Brickowner Review

Brickowner homepage

Best RatingsRated #2 Best Property Crowdfunding Site

Brickowner Review

Overall Rating:

9.4

Accessibility = 9.7

Ease Of Investing = 9.5

Fee Structure = 9.0

PROS:

  • You can start investing with as little as £100
  • All investments are ring-fenced in a separate UK limited company
  • Platform is well thought-out and easy-to-use even for beginners

CONS:

  • Fees are payable even when an investment isn’t profitable
  • Your money will be locked in for a fixed term – no opportunity to resell your shares
Founded in January 2017, Brickowner is a relatively new face in the UK Property Crowdfunding market. Crowd-funding brings together like-minded investors.

Projects are funded by the likes of you and me, minus the intervention (and high interest rates) you would expect from a bank.

Through Brickowner, investors supply funds that are used to back large property developments. As an investor, you are effectively “buying” a share of that property development.

Keen to know more? Then check out our Brickowner review.

At A Glance

Brickowner join the likes of renowned property crowdfunding companies such as Property Partner and The House Crowd. The company may be relatively new to the scene but they are already establishing themselves as a major player, here’s why:

  • Focus on institutional investments
  • Investors get to build your own property portfolio
  • Unique in the fact they allow small investors to invest in high-return property deals (usually only offered to larger organisations or affluent individuals)
  • Offers shares in property for a minimum retail investment of just £100
  • Only collaborates with credible UK property asset developers
  • Projected returns start from approx. 8% and rise to around 20% per annum
  • Investment periods vary – from 1 year up to 5 years
  • Anyone can join Brickowner (aside from those residing in the USA), you just need proof of identity
  • No secondary market or option to sell your shares
  • Exit your investment at the end of the term with no extra fees to pay

We’re impressed! Brickowner seemed to have bridged the gap in the market, allowing small investors to grab a juicy slice of those big and bold property deals they wouldn’t normally be able to get anywhere close to.

Let’s take a closer look at the company, as we continue our Brickowner Review.

What Fees Do Brickowner Charge?

Each investment carries its own individual fees – Brickowner take a small percentage as a funding fee and an even smaller percentage as a yearly management fee. These are clearly displayed on the property term sheet for each available investment.

Fees are unfortunately inevitable, but we do like the fact that when you exit your investment you won’t have to pay any additional costs.

As an investor, you can add funds to your account by debit card or by bank transfer, but you won’t be able to use your credit card.  There are no fees charged by Brickowner on deposits or withdrawals.

Brickowner Property Crowdfunding Website

How Safe Are Brickowner Investments?

Sadly, no crowdfunding investment is 100% safe, but we’re happy that Brickowner provides peace of mind to investors by ring-fencing investments in order to protect them.

It’s also assuring to hear that Brickowner is regulated by the FCA – Financial Conduct Authority.

Any investment you make is kept completely apart from Brickowner, and channelled into a separate UK limited company.

Funds in your account are safely stored by MANGOPAY (a Luxembourg based financial institution who provide an “online wallet.”) This means that in the highly unlikely case Brickowner were to go bankrupt your investments will not be at risk.

The Real Level Of Risk

We did mention risk, and as with any investment, risk is something that does come with the territory. You are encouraged to look over your options in terms of the properties you can invest in.

All properties are classified by “level of risk” from a low risk at level 1 to an increased risk at level 7. Levels are calculate based upon how changes to the market could impact on your capital and how easily your investments can be sold.

We like that Brickowner highlight the risk level involved, this helps investors to make an informed choice – selecting the risk level you are comfortable with. So far, so good with this Brickowner review, so let’s dig a little deeper and find out more.

How Investing With Brickowner Works

The best way to describe Brickowner is to say that the company is an aggregator, combining the funds from a large number of investors to buy property. Essentially it’s an aggregator and a crowdfunding investment platform focused on the property market.

So, if you choose to go with Brickowner you will be in good company, there will be many of you investing into a particular building project, so how does it all work?

Brickowner carries out extensive research related to each property it chooses to feature. You will find a number of properties advertised on the website, with information indicating how much needs to be raised by investors for acquisition and to cover costs such as stamp duty and other associated expenses.

You will also get to see the financial forecast regarding anticipated returns (related to rental yields etc), the forecast outlines the returns you can expect over the investment term.

