Röntgen Review: Assessing a Lithuanian crowd investing platform that is simplifying real estate corporate bonds investment
In this Röntgen review, we look at a Lithuanian FinTech that is bringing the idea of corporate bonds into the highly lucrative real estate market.
Röntgen Overview
For many years, premium real estate projects were only accessible to a narrow circle of wealthy individuals who were favored by the conditions set by banks and traditional financial institutions.
This left cash strapped investors watching from the sidelines as it was very hard to break out into the real estate market with limited funds and without financial backing from the banks. But that all changed when people discovered crowd investing.
Röntgen is a crowd-investing platform for real estate development. It was founded in 2017 and is registered in Vilnius, Lithuania. UAB Trečia Diena, a company that is recognized by the bank of Lithuania and is on the list of crowdfunding platforms, operates Röntgen.
The platform promises up to 12% annual interest and provides financing of up to 5,000,000 Euros per project. It has an average loan period of 12 months. The Bank of Lithuania regulates the platform under the Law on Crowdfunding of the Republic of Lithuania.
Opening an account on Röntgen
Opening an account on the platform is pretty easy. For the first step, you need only your name and email address. Click ‘register’ and a form will appear requesting for your name, email address and password for the site.
Click here to open an account at Rontgen
After you fill out the details, the platform will send a confirmation message to your email, click on the link provided to confirm your account and log in.
You will now have access to some of the platform features such as information on projects. However, you will have limited access until you complete step two and three of the registration process.
Step two requires you to identify yourself, using mobile signature or video identification powered by Ondato. The third step requires you to fill a questionnaire with the type of account, contacts, securities account number, and the securities account issuer.
For investors’ convenience, the platform informs them when to open securities accounts and whether them after they make an investment.
How to invest in Röntgen
After completing your registration, you can now load your investment account and start investing. You can either use Paysera or a bank transfer. Your funds will reflect within two working days for the bank transfer.
To access projects open for funding, click ‘investments’ on the top menu, the site will display new projects, ongoing and completed projects and their details including, interest rate, loan period, purpose, loan amount and risk class.
The minimum amount you can invest on the platform is 100 Euros.
Types of investments available on Röntgen
Röntgen only funds real estate projects, either development projects after a building permit has been obtained or advance payments for the sales of completed construction. Real estate development and management companies seek to sell corporate bonds on the platform to finance their projects, the platform approves the projects and opens them for funding by investors.
Röntgen Auto Invest Tool
Currently, the platform does not have an auto-invest tool. However, this is not a problem as there are only a few projects available for funding at any given time. Also, the platform notifies you when a new project is available via email so you won’t miss out.
How much can you earn on Röntgen
The platform offers interest rates of up to 12% per year with most projects being between 7% to 10%. The loan amount varies from project to project with the maximum being five million euros per project.
The platform does not charge Investors for transacting on the platform; however, they are responsible for their own taxes applicable to them under the law. The individual income tax in Lithuania is 15% on the actual interest.
Who can invest in Röntgen?
The platform is available to registered individuals who are over 18 years of age and have identified themselves on the site. Legal entities can also invest through the platform as provided for by the Law on Crowdfunding.
Röntgen Pros
- The projects have real estate backing – This minimizes the risk on the investor in case of a defaulting loan.
- Minimal investor involvement – After making the initial investment, the platform handles everything else on behalf of the investor including debt recovery process.
Röntgen Cons
- Lower interest – The platform offers up to 12% annual interest rates with some projects offering as low as 7%, which is quite low.
- Long registration process – The video identification takes more time than necessary, if it doesn’t work, you have to contact them for other identification means which end up taking more time.
Röntgen Verdict
The platform is great for inexperienced users looking to invest in professionally assessed and presented products. The platform is well designed and easy to use. However, there aren’t enough projects on the platform for investors looking for diversity.
The platform is run by an experienced team with investment by international real estate company Newsec. This further increases our confidence in the platform.
Other Crowd Investing Resources
For those looking for other similar peer to peer platforms to invest, you may want to read some of our other reviews. There are, in fact, many peer to peer lending and investing platforms currently available. You can diversify your interest income by using several of them simultaneously.
You can consider some other companies offering real estate crowd funding investments on our Estate Guru review and our Rendity Review. Check our post on the best peer 2 peer lending platforms in Europe, and the best real estate crowdfunding platforms in Europe.
Are you already investing in Rontgen or in any other peer to peer investing platform? Leave your thoughts and questions about this Rontgen review below.