EstateGuru Review 2020

EstateGuru was started back in 2013 when a group of experts in the fintech and real estate spaces came together in Estonia and came up with the idea to make it much easier for the everyday persons to be able to invest in secured property loans. For years, these types of investments were mainly only for the ultra-wealthy. Since then, the platform has been growing year-on-year, bringing conservative investment opportunities to the table for its investors.

The main focus is on the European real estate market, particularly for shorter-term loans that are backed by properties. Tens of thousands of investors have joined up to the EstateGuru site over the years and have invested in loans, most of which range from 12 months to 18 months in length.

This EstateGuru review will look at all of the different features of the EstateGuru offering. This will give you a good insight as to what you can expect if you sign up to the site.

There are no fees charged on investor funds on EstateGuru, only charges fees on the borrowers. This is ideal as you can then maximize the amount of money you get returned after investing in a loan.

The EstateGuru offering is a bit more conservative than a lot of similar platforms, so if you are looking to take on more risk for the chance to get a bigger return, EstateGuru may not be for you.

One of the big standout features of being an investor on the EstateGuru platform is that you will not be charged any fees for investing in a loan. The way in which EstateGuru makes its money is through charging the borrower a fee of 3-4% on their borrowed sums.

If you are using the secondary market to sell a position you have in a given loan, there will be a 2% fee charged for doing so.

To get started with EstateGuru, you will need to set up your account on the platform. This is a quick process, requiring you to provide some form of proof of ID, as well as giving your bank account details. These documents will be verified to ensure that they are legit and you can then proceed. You can then add funds to your EstateGuru account, doing so with as little as €50, with no limit on how much you can deposit. For larger sums, EstateGuru may ask you to verify the source of these funds.

You can then start looking at all of the different property loans on the platform. Each property has an in-depth information offering. If you do not want to go into that much detail, there is a feature that allows you to auto-invest. There will be a financing round taking place for a given property over the course of a week or two. If you commit funds to a project that is not fully funded, this money will then be returned to your account. If the project is fully funded, then your funds will be released after the borrower's loan application has been fully processed.

Over the course of the loan, repayments will be made by the borrower on the principal, as well as the interest payments. All of these repayments can be monitored by investors through the dashboard. As soon as the loan is completely repaid, your funds will then be sent to your EstateGuru account. You can then take them out of your account or invest in another project.

The average return on EstateGuru investments historically has been 11.88% according to the website. These returns are for the main types of short-term loan products that are on offer through the platform. As these are property loans, the debt is secured against the physical property.

To date, there has been more than €13 million earned by investors, with total money lent through EstateGuru being almost €192 million. Across the history of the site, more than 1,300 loans have been fully funded, showcasing the success of the platform and the reliability of its investors.

The main aspect of the EstateGuru platform is to invest in short-term property loans. You can decide on which loans you want to invest in if you wish. You have access to in-depth information on each of the deals, such as the interest rate payable on the loan, its length and loan-to-value percentage and so on.

There is also the ability to use the auto-invest feature. You can enter in your desired investment parameters into the EstateGuru system and let this algorithm invest your funds for you. This is ideal for the type of investor who prefers a more hands-off approach.

A recent addition to the platform is the ability to sell your position in a loan on a secondary market on the site. There is a 2% fee charged for doing so.

The main way in which you make deposits and withdrawals on the EstateGuru platform is by using bank transfers. When you set up your new account, you will link your bank account and have its details verified. There are no fees charged by EstateGuru when you are making a deposit, but do note that your bank may have its own fees associated with making the transaction.

Your first deposit will have to go through your bank account as this is an important verification step for EstateGuru. However, your subsequent deposits can go through third-party payment processors such as Trustly, Paysera, Lemonway and Transferwise. Normally, it will take a few working days for your deposits to process. All of the deposit options can also be used to make withdrawals from your EstateGuru account.

There is a very good FAQ section for you to use on the EstateGuru site if you have an issue. It answers most of the questions you might have. If you did not find an answer, you can then directly talk with the EstateGuru customer support team. You can get in touch with them via email by phone or by using the live chat function. The help desk will be open from Monday until Friday, starting at 9 AM and closing at 6 PM EET.

As every loan on EstateGuru is backed with collateral of the physical property, there is going to be an added level of security already. You also will not have your money tied up for too long, usually 12-18 months, so you can plan ahead and know reliably when you can expect your investment return. Throughout the whole process, you can have full control over your investments. Everything is done in a transparent manner, with the properties having been fully assessed, as well as those people who are applying for the loans.

All investor money is kept in a segregated bank account. This is separate to the operational accounts of EstateGuru. Therefore, in the case of insolvency of EstateGuru, the investor funds will not be touched by creditors.

• People looking for low fees. As there are no fees charged on investors by EstateGuru, only on the party borrowing the funds, this makes it the ideal low-cost investment vehicle.
• People looking for quick and easy investing. You can quickly select a loan you want to invest in and simply decide how much you want to contribute and sit back. You can even use the auto-invest feature to allow the system to invest your funds for you.