Apt. 306, The Club at Bay Harbor

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Bricksave?

  Bricksave is an online investment platform for real estate, more commonly known as a Crowdfunding platform. Bricksave gives investors the ability to:

  • Browse investment offerings based on investment preferences including location, asset type, risk and return profile;
  • Transact entirely online, including digital legal documentation, funds transfer, and ownership recordation;
  • Bricksave’s crowdfunding is set up in such a way to give smaller investors access to large real estate assets. Investment opportunities are offered through our online platform.
  • As a company we have teamed up with reputable developers, operators, and other institutional partners, in an effort to maximize value for each real estate investment.
  • After investors contribute funds to a project, their contributions are held in a third-party escrow bank account until Bricksave notifies the third-party escrow agent that the Property has been fully funded and that we are ready to close the purchase. Once this is done, funds are released from escrow and invested into the project. The details of the projects, escrow arrangements and other important disclosures are found in the offering documents for each investment so that investors know how and when the deal is closed and their capital is being transferred.
• How are the investments structured?

  Your investment in a property on the platform is made via the purchase of shares in a registered Company that is created for the sole purpose of purchasing the designated property.

  There is a different Project LLC. for each and every property; therefore you will always know that you are investing in the exact property as chosen by you.

   

  Nominee arrangement

  Your shares are held under a nominee arrangement, with the nominee being the legal shareholder of the relevant project LLC (The nominee is a Company owned solely by Bricksave). The nominee holds those shares on your behalf and you will be entitled to all the economic benefits as the ultimate beneficial owner. The purpose of this arrangement is to allow the electronic transfer of shares and for ease of administering operations as set out in the management contract.

   

  Property purchase costs

  As with buying property directly, purchase costs such as stamp duty, solicitor’s fees and survey costs are incurred. We include the unamortised amount within the estimated valuation of investments

   

  Standard investment documents

  At the point of investment you will be required to enter a set of investment documents. These are standard form for each investment and come as a share certificate showing the percentage of the building you own. Should you wish to not receive hard copies of these documents there is an option to only access these via your dashboard.

• How do I earn an income?

  You beneficially own a portion of the individual property via the specific property LLC. Your account will be credited with a share of the dividends from the Company every month; this is in direct proportion to your ownership of the Company that owns the property.

  The Dividends available to property investors are calculated as the Gross Rent collected from tenants, minus property-related costs incurred such as lettings and management fees, insurance, maintenance and corporation tax of the LLC. Under no circumstances will you be required to contribute further capital, e.g. during vacant periods or to cover defaults.

  Estimates of future Dividends will be provided to you prior to you making an investment. These estimates are based on consultation with third parties, such as local estate agents and surveyors. We then apply estimates for void periods, on-going maintenance, and any other costs we envisage. Our estimates are available for review as part of the investment process. However it is important to note that this information is based on estimates and Bricksave does not provide investment advice in this regard. It may be that lower Gross Rents are secured and/or higher costs incurred.

• When will Dividends be paid?

  The assistance of a neutral third party is necessary in order to secure the investments and the management of the properties. The legal necessity of a trustee facilitates the transparency given that it needs authorisation to act in any given way.

  The trustee is the entity in charge of saving the money until the required amount to buy the property is raised. Once the money is gathered, the trustee buys the real estate asset.

• Will I need to put in further capital?

  No, investors will not have to contribute further capital. All costs including bills and fees are funded from the Gross Rent. The risks of most large unexpected costs, such as flood or fire, are mitigated through property insurance.

  We also forecast certain costs, such as upcoming roof maintenance, and either (i) raise a works provision during the initial Crowdfunding when the property is a New Listing or (ii) set aside a certain amount of the Gross Rent to deal with these costs as and when they arise. We make all of this information available to investors at the point of investment. If further information relating to costs becomes available later, we will communicate this clearly via our website so that all Investors (current and prospective) are aware.

  It is possible that a cost is incurred that is larger than Gross Rent, and may be unexpected and also uninsured. In such a scenario Bricksave reserves the right to take out a loan which is secured against the property, to fund the expenditure. That loan is repaid from Gross Rent, and this impacts the investors’ returns accordingly. If this situation were to occur, the matter would be communicated clearly to existing and prospective investors alike in a clear, fair and transparent manner.

