Contributor, Benzinga
July 1, 2022
HoneyBricks
Overall Rating:
securely through HoneyBricks's website

HoneyBricks provides investors the unique opportunity to invest in high-quality commercial real estate opportunities through asset-backed security tokens. The real estate investments are each tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for fractional ownership and the distribution of security tokens directly to investor’s digital wallets. With HoneyBricks, investors can cash out their capital appreciation as their investment grows, receive passive income and borrow against their tokens as collateral. The result is real estate investing that is more efficient, accessible, and transparent.

The team behind HoneyBricks is composed of talented individuals across crypto, technology, real estate, capital markets and compliance. Led by repeat CEO and co-founder Andy Crebar, HoneyBricks aims to bring real estate investing into the digital world. 

Best For
  • Accredited investors who value low friction access to high quality commercial real estate investments
  • Investors who seek to leverage the advantages of cryptocurrency and get paid in cryptocurrency from real estate investments
  • Investors who value flexibility in their holding periods, with liquidity available after 1-year versus the traditional 5-7 years
Pros
  • Quick and easy account creation – set up an account in less than two minutes
  • Access exclusive commercial real estatement investments not readily available to individuals
  • Partner with leading real estate operators, who source, diligence and manage the investment
  • Enjoy better liquidity versus direct ownership and real estate investment trusts (REITs)
  • Compliant with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • Low transaction costs through new blockchain technology
Cons
  • Limited track record of blockchain technology in real estate
  • Risk of new regulatory impacts
  • Only available currently to accredited investors or accredited non-U.S. persons

HoneyBricks Ratings at a Glance

Customer Service
Security
Minimum Investment and Pricing
User Experience
Overall

HoneyBricks Product Offerings

As mentioned, HoneyBricks offers the opportunity for accredited or accredited non-U.S. investors to invest in high-quality, real estate investments on the Polygon Network. Polygon is a cryptocurrency network that is designed to reduce costs and complexities and to improve the speed of transactions on Ethereum. 

The marketplace is where eligible investors can find high-quality, real world commercial real estate investments that they can buy as digital assets. 

Currently, investors can sign up for HoneyBricks’ Early Access Program. The special perks of early access include the ability to earn up to $500 in token rewards and get access to new features. After being given access, users create their account, connect their cryptocurrency wallet and start building wealth. 

Here are five steps to follow to access HoneyBricks’ investment opportunities:

  1. Create your account

Users provide basic information about themselves as well as complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. According to HoneyBricks’ official website, it takes less than two minutes to set-up an account. After making an account, it takes a couple minutes for your account to be verified.

  1. Purchase tokens

Tokens can be purchased from HoneyBricks using fiat currency (U.S. dollars) or crypto or by staking your existing crypto. You’ll be required to fund your investment and sign documents through the platform, with tokens distributed at completion of the transaction.

  1. Get paid in cryptocurrency or your choice of currency

HoneyBricks offers the awesome option to receive distributions straight to your cryptocurrency wallet in any of its supported cryptocurrencies. Then HoneyBricks’ partnered management team works to run the asset to its highest potential.

  1. Receive passive income from your rentals in your portfolio 

HoneyBricks lets you own real estate on autopilot with its vetted management teams.

  1. Borrow from your tokens

As a token holder, you can take out crypto loans based on your collateral value and pledge your tokens. The underlying asset value backing each token is updated regularly in relation with detailed reporting by the asset manager. Leverage allows investors the ability to expand their investment potential.

  1. Enjoy improved liquidity

Tokens can be redeemed with HoneyBricks directly or sold to other investors in the secondary market. Tokens can only be sold after the initial hold period of 12 months required under U.S. Securities law. 

Investment Strategies

HoneyBricks is focused on core plus and value-add investment opportunities with high-quality, stable assets in good locations. 

Each investment is sourced and diligenced by a partnered sponsor and is then vetted by the HoneyBricks investment committee that has invested over $5 billion across 1,000s of real estate assets throughout the US. 

HoneyBricks Customer Service

HoneyBricks is still in its early stages of development, so it is still rolling out customer service options. Currently, users can receive assistance using the live chat feature, HoneyBricks’ help center, FAQ page or a real estate glossary. 

The help center has responses to a variety of questions such as “key documents to be aware of” and “HoneyBricks’ token.” Alternatively, the FAQ section is a lot more condensed and has answers to far fewer questions. Recently, a live chat feature has been added to its website where users can reach out to HoneyBricks. 

Here is HoneyBricks’ official email: investments@honeybricks.com.

