Author name: Wealth Migrate

99% of people can’t invest in London and yet this is what the wealthiest have been doing for centuries. Here is why and how you can copy them…

When we were hunters and gathers land had no value. There were no classes.

In the agrarian age, land became valuable due to crops and live animals. There was a two class system. Rich & poor. Those who owned land and those who didn’t.

The word “Real Estate” comes from the Spanish word “Royal Estate”.

“Peasants” comes from French word “payee and sun” which means person of the land.

Tax came from peasants working the King’s land and paying tax for his protection.

To keep the peasants under control the King granted large tracks of land to his friends – Lords and Barons.

This is where Landlord came from.

The landlord collected taxes from the Peasants for the King.

In time of war, the Peasants fought for the King to protect the King’s land rights.

The rich got richer and the poor worked harder.

In the Industrial age – 3 classes arose – rich, poor and middle class.

Land became valuable around factories and middle-class suburbia spread as the middle-class bought houses.

The Kings and Lords sold off their ‘royal estate’, becoming bankers and offering

mortgages so the middle class could buy a piece of Royal Estate. In the UK, many

Kings and Lords kept the land and sold them ‘leasehold’ which means you rent

the land from them and only own the property above it.

The Kings & Lords often to this day own the land.

Today the mortgage is the biggest expense of the middle class

The poor continue to pay rent to their landlords.

Problem for investors

Middle-class Real Estate Investors are recognizing the power of real estate, but do not have an easy & safe way to invest in Real Estate Markets Globally – residential or commercial – and diversify. Thus the 99% CANNOT invest like the top 1%

Added to this in the UK there are even further challenges for getting involved:

1. Very hard to get mortgages for people not living in the UK and rates are also
2. Affordability is a major problem and people don’t have enough capital to
3. Very hard to find and manage an asset overseas.
4. Hard to find the right partners on the ground.

Why the 99% should invest like the top 1%

49% of the world’s wealth is held in global real estate, which has been inaccessible to the man on the street.

Only 12,9% of the world’s population actually have access to real estate.

Of this 12,9%, in the Western World, less than 1% of people retire wealthy at the age of 65.

We are changing this by bridging the wealth gap

Now with our technology, we’re making Global Real Estate accessible to the other 99% who want to invest like the top 1%

For centuries the Kings, Queens and Wealthiest people in the world have invested in the UK and London. Now you can too, in a simple and safe way using technology & SMART Investing.

Why the UK?

• Worlds 4th largest economy
• Small island – limited space
• Affluent and growing population
• Mature economy
• Highly educated and world class judicial system
• The pound has devalued – buying opportunities now
• RICs reliable valuations
• Certainty of ownership
• Acute shortage of housing and developers are not meeting demand
• Low risk
• World Class Universities

The fundamentals of the UK and London market are sound with more demand than supply in the right sectors & areas.

Invest in safe, predictable income returns.

Using our blockchain enabled platform we connect quality local property partners with global investors.

We have members in 133 countries, had $85m+ go through the platform and facilitated over $521m+ in real estate deals.

As they say, history repeats itself, now you get to choose.

Do you want to invest like the Kings, Middle class or Peasants?

Sign up to our world class marketplace and invest in the UK and London from as little as GBP1 000 now.

A REIT or Real Estate Investment Fund is a company that allows investors to buy shares in a portfolio that houses a number of different properties. There are a variety of different types of properties that can be housed in a REIT, including multi-family complexes, hotels, self-storage facilities, retail centres, student accommodation, care facilities and warehouses. Typically though, each REIT focuses on one or two different property types.

To find out more about the different types of REITs and how they work, please read this blog courtesy of partners, Upside Avenue.

Why investing in a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) hedges against market fluctuations

Real Estate investing has been one of the top wealth-building mechanisms since the dawn of time. But with recent headlines warning of downturns, people may be wondering if it’s still a smart investment choice in the current climate. That’s where a REIT, or Real Estate Investment Trust, comes in.

A REIT is dedicated to purchasing different types of real estate and is required by law to disburse 90% of its profits. Upside Avenue is a private market REIT, which means it is not listed on the stock exchange.

The Advantages of REIT investing

 Private market real estate has a lot of advantages. They do not have to pay all of the fees that a public company requires, nor are their prices inflated or depressed based on the performance of the stock market. This boils down to greater cash flow and a stronger upside for investors.