• How do I exit my investment?

  Capital appreciation or depreciation is realized when you exit your investment. There are two principle ways to exit:

  1) Offer your investment for sale privately. If you wish to exit your investment then we would ask you to contact Bricksave directly, although we do not guarantee to find a buyer or facilitate your exit from the investment, until the Bricksave secondary market is live, we will try to assist you in this.

  Otherwise your opportunity to exit is limited to;

  2) Exit after four years at market value

  On each fourth anniversary of the completion of the transaction on the platform, Bricksave will put the property on the market for sale under the following conditions:

  (i) The property is inspected and valued by an independent Chartered Surveyor with reference to factors such as recent transactions and the condition of the property, adjusted for any potential liabilities that the LLC may have, such as taxation.

  (ii) Once the property sale has completed investors will receive the dividend relevant to their share in the property.

  Bricksave will administer this process and is obliged to act in the interests of investors to maximise financial return. On successful completion of the sale, all Investors in that property will be exited and net proceeds will be distributed to investors. Note that third party costs, such as legal fees, will reduce the proceeds available for distribution to investors, but Bricksave will not charge any fees or make any profit margin on the third party fees.

  It should be noted that this process will take as long as required and typically the sales process is between 3-4 months. However, there is no guarantee of this as the sale could take longer.

The Team

Tom de Lucy, CEO

Tom has 8 years of experience in business development with a focus on real estate & technology firms, including rolling out an international property portal in Latin America and commercial property portal in the United Kingdom. He is Co-Founder of 2 start-ups.

Sofia Gancedo, COO

Sofia has over 15 years' experience with internet start-ups, online marketing research and the real estate market. She is Co-Founder of Dinero Mail, the largest online payment platform in Latin America.

Marie Buffiere, CFO

Marie has 12 years' of international finance experience in multinationals in London, Paris, Sydney and Buenos Aires. Marie has spent the last 3 years working with successful start-ups and digital technology companies.

Stephanie Bouchet, CMO

Stephanie is a marketing connoisseur with over 16 years’ experience working with blue chip corporations in the telecoms (British Telecom) and entertainment (Warner Bros) industries. 10 of these years were spent working with successful start-ups (Skype) in the areas of digital, real-estate Fintech and e-commerce.

Rodrigo Andrade, Investor Relations - Brazil

Rodrigo trained as a lawyer before moving into the investment world where he now works as a financial and patrimonial consultant for international businesses, investors and institutions. Rodrigo is currently running Bricksave's investor sales and relations in Brazil.

Africa Rodriguez, Operations - Argentina

Africa has extensive experience in administration, accounting and customer relations in the past. She worked for a number of law firms, real estate companies and charities worldwide.

What exactly is Real Estate Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a system in which people collectively network and pool their funds in an effort to raise money for a project or organisation, usually via the internet. The idea behind Crowdfunding is simple: like-minded people can group together small amounts of money enabling them to invest into larger, previously unattainable projects, and when they do, large sums of money can be raised quickly.

Real Estate Crowdfunding allows money to be collectively raised from many investors and used to fund the purchase/construction of a property. Each investor owns a percentage of the property in proportion to their initial investment. The benefits are clear to both the real estate market and investors. Capital for projects can be raised quickly and investors can get access to the real estate market with small amounts of money.

Bricksave allows investors to collectively buy the property on a buy-to-let basis (with Bricksave doing all the legwork and legal organisation), and then collect a proportional share of the rental income, as well as a share of the capital gains once the property is sold after four years.

The Bricksave Advantage

• Deep Focus - we leverage our extensive network in the global real estate market to locate the best properties for investment with a focus on achieving the highest yield returns at the lowest possible risk for our crowdfunding investors.

• Due Diligence - utilising our management team’s expertise, Bricksave completes a thorough audit of the property and physically visits the location to evaluate the market value, location, quality, etc.

• Ongoing Management - all administration in regards to fees, recurring insurance, maintenance, etc. are taken care of by Bricksave, allowing investors a hassle-free, great value investment.