German Government Listed Building Investment

[yeokiwi]

Registered through: Automattic
Domain Name: GERMANGOVERNMENTLISTEDBUILDING.COM
Created on: 04-Nov-12
Expires on: 04-Nov-13
Last Updated on: 04-Nov-12

Registrant:
Lifeng Zhang
Boon Lay Place
Singapore, 640209
Singapore

Administrative Contact:
Zhang, Lifeng lifengzhang@rocketmail.com
Boon Lay Place
Singapore, 640209
Singapore
93869875

Technical Contact:
Zhang, Lifeng lifengzhang@rocketmail.com
Boon Lay Place
Singapore, 640209
Singapore
93869875

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/57375749-post.html

http://eventful.com/singapore/events/fre...52110160-9

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation...flowchart/

[pianist]

what is domain post about?

[felixleong]

sounds fishy, I will avoid at all cost

[d.o.g.]

Coincidentally, I came across this "German Listed Building" investment today at Tanjong Pagar MRT. Of course it wasn't the actual promoter (Dolphin Capital GmbH), just the marketing agent (Solomon Alliance Management Pte Ltd) which earns a commission when you buy.

The guy's spiel was, as usual, long on the returns and short on the risks.

But supposedly in Germany there are lots of heritage buildings that are in bad shape, and the government wants them spruced up and maintained, so German buyers get tax breaks to buy them. Dolphin apparently raises money to refurbish the buildings and sells them. It keeps the profits and repays the money with interest to the investors.

I managed to take a look at the actual legal document that the investor signs. Two things stood out:

1. The developer is domiciled in Germany. The investor has to agree that any disputes with the developer are to be resolved in Berlin.

2. First charge on the property is to be held by a trustee company based in Germany. The trustee charges 1% a year on the value of the property. The investor has to agree that any disputes with the trustee are to be resolved in Berlin.

So the risks are obvious. If the developer does not make good on the investment, the investor has to rely on the trustee to seize and sell the property. If the trustee does not seize and sell the property and return the proceeds to the investor in a timely fashion, the investor has to sue the trustee in Berlin.

So better budget for a German lawyer if you want to invest in this thing, because your contract is not enforceable in Singapore. MAS will not help either because it is an offshore investment.

The marketing materials were also rather optimistic, projecting that the buildings would increase 5x in value after the refurbishment. Personally I doubt you can do this repeatedly over a long period of time. One building, yes. But many buildings over several years, no. And Germany is not short of people with savings, why are they not jumping into this?

And they are paying 12% return in 12 months, before accounting for the commission to the marketing agent and the trustee fees. Assuming they pay a 2% commission, and paying the trustee 1%, they need to make 15% in 12 months. If this thing is legitimate, it would be a "high risk, moderate return" type of investment. In other words, a bad deal. If it is not legitimate, well, I have no further comment.

Of course there will still be people who buy into this. Some of them may well get back their money. But probably none of them will have any inkling of the true level of risks they are taking.

[josedoe]

for your 2 points mentioned:
1) the property is in overseas, of course the legislation is suppose to be in the country where the property is. Similar to singaporeans buying malaysia property, if there is any dispute, we are not going to bring them to court in singapore. That is the risk we as an investors has to take for overseas properties.
But then again, we must assess the risk, What is the chances of it happening?
again, we are talking about a country with excellent reputation in the world. first world country.

2) The trustees is best to be a entity in that resided country where the property is, in my own opinion. as long as they are independent.

I believe it is best people can attend the seminars to find out more.

---

by the way, you can attend them here.

http://www.globalinvestmentsg.com/#!seminars/c1a4e

[cyclone]

I'll close this thread. As a last note: We have given a free advert slot for everyone to advertise. Please be considerate, do not try to spam the forum with http://www.globalinvestmentsg.com anymore. This is the last warning or I'll delete all posts that contains globalinvestmentsg.com. Thanks.