On the surface, D7 is the cheaper route only if you plan on renting in Portugal. If you want to reside there permanently, you will need to purchase a property most likely so it will end up to be the same as purchasing a property for GV in the first place.
The fund would be better route as in my opinion, the properties are simply priced to meet the target of GV.
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D7 is the cheaper if you plan on renting in Portugal. If you want to reside permanently, you need to purchase a property most likely so it will end up to be the same as purchasing a property for GV.
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Hi Cam, so far my progress has been positive. Communication is clear and everyone from Mercan and IAS (lawyers) have been helpful.
Do you have any specific questions? I can try to answer.
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Hi, Queenie.
Thanks so much for your response.
We have an appt with someone named Jerry Morgan from Mercan on Friday. I guess weāll be looking at options for investment in Portugalāpreferably $280K options, wch involve in projects like hotels/rehabilitation in areas away from Lisbon/Porto/Algarve, wch will soon be disqualified in terms of the Golden Visa. But weāre open to other options too. The Lapa one sounds good, but Iām not sure whether theyāre taking on new investors at this point. Perhaps you might know?
You mention IAS. Is that International Atlantic Services? I just looked at their website and they seem to offer help in connecting to banking, immigration, and tax authorities. It says they donāt handle legal services but recommend lawyers.
Iām glad to hear youāre happy with the process so far. I havenāt found anyone who has gone through the whole process successfully via Mercan. Perhaps you have? Did your find their accounts of their experiences reassuring? Obviously, weāre nervous about investing such a large sum of money, especially via entities with which weāve had no experience ourselves.
Are there any questions/issues we should raise with Mercan initially?
Thanks so much, Queenie, for allowing to ask you questions. Itās really appreciated.
Best,
Cam
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Weāre in the process of scheduling time with Jerry too. Apparently heās the president of Mercan. I think their primary focus right now is the Marriott in Porto (350k) and the Hilton in Evora (280k), or at least those are the two projects that they sent to us initially. Both projects are interesting to us because of the buyback feature. Weāre ok with not generating a significant return on this investment in exchange for the benefits of obtaining the PT passport, but weāre not ok losing a large chunk of our investment so we have a lot of research to do to further understand how solid the buyback guarantee is.
Thanks for that feedback, Brian. I feel the same wayāearning little or no interest is OK but having a buyback problem isnāt. It would be really useful to be able to contact someone who got through the finalization process and actually got the Golden Visa via a Mercan project. It would also be great if we could connect with someone who did the investment but couldnāt get the GV, so we could know whether the buyback happened and on what terms. Also, can we be sure that Mercan itself a highly dependable company? Asking them wonāt help, obviously.
Maybe we can compare notes after our upcoming interviews with Jerry.
Thanks again, Brian.
Best,
Cam
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Thanks, Sachiko.
Yeah, overall the GV investment options are so opaque, feels like such a crapshoot for someone as risk adverse as I tend to be. Also, if iām not mistaken, seems like Mercan is structured with several subsidiaries. Iām guessing thatās to manage their own risk. The end result is that you not only need to understand the risks and solvency of the broader Mercan group, but that of specific subsidiary offering the project as well. For example, seems like one of the projects listed above was offered by their Cambodian subsidiary which is kind of random, lol. Please do keep us updated here and iāll definitely do the same!
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Hi again, Brian.
Iām risk-averse as well and the idea of subsidiaries that pose separate risks is troubling. Once again, reassurances from Mercan itself would be useless (theyāll reassure us no matter what). Finding others who have been through the process would be ideal. But how? Seems that no one on the nomadgate forum has that degree of experience with Mercan.
Iām wondering whether other forum participants have gone through the whole process via other investments (non-Mercan). If some other investment entity has a good, complete, and clear track record, that option would be worth serious consideration.
Best,
Cam
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Hello all,
We are in the process of getting our GV through the Mercan Lapa hotel option. We have our tax id, bank account, and just funded the purchase yesterday. Thankfully our Lawyer is still speaking to us and did not abscond with the money, lol! Yet, anyway.
We chose this because of Mercanās track record, the guaranteed buyback, and we were just generally pleased with the terms of the contract, which we read over completely before moving forward with their package. It was for us just the easiest and most complete package. There are risks inherent with any investment and this one is no different but I think they are as minimal as you can get when sending a huge chunk of your money to a foreign country.
TY,
Stephanie
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Hi. Did you have your conversation yesterday, if so, any thoughts? Mine is scheduled for the end of next weekā¦
Hi again, Brian.
The call went fairly well, I think. Both the Evora and Porto hotel projects are proceeding. The latter has begun work, the former should begin work in a couple of weeks. I pointed out that Mercan originally projected an Oct date, then a Nov date, then a Jan date. But Jerry said that the official/admin hurdles have now been cleared and there should be no problem re startup very shortly. He said also (on my asking) that in Port there arenāt problems re freedom of Port workmen to work on construction, nor have there been supply-chain problems. I donāt know whether to trust in those comments, however.
Jerry did seem in general quite forthcoming, but of course heās a salesman, so one has to be cautious. He said slots are filling up quite quickly. That may well be true (espec giving the looming dates for the limiting legislation to go into effect). But itās also a good selling point.