How the Upside Avenue REIT works

 At Upside Avenue, we invest in multifamily communities. These range from apartments to student housing, to senior living facilities. We invest in the best markets with the best growth prospects throughout the United States. This provides a cushion against market volatility as the demand for multifamily housing consistently remains high.

How you Earn an Upside

Investors with Upside Avenue receive a return on their investments from quarterly dividends and from appreciation in the value of shares in the REIT. The returns come from the individual real estate assets in the portfolio via interest and rental income collected, as well as appreciation in the value and sale of portfolio properties. Shareholders receive their pro-rata portion of any dividends that are paid out. We anticipate annual returns of 12-15%

This is an exciting time to invest in multifamily real estate and we invite you to join us on the Upside!

Invest now for as little as $2,000 in our expertly-managed REIT. 

This offering from International Property Solutions, 267 Upper Grosvenor Road, is currently 70% funded. This is a three-unit residential building in Tunbridge Wells, UK. The project is projected to have an IRR of 10%, and Cash on Cash returns of 4% with regular quarterly dividend payments. The offering will be managed by Crestwood Properties. This video shows a brief introduction to 267 Upper Grosvenor Rd presented by Crestwood Property Solutions.

Over the last few months, we have become obsessed with understanding and improving your investment experience. Our team has worked closely with many of our investors, as well as studying the data that tracks our clients’ behaviour on our platform.   

We have identified the key areas where improvements to the Platform will make it easier, quicker and more intuitive for you to invest, and track your investments. 

Find out more about our new platform by watching this video:

This influx of skilled workers, with an average annual compensation of $100k, is expected to have a substantial impact to the local real-estate market.  Furthermore, HQ2 will bring a significant number of non-Amazon job opportunities and indirect investments to the winning city.  As an example, it is estimated that over the last seven years, there have been 20 Fortune-500 companies that have opened an R&D facility in Seattle including Apple, Google, Facebook, and Uber.  During this time, the “Amazon affect” has generated $38bn of additional investment in Seattle, with every $1 invested by Amazon resulting in $1.40 in the city’s economy.

Amazon’s Real Estate Needs

Amazon has indicated they require a minimum of 500k sq. ft. by 2019, with plans to expand to 8m sq. ft. across 100 acres in the next 10 years.  To put this in perspective, Amazon’s current Seattle headquarters is a total of 8.1m sq. ft. and employs 40k workers. 

In that same period, home prices in Seattle have jumped by over 83% and rents by over 47% according to Zillow.  In the last three years alone, Amazon has gone from occupying 9% of Seattle’s prime office space to 19%.  In fact, PwC has named Seattle the top-ranked market in real estate in 2018. 

There is no doubt that HQ2 will have a significant impact on the local real-estate economy and will certainly drive massive price increases in both the residential and commercial markets.  In fact, some opportunist investors have already been buying up parcels around possible Amazon development zones across a handful of potential HQ2 cities, already driving up prices. 

The Amazon “Crisis”

But not everyone agrees that HQ2 is the proverbial golden ticket – unaffordable housing, traffic nightmares, inadequate infrastructure, and increased homelessness are all a common problem in the Seattle area.  Furthermore, policy experts have issued a warning to competing cities to not give away too much to attract Amazon, including unsustainable tax breaks or promises they can’t keep.  There is even a Change.org petition headed by some of the country’s biggest economists and policy experts urging cities to not bend too far backwards to Amazon.

So, Which City Will Win?

As of January, the competition is down to 20 cities and Amazon is expected to make a final decision sometime in mid-2018.  In the meantime, the finalists are going all out to ensure their city is the winner. 

The remaining cities include: 

Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County (MD), Nashville, Newark, New York, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh (NC), Toronto, and Washington DC.

How Can You Take Advantage of the Pre-HQ2 Real Estate Market?

Do your homework and pick a few cities that you think meet Amazon’s requirements, including:

Metropolitan areas with more than one million people

A stable and business-friendly environment

Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent

Communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options

Once you’ve narrowed down your list, review the local real-estate market to identify any potential opportunities for investment.

Or, you can log-on to our platform at Wealth Migrate and review our current investment opportunities.  With a minimum investment size of only $1000, you can invest in the next HQ2 city before everyone else jumps in. 

