“The first filter for projects at Urbanitae is the developer”
At Urbanitae, we finance real estate projects with the help of many investors of all kinds—from small savers to family offices. Therefore, our activity has two sides: on one side, the investors—the crowd that finances the bulk of our projects—and on the other, the developers, who are our supply. Aligning both parties is usually easy when quality is the foundation: that is the philosophy we follow at Urbanitae, offering only the best investment opportunities from accredited developers. Today, we speak with Morgana Gómez, Investment Associate at Urbanitae.
What is a typical workday like for Morgana Gómez at Urbanitae?
Now that I am in the most operational part of the team, my main role is the coordination of the Real Estate department with the rest of the company’s departments. I am present in all phases of launching a financing campaign, from the launch of the project on the web to the monitoring of invested capital, including coordination with the Asset Management team, monitoring signings at the notary, etc.
On the other hand, my work is also mainly linked to debt projects, where the disbursements requested by developers are supervised together with project monitoring, which is responsible for validating them.
“I believe the concept of crowdfunding itself will play a fundamental role in financing all types of real estate projects.”
When a company grows as fast as Urbanitae has, it demands more elaborate processes, as well as points of connection between the different departments that comprise it. Let’s say I am one of those points: I coordinate the Investments team with the rest of the agents—both internal and external—so that the entire life of a project—from its analysis to its return—has an effective and clear thread for all stakeholders.
Morgana, before joining Urbanitae you had mostly worked in auditing… How was the transition to the real estate sector?
It was a completely unexpected change. When I joined, I knew nothing about the sector; I barely knew what a real estate developer was! But Urbanitae has been a great school, also because of the very professional colleagues I have met, who have accompanied me throughout this learning process.
You joined Urbanitae at the end of 2020. How would you say the real estate crowdfunding sector has changed since then?
I was one of the first people to join the company: back then, the investment team was Jorge Turégano and me. At that time, we did one or two projects a month of about €450,000. Now, however, we fund projects of €5,000,000 in minutes and launch financing campaigns almost every week. Experiencing the growth has been incredible, and I believe the concept of crowdfunding itself will play a fundamental role in financing all types of real estate projects.
How do you see the sector in Spain? How much potential does crowdfunding have?
As I mentioned, and although I think it’s difficult to summarize the trends of such a complex sector, I think it is clearly on the rise. And not only in the real estate sector, but conceptually crowdfunding will allow small investors to be present in many other markets that they would not have access to otherwise.
When examining projects, what are Urbanitae’s red lines?
Although it depends a lot on the type of project, I would say that the main red lines of a project are license/permits risk, commercial risk, and construction cost increase risk. Although all of these can be significantly mitigated by the alliance with top-tier developers—the first filter a project must pass is the developer, knowing well who it comes from—they are always critical points that we must carefully measure when publishing a project on the platform.
At Urbanitae, we have external experts who carry out very rigorous due diligence on the aforementioned red lines, allowing us to have a more critical eye on operations.
“On average, I would say that in around 2-3 weeks we can have everything ready to open the project for financing.”
Each project must be unanimously approved by the Investment Committee. Have you led any that did not make the cut?
Not just one! Being with the company for almost four years has allowed not only me but the entire team to see all kinds of projects. This detailed view of the market, as well as past mistakes, has given us a critical eye that allows Urbanitae to choose the best projects in the sector for announcement on the platform.
How long can it take from considering a project to opening it for financing?
Here, the relationship we have with the developer greatly influences. There are managers with whom we have done two, three, or more projects and who know our way of working, so when presenting a project, they have all the necessary documentation much more prepared than those contacting the platform for the first time. But on average, I would say that in around 2-3 weeks, we can have everything ready to open the project for financing.