I asked about the effect of the coming changes. He said itās still not clear just what the changes will be nor when exactly each change comes into effect. I suppose thatās true, but, if so, hadnāt known it.
I asked whether heād give me referrals to clients who have been approved by the Port govt for the Golden Visa (the initial approval, I mean, wch first grants temp residency). He hesitated, then said there were confidentiality/privacy issues. I didnāt press him, but donāt offhand see why he couldnāt contact a client or two and obtain their permission re allowing us to get in touch with them. (Maybe Iām expecting something unreasonable on that score. What do you think?) He did mention a rather famous(?) person, the Points Guy, Brian Kelly, who apparently is getting the Port GV via Mercan/RA Group) and who discusses his experience favorably on his website.
Jerry also said that the guarantee of full return of investment if one doesnāt get approved for the GV or at the end of the 5 or so years is in the contract. (There is never any profit even if the property sale, even though one holds a deed on fractional ownership. I guess thatās Mercanās profit margin?) I asked about what happens if thereās a run on the fund and lots of people cash in before Iād get a chance to. He said there shouldnāt be a problem because Mās level of funding is so good and that, even if there were a run (he very much doubts it), Mercan can easily get a temp loan to cover the buybacks.
Re whether weād have sufficient time before July to reach the grandfathered stage for the GV application, he said we should be fine if we proceed by about April 1. That puts on some pressure but didnāt strike me as being high-pressure, as he didnāt say something like āAct by next Tuesday.ā
I hope that at least some of that feedback may be of help to you. Iād be interested too on your take on the above points. Perhaps there are different yellow flags for you, etc. And I also look fwd to hearing about how your call went. Pls let me know, btw, if you got this message.
Also, could you please explain to me how one sends a Private Message to someone who hasnāt already PMād me? Thanks.
Best regards,
Cam
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Hi. Thanks for the all of the detail. Iām looking forward to my call with him as well.
Did he mention anything about previous completed projects?
Regarding the run on the fund, I wonder what % of his investors are setup with this buyback. If most/all are setup this way, I would have to think that everyone would be looking to cash out in a relatively short time window. But perhaps only a small % of his overall investors are structured this way, iāll ask.
I sent you a private message by selecting the āCā icon near your name in your post. Seemed to work, let me know if it did. Thanks!
Hi again, Brian. (Hope I have your name correct.)
Hi. Thanks for the all of the detail.
Youāre welcome.
Iām looking forward to my call with him as well.
Did he mention anything about previous completed projects?
He referred generally to their being a number elsewhere in the world. Nothing re Port. But, then again, I think Mercan is relatively new to Portugal.
Regarding the run on the fund, I wonder what % of his investors are setup with this buyback.
My assumption is that the buyback is likely part of the overall deal on the Port properties. If it is, itās likely that few would balk at the idea.
If most/all are setup this way, I would have to think that everyone would be looking to cash out in a relatively short time window. But perhaps only a small % of his overall investors are structured this way, iāll ask.
Good idea. What he did say is that most of the clients for the Port GV come from countries whose clients would (for some reason, I donāt know what) want to hold on to the investment rather than cashing in. He said lots of the investors live in places like Iranāthe implication being that theyād want to hold on to Port property, whereas I guess Americans might be apt more to want the GV for its own sake. He also mentioned that more Amer and Brits (because of Brexit) are becoming clients.
I sent you a private message by selecting the āCā icon near your name in your post. Seemed to work, let me know if it did. Thanks!
It did. Thank you! What Iāll do next is go to the icon near your name in the posts and try to PM you from there. Iām curious to know whether it works OK. Maybe we can PM anyone who posts there?
Best,
Cam
I couldnāt Private Message. Tried clicking your icon on the posts but that apparently sent one of your posts out under my name. Strange.
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The buyback is a fundamental part of the package. so itās 100% of investors. You better get something for only getting a 3% or 0% yield.
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While iām sure 100% of GV investors that choose this investment are eligible for the buyback, iām questioning whether 100% of the projectās overall investors are eligible for this buyback. If so, would seem like thereās a likelihood that a large % of investors could conceivably be looking for a buyback at roughly the same time. On the other hand, if GV investors are the only ones eligible for the buyback, and they only comprise a small % of overall project investors, maybe itās a manageable number of people seeking buybacks.
Hi again.
I hope your conversation with Jerry went well. Pls let me know when you have a chance.
Cam
Morning. My meeting doesnāt happen until the end of this week but will definitely let you know how it goes. By the way, I came across another project of theirs that I was not aware of:
The Mercan / RA Group announced their plans to open, in the summer of 2021, a new hotel in Matosinhos, in the district of Porto, with 108 apartments, which represents an investment of 20 million euros.
āThe work of the new Four Points by Sheraton Matosinhos started last October, with the symbolic laying of the first stone by the Mayor of Matosinhos, LuĆsa Salgueiro, and it is running at a good paceā, said the agency Lusa source of the Mercan Group, noting that the unit will allow the creation of ā55 direct jobsā, with the completion of the work scheduled for the āSummer of 2021ā.
To read the full article in Portuguese: https://www.publico.pt/.../matosinhos-vai-novo-hotel-luxoā¦