My top-3 HQ2 predictions?  Atlanta, Austin, or Philadelphia. 

(Note: As an active investor in the Philadelphia market, I, of course, am cheering for Philly!)

About Wealth Migrate

Wealth Migrate is a global FinTech real estate investment platform that enables people to invest in commercial real estate from as little as $1000 through Collaborative Smart Investing™.
We empower investors to build generational wealth through Collaborative Smart Investing™ by facilitating global real estate investment opportunities that surpass standard investment returns. We ensure that our investors and real estate partners interests are aligned thereby generating higher returns for investors with fewer costs and lower risk in a compliant and safe way. 
Wealth Migrate is the only true global real estate platform with members from over 100 countries and offices in the USA, South Africa, Australia, UK, China, and the Middle East.

Let me be very clear. We will not solve the current problem with the current level of thinking or the present solutions.

In the first 8 years of the 2000’s the inequality was actually being rectified, but from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008, the wealthier have got wealthier at a far faster rate than the rest. There is one very simple reason for this. In the early 2000’s due to globalization and rise of the middle class in the emerging markets they increased the broad base income. However since 2008 there has been a dramatic increase in the value of the assets. Real Estate, Stock Market, businesses, collectables or even Cryptocurrencies. The top 1% are heavily invested in a diversity of assets, not only locally but internationally and this is why their net wealth has increased so dramatically in proportion. Assets increase far quicker than income growth.

And the so the question is what about the rest? Why do the 99% not invest in the same assets as the top 1%?

There are 3 reasons:

1. Knowledge
2. Financial Exclusion
3. It is not good for the top 1%

Knowledge

• Our education system is broken. No one is taught financial education. We are taught language, science, biology, history, geography, etc but why are we not taught business, sales, marketing, people skills or how to balance a profit and loss account. Why are we not taught about investing?
• The middle class think that investing in houses and apartments, buying THEIR home, will make them wealthy. Prices around the world statistically keep going up every 8 to 10 years, due to economic and political management of the economy and a focus on inflation which ensures this happens. It makes them feel wealthy and it is called the Wealth Affect which ensures the middle class to keep consuming things.
• Middle class people tend to focus on capital growth.
• Truly wealthy people (the top 1%) do something different. They invest in different assets. They invest in commercial, institutional grade assets and they focus on income, as one’s passive income is actually a true symbol of wealth. Whether this is medical real estate or Coca Cola shares, it is the same principle. Why do you think Warren Buffett invests in Coca Cola, it is one of the best paying dividend (income) shares.
• Wealthy people focus on income and actually just use common sense (WHICH WE ALL HAVE).

Financial Exclusion 

• In 2009 I met two very wealthy men and they were investing in medical centers in Australia. I remember asking them, “Why medical?” Hennie who had been investing in medical real estate since 1992 explained to me that firstly no matter what happens in the economy people need doctors, secondly doctors never leave their premises and thirdly they are wonderful at being doctors, but not financial experts and so sign excellent long term favorable leases. I remember thinking I had helped over 2500 people invest in houses and apartments, had a Honours and Masters Degrees in this topic and yet why has no one ever taught me this. It is such common sense. I asked how I could participate and they said the minimum investment was AUD $5m per person. I couldn’t get involved. 8 people invested $40m and today, 8 years later, this is a listed company worth over $700m on the Australian Stock Exchange. This is financial exclusion.
• Another example is the accredited / sophisticated investor status in many jurisdictions around the world. This makes no sense. It is there to protect the ill informed and the grannies with their pensions. Thus they are not allowed to invest in sophisticated (quality) investments. They are always last to find out or be able to participate in an investment and are basically at the bottom of the value chain. All in the name of their protection. Funny though that we need to protect these people and yet they can gamble (recklessly) any amount of slot machines or in Vegas. Better yet they can invest in middle class investments like houses and apartments, with Americans wiping out $10 trillion in value as the USA house market crashed in 2008.
• The middle class invest in these houses or on the stock market through mutual and hedge funds which are laden with fees. There is no transparency and yet in the name of THEIR protection, the clever financial advisors and financial institutions will look after their financial well being. Interesting that in the last 100 years less than 1% of people who retire in America, the UK and Australia actually retire wealthy at 65.
• Compare this to the top 1% who invest differently. As an example are our various partners in medical real estate in America. While residential crashed by as much as 70% in some states in 2008, they never lost a medical tenant. Yes, you heard me right, they never lost a tenant and thus they never lost their income. With a strong cashflow, as the middle class were focusing on capital growth, floundering and getting into distress, the top 1% was able to acquire more distressed assets, accumulating more wealth, exactly what Hennie and Pieter were doing in 2009.
• Finally the above does not take into account the 3 billion unbanked people, 87,1% of the global population who has no access to real estate at all or the people who live on a marginal income and are exploited with cash loans, pay as go data contracts, funeral policies, high cross border money transfer fees, etc.

