[Advertisement feature by British Pearl]
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In a climate of low interest rates and economic uncertainty, it isn’t always feasible for investors to navigate the inherently complex and opaque property investment market. A traditional venture into the property market would require a robust understanding of the space, and a hefty deposit.
FCA regulated property investment platform British Pearl seeks to rectify this by granting the average investor access to otherwise unattainable investments with both efficiency and flexibility. The platform’s leading steps in the property investment space are three-fold:
Rigorous due diligence
British Pearl’s competitive edge over other players in the market is due to its rigorous legal and financial due diligence processes. Its team is comprised of dedicated professionals with experience across the property, finance, law and technology fields, working to ensure that every investment on the platform is thoroughly vetted. All potential purchases are assessed around strict criteria including income, capital growth, condition, location, curb appeal and a number of others. The British Pearl property team effectively sources only the highest quality, income-producing investments, thereby freeing users of the headache and stress associated with investment management.
Strategic investment modelling
British Pearl has undertaken full responsibility for building its internal infrastructure and technology. This not only eliminates the need for third party contracting (thus reducing variable costs and boosting profit margins) but enhances the company’s ability to successfully adapt and compete within an increasingly saturated industry. Every investment that passes the initial screening process is comprehensively modelled at both income and capital levels, so that customers can visualize prospective returns over the entire investment term (usually three or five years). These models are designed cautiously to demonstrate realistic and achievable returns for customers, and encourage a longer-term perspective on property investment. Better yet, the extensive financial modelling, legal review and asset research that is carried out on each investment is summarized and available for users to reference on the site. These are then cash purchased using an underwriting vehicle, further demonstrating British Pearl’s backing of each investment, before being offered to customers as share and secured loan investments.
Risk mitigation
Many of British Pearl’s competitors offer only shares or loans rather than both. British Pearl enables investors control of their risk exposure by allowing them to customise their property exposure and any income or capital security needs. While many competitors operate in the peer-to-peer (‘P2P’) marketplace, British Pearl is significantly different. Rather than acting as a P2P intermediary, British Pearl’s business model serves to effectively reduce risk for its investors. Investments listed on the platform are independent limited companies (or special purpose vehicles) that hold the properties managed by British Pearl as an FCA regulated Alternative Investment Manager. British Pearl sources, secures and manages all of these properties on behalf of its customers. Investors can gain comfort knowing that British Pearl is aligned with their interests of building a long-term relationship rather than a one-off transaction as an intermediary. Loan investors are exposed to the credit and counterparty risk of the vehicle. This process essentially removes any middle men such as property developers on the receiving side of the funds. British Pearl’s loan investors hold a first charge over the property in the same way that a mortgage provider would which ensures that lenders are first in line to be paid out by the SPV.
Since launching just a few months ago, British Pearl has gained over 1,600 users, has secured £4.6M of equity funding and has access to a £2M underwriting vehicle to purchase investments. The platform has nominated for 7 industry awards including Placetech, MIPIM Proptech Europe, UK Prop Tech, Resi Trailblazers and a listing in the top 100 UK FinTech companies by Her Majesty’s Treasury.
To find out more, visit British Pearl’s campaign here.
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