How a UK startup went from $0 to a $1 billion real estate portfolio in three years

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• GuestReady CEO and Co-Founder, Alexander Limpert (33), went from cleaning and managing Airbnb listings to managing a USD 1 billion real estate portfolio in just three years. 
• The company has experienced rapid growth due to a surge in demand from new segments tapping into the Airbnb trends – such as senior hosts, who are supplementing their pensions with rental income, property investors and multifamily homeowners.
• To keep up with the demand, the company has grown its team globally from 70 to 150 in just 11 months. In the same period, they acquired Oporto City Flats in Portugal, We Stay in Paris in France and, European market leader, BnbLord. 
• Last June, the company closed their Series A funding round with $6 million. The investment was led by Impulse VC, the Russian fund backed by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. 
• GuestReady is operational in 14 cities across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

LONDON, 12 November 2019 – GuestReady Group announced today that it has passed USD 1 Billion assets under management. The news comes just three months after the company celebrated its third anniversary in August.  

The PropTech startup uses its in-house developed software to allow homeowners and property investors to tap into the Airbnb trend, by providing end-to-end short-let management and hospitality services.

“It was my first-hand experience of being an Airbnb host that inspired me to set-up a service that would simplify hosting to time stretched hosts. I started to look at how software can reduce spending time listing a property on multiple booking sites, managing check-ins and check-outs of guests, cleaning and maintaining a property, while upholding a 5-star quality service for our hosts and guests, CEO and Co-Founder Alexander Limpert (33) remarks. 

The company’s property management system helps centralise and automate processes, such as the dispatching of service providers, payment schedules and guest communications. 

GuestReady’s ambitious launch in 2016  set its growth trajectory, as it opened in six cities at the same time. 

“I must admit, it was an ambitious plan and would not have been possible without a great team of experienced entrepreneurs behind me. We knew that if we wanted to make GuestReady a success, we needed to think big ” Limpert explains. 

“In the beginning, it was just me and my girlfriend running and setting-up operations for GuestReady London. We put up all the listings, cleaned apartments, prepared the beds for guests, dealt with property maintenance, responded to guests queries and welcomed them at the property as they arrived. 

In 2016, after living and working one year in Asia, I moved back to London to set-up GuestReady and we appointed country managers in Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. By deliberately opening operations in a couple of cities, we were able to quickly test, learn, adapt, and scale our market strategy. 

Not all our markets got traction though, within a few months after our launch, we decided to exit Amsterdam and Singapore. We saw that the demand for our services in these cities was limited, so we decided to focus our resources elsewhere” Limpert continues. 

In the last year, the PropTech startup enjoyed a rapid period of growth with an increase of demand from property investors, multifamily homeowners and senior hosts. The latter demographic, are using short-term lettings as an extra source of income to complement their pension, pay bills and travel. Short-term lettings have also become a popular way to fill lengthening void periods – the time a property sits empty before the next tenant –  as research shows that the average time taken to fill an empty property increased in most regions of the UK. “It’s essential for landlords to maximise the income from their properties to keep yields healthy. Short-term lettings are helping property owners maintain a steady income while they wait for new longer-term tenants to move in” says GuestReady UK Managing Director, Steffan Maagefelt.  

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – How a UK startup went from $0 to a $1 billion real estate portfolio in three years | LandlordZONE.

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Shawbrook streamline and reduce BTL rates by up to 0.49%

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Specialist property lender Shawbrook Bank has streamlined its product portfolio and reduced rates by up to 0.49%. Their refreshed Buy to Let range boasts new benefits for your portfolio clients.

Rates are now  from 3.05% (Over 3 month Shawbrook LIBOR) and they have introduced new products for loans under £100k for BTL and HMOs

As part of this refresh they have dramatically simplified their product guide

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Electrical Safety Week 2019-what landlords need to know

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Electrical Safety Awareness Week, organised by Electrical Safety First and run in conjunction with the Home Office, aims to promote electrical fire safety in the home. According to Electrical Safety First, more than half of all accidental fires in the home are caused by electricity. The RLA has a wide range of resources on its […]

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Providing emergency accommodation instead?