As an investor you can use this information to easily compare properties and find the project that most appeals to you. We applaud Brickowner for offering this level of visibility – after all, it’s important you get the full picture when investing your hard-earned cash in a venture.

Brickowner Investments

Simple Online Investments

When you’ve digested the facts and come to a decision you can simply make your investment online – we’ve tried it out and it’s a quick and easy process.

If, for any reason the property you have chosen does not receive full funding you don’t have to worry. Any money you have committed will simply be returned to your online wallet (along with any fees paid). When full funding is in place for a project Brickowner are quick to take action.

The company invests through established asset managers or developers.

We admire the way they look after their client’s investments, offering reviews on your asset, managing the property and taking care of the legalities.

As we’ve previously mentioned you will pay a fee to Brickowner based on your investment, and you have to wait until the end of the stated term before you can exit your investment.

When the minimum investment term is complete you are able to exit the investment and sell your share, the good news is that Brickowner can take care of that for you too.

Brickowner Reviews From Customers

As the company is still relatively new, there aren’t many published Brickowner customer reviews out there.

They don’t use any independent reviews sites such as Trustpilot or Feefo and their Google listing hasn’t had any reviews left either.

We appreciate this will be concerning to some. When it comes to trusting a company with potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds of your own cash, you want to know what other people’s experience has been.

However, every company has to start somewhere and the encouraging thing is that people are always more likely to leave reviews when they have had a negative experience. That means the lack of any reviews may actually be a good sign, though naturally only time will tell.

So, Is Brickowner Any Good?

This Brickowner review has so far allowed us to check out what the company has to offer and how it goes about it’s day to day business.

But is Brickowner any good? Does it provide the client with investment opportunities they simply can’t resist? Or is Brickowner just another run of the mill property crowdfunding platform, offering the same old investment opportunities to those with deep wallets?

If you feel a little daunted by the world of property managements finding a hands-on company such as Brickowner is a real bonus.

They find out all the information their clients need and present it all for your perusal. You simply choose the most attractive prospect and make your investment, and let Brickowner do the legwork for you! We like it!

Allow us to enlighten you on the pros and cons of using Brickowner:

About Brickowner P2P

Positives Of Brickowner:

One of the biggest positives of Brickowner is that it offers small investors the opportunity to invest in big building projects (which offer higher returns), rather than just minor commercial plots and residential dwellings.

Other benefits include:

  • You can invest as little as £100 and still grab a slice of those big UK property deals.
  • There’s no exit fee to pay when the investment term ends.
  • Well-thought-out platform – simple to use and easy to navigate.
  • Lots more new and exciting properties to be added in the near future.
  • No rising interest rates associated with banks and building societies.

Plus, If a particular property isn’t fully funded any money you have committed will be returned (along with any fee you’ve paid) to your online wallet.

Negatives Of Brickowner:

Our Brickowner review has highlighted some great benefits of choosing this company for investments, however there are a couple of little niggles we fee we need to make you aware of:

  • Fees are slightly higher than those charged by some property crowdfunding companies and are taken regardless of investment profitability.
  • Investments are locked in for the whole term – so know changing your mind!

A Short History Of Brickowner

Launched in 2017, Brickowner was created to simplify property investment. The company appreciated that not everyone had a huge pot of money at hand, but recognised investors still wanted a slice of the action by investing in big projects.

Brickowner were well aware that most of the best property investments called for a high minimum investment, ruling out many investors, and allowing big corporations and affluent individuals to swoop in and snaffle the finest opportunities for themselves, and were keen to redress the balance.

Brickowner developed a crowdfunding platform designed to give all investors the chance to pitch in and invest in the high-returning projects that were previously deemed out of reach.

By aggregating the smaller sums provided by investors, Brickowner allowed everyday folk to access great investment opportunities.

Brickowner Review – Summary

Our Brickowner review has given them a thorough going over, and we have to say we like what we see.

Whether you’re a small investor looking to get involved in purchasing property (but lacking the funds to go it alone), or an investor looking to diversify and build an impressive property portfolio, it seems Brickowner can help you out.

We suggest you take a look for yourself and see what they have to offer.

Author

  • Paul James

    Paul James, is a marketing expert with a passion for property. As well as being a property investor, Paul has also worked within the marketing departments of some of the UK’s leading estate agents. Paul is the founder of Property Road.

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