For the first time, South African investors can now invest directly in a little known US real estate investment class previously known only to institutional, hedge fund and ultra high net worth (UHNW) investors.
RealtyWealth.com gives South African investors the opportunity to invest in institutional quality, commercial real estate backed by corporate lease agreements from credit rated tenants such as McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, Citibank and Walmart. These are known as single tenant net lease (STNL) investments and are ideal for absentee, passive foreign investors.
RealtyWealth.com is the first portal ever to offer STNL investments to foreign investors from South Africa, China, India and Canada in response to growing investor demand for stable, yielding US assets. Foreign investors are flocking to invest in the US real estate market attracted by the surging US dollar and yields that real estate investments deliver.
Through its strategic marketing relationships with international distributors such as China's premium property listing portal Juwai.com, RealtyWealth.com continues to expand its growing international investor base.
Key relationships
Strategic marketing relationships are being developed with additional international property marketing and distribution sites. Key relationships are held with major property developers and brokers in the US to ensure a steady flow of institutional quality properties are available for investment.
RealtyWealth's state-of-the-art investment platform offers a convenient and secure four-step investment process. All investor funds received are securely held within an escrow bank account at JPMorgan Chase until the investment property is purchased and the investment process is complete.
South African founders Bryan Smith, a commercial real estate developer with over ten years commercial real estate experience, and Sam Vogel, an international financier previously with Nedcor and resident in the US for 14 years, identified STNL as ideal for SA investors.
"STNL investments are ideal investment for foreign absentee investors," explained Smith. "The investment properties are secured by long-term leases where the credit-rated corporate tenant is responsible for all incidentals, taxes, insurance and maintenance and pays the investor a net lease payment monthly."
Defaulting on lease
"In the unlikely event that the corporate tenant defaults on the lease, the investors still retains the underlying property. In addition, most leases have contractual rental increases over the term to keep up with inflation and investors are able to write off property depreciation against lease income," Smith continued.
"Over the past 14 months we have invested in, developed and fine-tuned RealtyWealth.com's proprietary, world class investment platform. A key feature is the investor dashboard that allows investors anywhere in the world to review our US-based properties, make investments, track portfolios and seamlessly receive statements, earnings and tax computations all online," he concluded.
"RealtyWealth.com operates as an international aggregator of local and foreign investors typically seeking stable US-based Real Estate Investments," said Vogel. "These STNL products are particularly attractive to South African investors in that they offer long-term, corporate backed, passive income with an inflation and currency hedge."