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Being a private landlord is a nightmare. So given the latest headlines I am thinking of going down the route of providing Emergency Accommodation instead.

Where do I even start?

Surely it can’t be any more stressful than evictions

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Tenants being quizzed by HMRC

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Tenants are being quizzed on the tax status of their landlords by HMRC.1 An HMRC fact finding letter goes on to suggest tenants may have to take tax off their own rental payments to ensure the correct tax is paid if their landlord is not resident in the UK and is not registered under the UK’s Non-resident Landlord Scheme (NRL) or face a fine.

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Election 2019: Reports Labour will ‘drop right-to-buy plan’

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A report published over the weekend suggests Labour has dropped its controversial plan to offer tenants the right to buy their privately rented homes. The Financial Times reported the party has decided to abandon the plan amid fears the policy was ‘not workable’. It attributes the claims to “party figures familiar with its UK election […]

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John McDonnell back-peddles on Right to Buy

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The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, appears to have dropped his proposals for giving tenants of private rental properties the ‘Right to Buy’ at a central government imposed discount termed as a ‘fair price’.

McDonnell has told the FT he know thinks the policy would be unworkable and that it would not be included in the general election manifesto due to be launched later this week.

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Rogue tradesman run off with deposit?

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I have had the misfortune to deal with rogue bathroom fitter, he asked for 50% deposit and when the time came to do the work he said he was hospitalised, then I found out 3 weeks he had actually found full time employment and did not have time to complete my job.

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Nottingham licensing scheme a farce

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A landlord licensing scheme in Nottingham has so far managed to issue full licences to fewer than three per cent of the applications received. In August 2018, Nottingham City Council introduced a Selective Licensing Scheme across many parts of the city as a key part of its efforts to address the quality and management of […]

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Increase in Indians buying into the London property market

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London Market:

A recent report from
property consultants Knight Frank says that there’s been an 11%
increase in the number of investors from the Indian subcontinent
buying in the prime central London property market over the 12 months
to June 2019.

In what Knight Frank
terms the super-prime market, it attributes the increasing sales to
discounted prices and favourable exchange rates for the Asian buyers.

Knight Frank
identifies the main locations of interest to these Indian buyers as
Mayfair, Belgravia, Hyde Park, Marylebone and St John’s Wood.

The report states
that:

“An effective
discount of about 20 per cent, taking into account the currency and
price movements in prime central London, in the period between the EU
referendum and October 2019, has benefited Indian buyers.”

The report further
identifies the profile of Indian buyers as wealthy Indians, becoming
younger, and says 21% could be classed as “ultra high net worth
individuals”, favouring the UK as an investment target.

Shishir Baijal,
chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India says:

“London has always
been a hotspot for Indian investors due to its economic and political
importance. Despite the recent political and economic developments,
the long-term economic fundamentals for the market has remained
strong and is therefore continuing to generate interest amongst
Indians looking to purchase properties outside the country”.

When compared to
investments in the Indian markets, he says, yields for both capital
and rentals are higher.

“As the domestic
economy hits a slow block, we can expect Indians to continue the
momentum of investments in a mature market such as London that offers
higher returns and a relatively shorter hold period.”

Alasdair Pritchard,
Knight Frank Private Office and Knight Frank’s ambassador to India
says:

“London will
always remain an interesting market for wealthy Indian buyers. Many
have an affinity to it — enjoying the history, the culture and
lifestyle on offer. A large number also send their children to the UK
for education, investing in property at the same time.”

Rory Penn, joint
head of Knight Frank’s Private Office says:

“Beyond Brexit,
there are global trade and geopolitical tensions that mean other
super prime residential markets have slowed. While there are fewer
discretionary buyers in London, well-priced and good quality stock is
seeing strong interest and leaves me convinced that demand will
accelerate once Brexit has been resolved.”

London Super-Prime Sales Market Insight-Winter 2019′, Knight Frank

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Increase in Indians buying into the London property market | LandlordZONE.

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