mmmmmm....dubious! They either have dodgy PR or marketing advice or they don't get that after the various buy-to-let scandals landlords or residential investors are a very vary of over hyped promises.
In their defence Hearthstone have secured the backing of Barratts to provide seed investment (could be possibly linked to the fact that Barratts are unloading their show homes into the fund ....at what price one may ask?)
The good thing about the fund is that because it is FSA authorised it is eligible to be held in a SIPP or ISA. It presumably will invest in residential property and borrow money to do so. Great if prices go up but as we have seen with geared property investments if the market goes the other way...bad news!
The good news is that as an investor you don't have the hassle of managing the property or if things go bad you can just right of the experience and hopefully your limited exposure.
What I don't get is what's new. Do these guys not remember the Business Expansion Scheme in the 80's (where investment funds were set up to invest in the 'new' AST residential investment market.) This worries me that they are either niave, have appointed rubbish PR/ marketing people or even worse are in it for the fat fees and a fast buck of the back of a relatively benign housing market.
You decide!
Landlord Insurance - expert brokers
Good to see you've picked up on the news of our fund launch.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel I must point out that the fund is not geared though - so we're not adding any volatility to an investment in the asset class. Also, there are no performance fees. This is a fund which is regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority.
There is a wealth of information about the fund and residential property as an investment asset on our website.
Happy to talk you through our investment strategy, valuations by an independent third party, seed funding, etc. if you want to give me a call.
Kind regards,
Darren Stent
Business Development Manager
Hearthstone Investments Plc
020 3301 1330
Hi Darren, thanks for putting us a bit more in the picture. I have no view on your fund as that's something for individual investors to look into and decide. My gripe is with the marketing blurb. I don't believe it's remotely true in that I've seen many funds doing exactly what Hearthstone is proposing. If your initial premise appears to be flawed I don't think that investors can be blamed for being just a little sceptical
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