance: those for renewal-sale sell in nine months (compared to the 12 months advertized) . It is still early to evaluate the rental projects, although there are already four that have sold well before what was initially estimated.
• Defaults: Housers calls the risk of default rate of incidence. You can check the updated default rates and delays for all the platforms in my last portfolio analysis.
• Buyback: None, like for other real estate crowdfunding platforms.
• AutoInvest: There is no AutoInvest (manual only). The opportunities are slow to be financed within 2-4 weeks, so by visiting the page once a week or so, you should not miss any.
• Secondary market: In August, Housers launched a new direct communication channel (DCC), which is basically the secondary market where one can buy and sell shares. It’s a bit cumbersome having to register manually for each project one by one (122 in my case!). The good news is that now it’s allowed to sell at discount or premium. More information (in Spanish) here.
• Interface / Tools: All the information you need. Diversification index, graphics on investments and benefits, estimated revenues over the next twelve months, map with the distribution of cities, investments per city, etc.
• Taxes: They withhold taxes, also from non-residents.
• Customer Support: They have answered every question I’ve had within 24 hours, always satisfactorily and professionally.
• Languages: Spanish, English and Italian.
• Welcome promotion: 25 Euros gift using this link.