Recently, the Equity Residences Managing Director Greg Salley was interviewed on WBBM-AM Noon Business Hour — a podcast about the economy and financial markets with some of the top experts in the nation. On the show, Greg answered common questions about the investment fund that covered topics such as destinations, travel services, and future plans.
Listen to the interview or read our transcript below.
We have a luxury real estate investment fund where we are raising $50 million to buy a portfolio of 20 homes all in different locations around the world. Investors can use the homes rent-free. In about a decade, we sell homes to return the original investment plus the profit from the homes.
So the idea is that this isn’t an investment like the stock market, you actually get to enjoy the investment when traveling?
Absolutely! You are going to some of the most beautiful places in the world like Turks and Caicos, Lake Tahoe, Hawaii — all over the place!
We use a very personalized approach to understand what is important to someone like going to the Caribbean a certain week or skiing in February in Park City, Utah. We are able to put the schedule together like a puzzle. We also have two affiliates that give us access to thousands of homes around the world, so if there is a conflict we can usually just grab another home at the same locations. We have little conflict in the end.
We have concierge services that include pre-stocking groceries and private chefs that can come in to prepare meals or dinners. We have already planned dream trips for each location of what to do while you’re there that can be customized for each experience.
We have prime locations that we buy, so we are already up significantly. If we are in a down real estate cycle, the fund manager has the discretion to wait up to 2 years to avoid selling in the downcycle and wait for the next upcycle. They also would get 2 more years of access to those properties to travel.
Yes, a lot of our investors have already brought up that they would like to stay longer than the 10 years. We are launching a whole portfolio of funds, even though we already have 2 active now, there will be more in the future. People will be able to invest in multiple funds, which several of our investors have already done.
Yes, we survey our investors to find out their preferences, and that factors into where we evaluate new locations to find the right investment opportunities.
We have homes in the Caribbean, Turks and Caicos, St. Johns, Bahamas, Florida, and Hawaii. We have mountain homes in Vail, Park City, and Tahoe. We have Italy, Tuscany too — we have homes all over the world!