HoneyBricks Security

HoneyBricks tokens are securities as determined by the SEC. HoneyBricks acts in accordance with the conditions stated in the Securities Act of 1933. Besides these two features, not much else is known about the security behind the marketplace. However, HoneyBricks does provide extensive information about its due diligence process for selecting properties to list on the marketplace. 

HoneyBricks prides itself on ensuring that investors can invest with confidence. Here is a quick rundown on HoneyBricks’ due diligence process for new properties:

  1. Focused on major U.S. cities. 

HoneyBricks focuses on the biggest 15 cities in the U.S., stating that these cities make up 50% of total rent paid. As a result, HoneyBricks only targets cities and markets that have strong underlying demand, attractive real estate outlook and landlord-friendly regulations.

  1. High-quality, multifamily assets with strong rental growth 

HoneyBricks works with leading real estate operators to identify the best opportunities and filter through their investment criteria covering neighborhood data, property specifics and rental data. Each investment is managed by a vetted management team who provides consistent updates on changes or other information that may affect the asset.

Fewer than 1% of opportunities reviewed by HoneyBricks make it to the marketplace.

  1. Targets high income and strong capital growth

HoneyBricks employs standard financial criteria to assess assets, looking at operating income, capital appreciation potential, rental yield and market outlook. All investment opportunities are benchmarked based on their expected returns and focus exclusively on core or core plus offerings.

HoneyBricks Minimum Investment and Pricing

While HoneyBricks is still not available to the masses due to the regulatory environment in the US, tokens have a low entry price of $1,000 which means investors can get started with a low commitment and gain confidence in the platform. Its important to note that the site can only be used by accredited investors, U.S.-based users will need to have an income greater than $200,000 in each of the past two years. Currently, international investors will need to show the same qualifications as U.S. accredited investors.

HoneyBricks User Experience

Since HoneyBricks is only in the first stages of its development with the early access program, user experience can only be analyzed in a general manner. Overall, compared to direct ownership and REITs, HoneyBricks users can leverage many benefits. 

HoneyBricks provides an accessible and convenient interface. Investors can use their crypto wallet and get started in a matter of minutes. Fractional ownership of commercial properties allows a wide range of investors of all budgets to gain exposure to real estate. 

When compared to other forms of real estate investing, HoneyBricks’ use of cryptocurrency allows users to benefit from extremely high capital efficiency and easy loan balancing. 

Apart from the investing side, HoneyBricks does well in making sure that all users have the necessary resources at their disposal to learn. HoneyBricks has a Learning Center that provides tools and resources for real estate investing, crypto investing and decentralized finance (DeFi). Examples include “diversifying your crypto portfolio” and “real estate for crypto investors.”

HoneyBricks vs. Competitors

HoneyBricks has a few competitors that are similar, such as Propy and Parcel — other virtual real estate non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces. Similar to HoneyBricks, Parcel is also in an early stage of its development, recently raising $4 million in a seed round led by Framework Ventures. However, unlike Parcel, HoneyBricks tokens are backed by real world assets with a legal claim on the real estate, which is managed by investment professionals executing their real estate business plan for the assets.

Propy is more similar to HoneyBricks, in the sense that it's making it easier to buy and sell physical real estate through Web3 technology. Like HoneyBricks, crypto-certified agents on Propy can make and accept offers in crypto. Propy also allows verified users to list a property as an NFT. 

HoneyBricks Overall

Overall, HoneyBricks appears to be a promising tokenized real estate investing service. The diverse team behind HoneyBricks brings together talents from a multifaceted background and is well suited to scale the service to the masses. 

HoneyBricks’ use of security tokens to enable fractional ownership provides unprecedented levels of real estate investing accessibility and capital efficiency. Ultimately, making real estate investment more efficient, accessible, and transparent, even at an international level. HoneyBricks recently completed their first tokenized investments that were available to theirEarly Access Program. As a new and upcoming player in the space, it's difficult to justify a higher rating at this time but we’re excited by their mission, team and strategy. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q

Who can purchase HoneyBricks tokens?

A

So, who can purchase HoneyBricks tokens? The tokens can be purchased by U.S. Accredited Investors (Regulation D) and non-U.S. persons (Regulation S). 

Q

What wallets can hold tokens?

A

So, what wallets can hold tokens? HoneyBricks is built on Polygon, which is a Layer 2 protocol on the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, tokens can be purchased and stored on any Ethereum-compatible wallet. They also have an integrated custodial solution with Coinbase.

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