Bofiya – Real Estate Crowdfunding

Menu

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers
Bofiya is a digital real estate platform that lets you invest with a very small amount in great real estate deals. It’s much safer and affordable than buying property yourself because it’s all done online and the experience is simple, transparent and hassle free.
Anyone above the age of 18 is allowed to invest on Bofiya provided they pass our DFSA mandated compliances.
You are in control of your funds in your digital wallet completely. The investments and digital wallet are administered by Bofiya, a financially regulated platform. Bofiya is required to provide regular reports to the regulator on the client money account and conduct regular independent audits on the client money account. Think of your digital wallet like a separate bank account to keep your capital safe to invest on the Bofiya platform. You can add or withdraw your funds from your digital wallet at any time at no charge to you. Please note: standard bank charges may apply at withdrawal depending on your bank. These charges are independent of Bofiya.

You sign up, browse our investment plans in detail, complete your profile, fund your wallet and start investing.

The onboarding procedure will run checks in real-time and require you to provide some information about yourself and supporting documents like your passport and proof of address. This is to ensure compliance with the DFSA’s Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes.

 

After clearing the compliance checks, you may then proceed to deposit funds via wire transfer or other payment method made available by Bofiya. Once Bofiya has received your funds, they will be credited in your wallet as available balance and you may then use the funds to invest in one of our properties.

Bofiyais is not Shariah certified but follows Shariah investing principles. No interest is used to structure any investment on the Bofiya platform. Bofiya provides 100% equity-based real estate investing options for its investors.

You can invest in any property on Bofiya for as low as AED 5000.

Unless you are a Professional Client, you may invest up to AED 183,625 in any single calendar year. If you are a Professional Client you may invest as much as you like on Bofiya.

 

In addition, no single investor may buy more than a 33% share in any single property on Bofiya. Lastly, the availability of investments in a given opportunity is limited to the total target amount being raised for that opportunity. In other words, if you are looking to invest in a property with a total investment cost of AED 200,000 at the time when it is 90% sold, you may not invest more than AED 20,000 in this opportunity, which is the remaining 10% share that is available for investment at that time.

All our properties will be divided into shares worth $0.01 or AED 0.03674 each. So for the minimum investment of AED2,000 you will get 54,436 shares in a property. If the property is being acquired for AED200,000 it will be divided into 5,443,658 shares and for the minimum investment of AED2,000 you will own 1% of it.
All our properties will be divided into shares worth $0.01 or AED 0.03674 each. So for the minimum investment of AED2,000 you will get 54,436 shares in a property. If the property is being acquired for AED200,000 it will be divided into 5,443,658 shares and for the minimum investment of AED2,000 you will own 1% of it.
All money in your Bofiya wallet is held in segregated accounts with our custodian bank in Dubai, Emirates NBD, and managed according to the DFSA Client Money Rules.

At Bofiya, we take transparency very seriously. All properties on Bofiya will have their third-party valuation report updated on a semiannual basis and made available to investors on the platform. You can at all times view the estimated market value of your stakes on your dashboard, which is based on the latest valuation reports of your properties. You can also track the performance/unrealized gain or loss on each of your investments. This gives all Bofiya investors accuracy and transparency on what their investment is worth.

Investors can sell their shares at any time they wish, although Bofiya recommends a holding period of 5 years. At the end of the recommended holding term, a mandatory vote is called where investors are given the option to vote on whether they would like to sell their investments at market value when each property is evaluated by an independent Real Estate Regulation Authority (RERA) approved valuator. This vote can be called sooner by Bofiya, or any of the investors for valid reasons. The vote is based on the proportionate weighing of your investment, meaning if you own 10% of the shares in the property your vote carries 10% weight. We don’t allow anyone to own more than 24.90%, hence we require at least 5 people to each property and a minimum of 3 to agree to make a decision. This is designed to ensure no one person is making decisions on behalf of everyone. The vote is a simple majority vote, meaning the need to reach the 51% threshold for a decision. E.g. 60% of the shareholders decide to sell their shares, then those shares are re-listed on the platform as a new listing to replace those 60% shareholders with new ones. If we are unable to find a replacement for 60% then the property is sold in the open market and everyone is exited. In a situation where 40% decide to sell and 60% decide to retain the investment, we will list 40% on the platform to replace the shareholders. If we are unable to secure necessary funding, the 40% will have to retain their ownership along with the majority.

 

We will also be launching a secondary market in the second half of 2021 where you will be able to sell your shares at any point in time. This will provide you with more options to exit your investment. Remember, real estate should not be treated as a speculative asset. It is a great investment for those who have the appetite to weather out short-term economic fluctuations.

Investing in Real Estate is a marathon, not a sprint, so we highly recommend that you hold on to your shares until the end of the recommended Investment Term, which is usually 5 years. We do so because we believe that is when investors will be able to maximize their exit value.

 

However, we understand that circumstances change. As a result, we are working on creating a secondary market on Bofiya where we will match sellers with buyers. You will then be able to offer your shares to other Bofiya investors looking to get in on the subject property during its Investment Term. Secondary trading will be guided by the latest valuation report on the property. However, the final transaction price will be decided between the parties buying and selling. More details regarding the secondary market will be made available in due course.

 

In summary, Real Estate is a long-term investment and we encourage all investors to look at it that way.

As a DFSA regulated entity, we are required to do a background check on all of our investors. This is part of our Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes. This is to keep our platform secure from any fraudulent activity and aims to give you peace of mind that we are accountable to one of the leading financial regulators in the world.
Yes. Bofiya is required by the DFSA to keep all client information up to date.
It’s simple and free. You can register on the platform and create an account within a couple of minutes. After you have registered, you can go through all available investment opportunities and get full access to the details on each, including but not limited to the property’s floor plan, a Bofiya investment memo, a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) produced by a trusted third party data provider, and Projected Financials.

Real Estate is a tangible and stable asset class that has been a leading performer of returns throughout history. It is a favorite among large institutional and High Net Worth investors for many reasons including:

 

  1. Real Estate grows in value over long periods of time and is less volatile than public financial markets, offering stability in turbulent times.
  2. Real Estate is a hedge against inflation and currency depreciation and a good store of value.
  3. Real Estate is a productive asset that generates predictable income from rent.
  4. When included in a diversified portfolio of different asset classes, Real Estate enhances the quality of the risk-return profile of the portfolio.
Dubai is a leading international hub for trade, tourism and capital. With its world-class connectivity and infrastructure, the city is the gateway to growth markets, filling the time-zone gap between leading financial centers of the West and East. It is also a stable destination of choice for people within a six-hour flight radius, offering a lifestyle that is globally recognized and attracts organizations and talent from all over the world

When you invest in a property on Bofiya, you are investing in the shares of an Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will own the title deed to the subject property. All investors in a property will be issued shares in the SPV in proportion to the amount they invested.

 

Please note all SPVs that hold title to properties bought through Bofiya will be administered by Bofiya over the full term of these investments. Please refer to the Terms & Conditions for more details.