It is not good for the top 1%

• The twentieth century and current economics is all based on scarcity. The thinking of everyone is that to economically empower the 99% we would have to take away from the top 1%. Due to this, the top 1% has done everything in their power to protect their position. They do not teach people what they need to know, they do not provide them access to opportunities using regulation and protection as the reason and most importantly keep them happy with inflation, social services, government support systems, consumerism, media messages, etc.
• While people live in bliss and ignorance they keep going to school and university to be trained to be employees, pay taxes, they keep investing in the current financial system and thus paying the fees which pay the shareholders returns of the top 1%.
• If the 99% were to also get access to the best opportunities then asset values will go up and the 1% will struggle to continue to control the quality assets – whether that is in real estate, stock market, new businesses, etc and thus control the income.
• The masses are controlled by access. First it was the Church who originally controlled the masses with access to information and this was only solved through the technological invention of the printing press. Then it was the Monarchs who controlled access to land, again solved through technological innovation of the industrial revolution and now the Financial and Political Systems control people with access to knowledge and opportunities with regards to wealth.
• If you want to understand more about this I highly recommend you read the book by Robert Kiyosaki which explains this in a lot more detail – Second Chance.

It is time for a change and once again technology is going to provide the answer. There are 8 major macro trends which are all converging and will provide the solution to solve the Wealth Gap by 2020: 

1. Gamification & learning while doing, fundamentally changing the education system, going back to natures laws and allowing people to learn while doing.
2. Blockchain & crypto currencies, increasing trust and reducing friction costs massively. Blockchain is decentralising trust and ensuring there is no need for a middle man or institution anymore. This is a great video to understand the impact of the Blockchain – click here
3. Social Commerce & Collaborative SMART Investing, increasing returns and reducing risk for investors. 

4. Personalization and people wanting personal solutions for them and their families. They want the power to create the freedom they want in their lives and have a meaningful connection with their investments.
5. Rise of the middle class in emerging markets and 3 billion people unbanked people joining the global economy through mobile adoption and internet connectivity. 

6. Globalization and with local volatility investors wanting to be diversified across countries, assets and currencies. Cyrptocurrency’s, mobile adoption and internet connectivity are allowing everyone to participate and to allow true globalization.
7. Social pressure to democratize access to wealth to empower the 99%. 

8. Investors wanting to have a purposeful impact on co-creating the planet they want 
to see.

On the 15th December 1491 the Bill of Rights was Voted into the American Constitution. It is widely seen as the beginning of democracy and freedom for all. Today 143 countries out of 193 on the planet have adopted this democracy for all.

It is time to create democracy for all when it comes to wealth.

Every single person on the planet, whether a rice farmer in China, a rickshaw driver in India, a goat herder in Africa or an investment banker in New York understand the intrinsic value of real estate, whether they have access or not. Our belief is that with Blockchain and a crypto currency based on real estate, we can truly democratise access to wealth. 49% of the worlds wealth is held in real estate and yet only 12,9% of the population have access to real estate. 

On the 15th of December 2017 we are launching the WealthE Coin as this day will represent the day where once again a technology solution solved one of the worlds greatest challenges and provided access to wealth for the 99%. The WealthE Coin will truly democratise access to wealth for all and help create a better and more sustainable planet for all. Our vision is to make investing as simple as a swipe of a finger from $1. When we achieve this we will be able to empower every single person on the planet and enable them to be wealthy! 

I want to finish with a great video from David Orban. He is a global authority in this space, recently invested in Wealth Migrate and the WealthE Coin and is an adviser to our Board. Here is where he sees the future of wealth – https://youtu.be/lKsXlA1424s

To a better future for all and thinking differently to solve this challenge. It will require abundance thinking to solve this grand challenge!