Connecting With Our Community
Even though the pandemic seems to be gradually receding from view, the impact of both the virus and the current situation in Ukraine continues to affect the overall inflation rate and the surrounding economic environment. We hope that things will stabilize over the coming months and we’ll be watching how things play out very carefully.
One silver lining is that as the pandemic-related restrictions start to lift, we are excited to start participating in live events once again, and hopefully, we will have a chance to meet some of you in person at these events.
Two major events are coming up soon include:
- Finfellas Real Estate Lending Event from 29-31 March; and
- Invest 2022 from 20-21 May in Germany.
Both of these events are opportunities for us to connect with our community again and re-engage with our stakeholders who have been mere faces on a screen for far too long.
Speaking of connection, our CEO Igors recently participated on the Mastermind Podcast where he went into more detail about Bulkestate’s 5-year journey and the future real estate crowdfunding. You can check out that episode here.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that we ran our cash-back campaign throughout February and investors had a chance to earn an extra 1% for their investments of above €1000 or, if they had not participated in any deals just yet, on their first investment.
Object Updates
February saw investments slow slightly compared to the prior month, but the funding still reached €437,000 for the month. Here are some of the key updates on objects that are currently in progress:
Raņķa Dambis
The renovation of the façade is proceeding according to plans and work on the second stage has already been started. The wiring job is also well on its way with more than half of the required work having been completed.
With regard to the interior work, we are awaiting final clarification on some of the questions for tender evaluation and then that will move forward. The project for central heating has also been developed and submitted.
The reservation process has already started in March and we saw great interest from clients. To further increase the reservation speed, we have partnered with Latio, which is one of the leading full-service real estate company.
Ģertrūdes Street
This is our second high-ticket project so far and it’s moving along smoothly in line with the plan that we had set out. Soon, all tenants will have left the premises and we can get started. The legal issues are currently being coordinated and we are more than confident about the success of this particular project, because the reservation process has already started.
Amālijas Street
Since our last update, two demo apartments and demo staircases have been prepared – which will be a significant advantage for further prospecting of the units. Most apartments have risers and the doors are currently being installed. In addition, most of the apartments are prepared for parquet installation as well as various interior finishing works. The roofing and insulation will be completed soon and plans have been approved for the third floor where the ceiling is already being built. 66% of the apartments are already reserved which bodes well for the success of this object.
Delays
Many of our projects are still catching up from the previous pandemic-related delays and some of the sales have started later than we expected. We are in constant communication with all the borrowers that have delayed payments and will continue to follow up in an attempt to speed things up wherever possible.
It’s important to know that each development project is carefully monitored by the Bulkestate team on the spot of the construction site. We deal with each situation individually to choose the best possible method of recovering the loan and accrued interest, with some of the loans being prolonged to maintain the interest rate for investors.
Only as a last resort will we look to a legal process because of the extremely unpredictable circumstances that play out in these situations. When you process the case with the help of the sworn bailiffs you really don’t know what the terms of the repayment will be. If there are no options for the borrower to repay the loan, then that property will serve as collateral for a particular loan that is auctioned off. We want to avoid this wherever possible and so, as our investors already know, we are looking for quicker and safer options as our first point of call.
Summary
All in all, it was a good month with lots of moving pieces across our various objects. We continue to work as hard as we can to return our projects to pre-pandemic normality and we hope to see steps in that direction in the months to come. Thanks again for your support and we hope to see you at a live event soon!