BulkEstate's overview
BulkEstate features only real-estate projects. Interest rates typically vary from 14% to 17% (recent projects were more speculative than early ones); interests are repaid in full at the end of the loan, at the same time as the capital.
My opinion on BulkEstate
BulkEstate is a nice complement to real-estate crowdfunding leader CrowdEstate. The featured projects offer a good risk/reward ratio for investors who don’t want to invest in the more speculative real-estate projects offered by other competitors such as Envestio.
Detailed ratings
Interests rate
The large range of interest rates will appeal to most investors’ profiles, from conservative to speculative.
Loans liquidity
There are few loans available, with large amounts
Reporting
Reporting is very basic
Buyback guarantee
No buyback is available for now
Platform ergonomics
Readability and translations could be improved
BulkEstate's pros and cons
Pros
- Opportunity to diversify your portfolio by investing in low-risk real-estate projects
Cons
- Limited amount of projects
- Low interest rates compared to competitors
Loans characteristics
Loans duration
Around 1 year
Loans kind
Real-estate
Minimal investment
€50
Buyback
NO buyback guarantee available
Currencies
Euro
Real-estate loans
Interest rates are usually between 14% and 17% for a duration of one year or less. There are usually only a few investment opportunities at the same time, with a large amount to invest in.
It’s more or less the same situation as with Grupeer loans; you don’t have to check BulkEstate‘s website everyday !
One important difference with P2P lending sites is that both principal and accrued interests are repaid at the loan repayment date; there’s no monthly interest repayment.
The minimum investment is 50€, which is higher than for personal loans for example but rather common in real-estate financing.
The website provides a basic description provided for each project; compared to CrowdEstate, BulkEstate could provide further details. The SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Threat/Opportunities) matrix, repayment schedule, company rating and risk profile comparison found at CrowdEstate would be welcome additions !
Buyback guarantee
The loans are not guaranteed. However, the value of the properties the loan is invested in helps mitigate the risks.
Platform features
Secondary market
NO secondary market available
Auto-invest
Auto-invest available
Secondary market
There’s currently no secondary market. BulkEstate is supposedly working on it, but didn’t provide any timeline.
Auto-invest feature
Opportunity to use auto-invest was added in April 2018. It’s really easy to configure it; the required inputs are maximum investment amount, minimum return and maximum term. Note that thanks to the small number of available projects, it’s still very easy to invest manually.
Website's ease of use
Languages
Funding methods
Account funding
Initially, investors didn’t have the opportunity to fund their account; money had to be wired at time of investment. This could cause troubles if the transfer took too long, and was overall bothersome. Fortunately, an upgrade introduced the opportunity to send funds ahead of time, like most competitors allow.
Website's design and ergonomics
I was initially not very satisfied with the usability of BulkEstate‘s website. However, things have improved and it’s much more pleasant to use now.
Reporting
The investments list is extremely basic, providing very little details. The expected revenues are displayed, but there’s no graph for the planned cash-flow.
On the other hand, the low number of loans and basic repayment structure partially compensate this lack of details.
Who can invest
Any company or any person over the age of 18 can invest in any of the active investment opportunities on the BulkEstate platform. (BulkEstate FAQ)
Actual performance of my BulkEstate portfolio
As my investments don’t yield interests monthly, it’s too early for me to compute an XIRR.
BulkEstate's competitors
Hello,
I find it very profitable real estate platform, however it lacks some features (reports, etc) in the platform as you mentioned. The volume of loans is very small, I think they do not generate any profit at least until now, they should increase it. One more thing, are you sure it is not backed by real estate collateral? I got the answer from them half a year ago.
Do I understand it right that you offer only mortgage backed loans? Who is responsible for collecting default loans? Did you have any default loans yet?
Yes, we only provide loans, if these are secured by a real estate mortgage. All investment projects are carefully selected before made available to our investors. Every Bulkestate deal goes through a rigorous and consistent evaluation process by Investment committee, which is a team of highly experienced real-estate, investment and finance experts. Bulksestate’s partner in evaluation process is BDO – an international network of public accounting, tax and advisory firms.
Bulkestate holds all mortgages and executes them if loans are defaulted. Luckily, we have not encountered any defaults. Procedures will depend on situation. If there will be problems to repay the loan, we will work very closely with the debtor to understand the situation and find the best option for all stakeholders. In most cases, we will aim to achieve a negotiation solution and avoid direct take-over of properties, but that will be done only if necessary.