Ask Me Anything with Andrew, CEO & Co-Founder of Doorvest

Doorvest is a real estate investment platform that has advanced hundreds of individuals on their path to financial security through investment property ownership.

We collected questions from our Doorvest community, and our CEO and Co-Founder, Andrew Luong, is here to answer them. Questions such as what are the risks of investing with Doorvest? How are we addressing interest rates increasing? And what are the benefits of appreciation vs. cash flow?

Check it out!

What are the risks of investing, such as buying a home through a startup like Doorvest?

The risks vary from platform to platform. For Doorvest, specifically, we intentionally designed the platform so that you own the home directly as the consumer and investor. In the case of doomsday, where Doorvest goes out of business – and this is a slim chance as our investors are pleased with our progress – Doorvest customers will lose access to our service and our technology platform. However, they will still own their home and can do what they see fit with the property.

Do customers participate in bidding wars through Doorvest?

No. And intentionally, no. When designing the platform, one of our qualms with getting into real estate was the murkiness and the bidding wars.

For folks unfamiliar with bidding wars, bidding wars break out when more than one potential buyer is making an offer on a home - sending prices to record high and making it harder for many to purchase a home. Bidding wars can be highly frustrating for everyone involved, especially when there is a record shortage of homes for sale and many are eager to buy.

To mitigate this, Doorvest decided on fair and transparent pricing – that, you know, upfront.

How is Doorvest still finding good deals with interest rates on the rise?

Are we still finding good deals? The short answer is yes. Our team is working on overdrive to maintain the same investment hurdles. And as such, we have had to constrain the buy boxes that our teams are going after.

The Doorvest acquisition team is working extra hard to find the ideal investment home for our customers.

What are your thoughts about some homes seeing a slightly negative cash flow?

Everyone has different objectives. Before getting into real estate investing, it is imperative to consider your objectives because there are always trade-offs on what you are trying to optimize.

I just bought a home through Doorvest last month in April. Personally, my objective is to build a long-term nest egg with a reliable home. A reliable home is an investment property located in a great neighborhood, with a solid price-to-rent ratio, and could be helpful and held for the long run. Even if the trade-off is “less cash flow,” this still works for me because reliability is my goal.

Also, I’d caveat “negative cash flow” by looking at rental growth over time. If you zoom out, it’ll look almost like a straight line. Over time, rents will catch up and exceed. It’ll just take a little bit of time.

What are the benefits and trade-offs between optimizing for home appreciation and cash flow?

There are certainly trade-offs. For example, homes with good price-to-rent ratios are often older and in more challenging neighborhoods. Hence, the quality of the homes and neighborhoods themselves are slightly lower - which correlates with how reliable the home is in the long run. However, buying a nice home, essentially brand new, in a great school district should be more reliable on average.

Nevertheless, this ties back to the previous question where it’s essential to hone in on your investment objectives and then find an investment home that meets these criteria. So again, for myself personally, I look for a home that has a decent price-to-rent ratio, in a great neighborhood and that I believe can be held for 10, if not 20 or 30 years reliably.

In times of inflation, investing in real estate historically fares better than others. When you invest in a rental home through Doorvest, you will:

✔ Earn rental income, guaranteed for the first year.

✔ Save time as we streamline the process, so it’s a much smoother experience for you.

✔ Skip the hassle as we guide you through every step of the purchasing process and help you manage day-to-day operations.

✔ Avoid bidding wars as the purchase price stated is set.