Hi all
Firstly, thank you all for taking the time to raise your points and make the suggestion of an "action group". I agree with the sentiment entirely and each of you should 100% have the opportunity to have your questions and queries answered to your satisfaction. I can assure you that the need for "action" on your part will be minimal as we are committed to continuing to improve our business and introduce efficiencies to make the whole process better for everyone.
I will not deal with the points raised within this post, or the forum in general, as there is clearly need for a more detailed and formal process to be undertaken. As a suggestion, I have set up a Google Sheet with a table within it that can be accessed here -
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aBGvdgtn8Nddid7JE39mhjy4Wrz7OJGAgbrMWwdEtWo/edit?usp=sharingIn the interest of giving you all the opportunity to come together and have your say without any obstacles, I hope this suggestion is welcome.
You can each add in your queries within this document. Please be as clear and concise as possible to make the process efficient and to ensure we can provide the best possible responses. Please do also note and review questions that have been asked previously so as to protect us all from creating War and Peace.
For those that would like to include their name in the user column then please do and, if required, please add [CALL BACK] and we will know that you would like a telephone call and one of the team will reach out following the exercise.
The sheet will be open until 2 February 2018 for questions. After that, we will review and provide responses, aiming to have all questions answered within 2 weeks. The point was raised regarding the message circulated in December about certain changes coming in the new year. This is not intended to be vague or to be a placeholder. There are have been some significant changes across the economic, political and regulatory landscape since we first launched, all of which have had an impact on the business model and more specifically the buy-to-let portfolio in light of its Northern and social bias. This is why we have continued to updated and improve the product offering as we have developed and evidence of this is in our loan note/development opportunities which have, to date, delivered over 11% p.a. returns on an annualised basis.
Within the next couple of weeks, there will be an email circulated outlining certain changes to the Property Moose model and requiring your vote. We have seen instances where users have complained that they are not being communicated with but have opted out of email correspondence. If you believe that this could apply to you and you wish to receive the email, then please email chloe@propertymoose.co.uk who will collate a list and add you back to the email list. If you opt out of communication with us then the emails will not go to you.
As mentioned, we have always strived to provide as much information as is physically possible without overloading our users. Where work and/or costs are required for the property and there is no cash available, rather than go back to shareholders and ask for more money, we have provided interest free loans to the SPVs to cover the work (as specified on the site). This is an obvious example of how our interests are aligned. We do not want to use our own cash to fund properties owned by our investors and receive no return on it. As a small business, this has proved a significant burden but one which we have continued to meet on the basis of ensuring that we look out for our investors as much as we can. Clearly, if we are underwriting SPV costs with interest free loans that are costing the business money we do everything in our power to ensure properties are managed effectively and all costs are proportionate and necessary.
We see our investors as part of our Property Moose community which has helped to shape the business as it is today. Many of the features you see today came from suggestions from our early members and we have used the sentiment and requests of our members to source properties that they wanted to see - low capital properties with high gross yields.
It is upsetting to see that there are some of you which are clearly unhappy and feel we are not doing all we can. I can assure you that is not the case and all of our decisions have been in the interests of our members, regularly to our own detriment. We are proud of the business we have built and the culture of putting customers first. However, clearly there are improvements that can be made and we will strive to go through this exercise improve from it.
As one of the first property crowdfunding platforms in the world, the model and business will go through growing pains. The job now at hand is to listen to your suggestions and comments, provide adequate responses to your satisfaction and then to use this opportunity as a further way to improve the business model and platform for the future.
This forum is not reviewed regularly but I am more than happy to speak with anyone that wishes to have a call or meeting in London following the exercise described above. Once we have dealt with the Action Group's questions, I will post again to offer the opportunity to arrange such calls/meetings.
Andrew
