Buying Global Real Estate: How Nikolaus Thomale and Myne Homes Makes Global Ownership Easy | S2 Ep. 159

0:05Good day and welcome to the Founder Story. I am Vanessa Panes your host. Today we are going to have Nicolas Tomale who is the founder and CEO of Mine Homes the leading European European platform for co-ownership vacation. homes. Nicholas, welcome. Vanessa, thanks for having me. Our pleasure. So, Nicholas, my first question for you would be, more than 50 % of the population dreams of owning a second home, but only as little as 2 % do. Why is that? Well, that's a really good question because it's probably something that we've all experienced, right? You spend time at a really nice place, your vacation maybe with family and friends and at some point somebody comes up with this idea of maybe owning a second home there at this place and really staying there a lot more time and a lot of people do and less than two percent as you rightfully mentioned actually turned this dream into reality and that's mainly for three reasons number one is affordability right a dream home a second home especially like three four bedrooms right next to the sea it has become really really expensive and most people simply can't afford them.

1:19And the second reason is that these homes then actually sit empty 80 % of the year. So underutilization of these places is a really big issue. That means the waste of economical, ecological and socioeconomical resources, right? So a lot of people who can afford actually don't want to because of this underutilization. And then there's a third reason that basically puts the rest of them off, which is complexity and all the headaches that go ahead with owning a place in a different place, away from home, maybe a different jurisdiction, different tax environment, language, cultures, which is just like adding so much stress and complexity to the actual dream of a second home.

2:02And that's just three of the reasons why there's as little as 2 % actually turning their dream into reality. Basically, what we are hearing is there's a lot of pros and cons for owning as well a second home. So being the founder and CEO of Mine Homes, what does Mine do to solve this problem? And how does your company work? Well, Mine actually simplifies ownership significantly. And we specialize in fractional ownership of luxury vacation homes, meaning up to eight people share such a home. Imagine a 2 million home like the place right behind me, which you could now own one eighth of for as little as 250K, which makes it a lot more affordable for a lot more people.

2:50And mine handles everything from property management, from maintenance, through owner storage of personal items. We fit these properties out till the teaspoon, as we say. And it's really like being able to access this place and own it for a fraction of the cost. We have sold more than 100 million worth of homes across thought after destinations all across Europe, like on Mallorca and the Tuscany and the Alps. And it's just like incredible to see how this ownership of a second home becomes affordable and effortless for a lot more people so they can enjoy all the perks of owning a premium second home without the husk.

3:33That is very impressive. Nikolas, can you tell us, can people from the United States or from the UK buy in Europe? Yeah, absolutely. So we are a European company. our destinations that we service and that we operate in are all across Europe and it is absolutely possible for people from outside of Europe so for example the US or the UK to actually invest in a mine share or multiple shares and it's actually something that makes it easier for especially people who are not from Europe originally because you can imagine investing today in a different jurisdiction, in a different country, with a different language, is probably even more stressful and complex for someone from the US.

4:20And since Brexit, the same thing goes for the UK, unfortunately. There's even barriers to entry, especially for people who are not from the EU. In some destinations, you can't really buy without being an EU citizen, which mind solves as well because buying a share, fractional ownership of a home like that is actually possible for US citizens or UK citizens as well. That's good to know. Thank you. So if people bought a share, for example, like two years ago and now they want to sell their share, how does that process work and do they sell it like a whole homeowner? Yeah, it's absolutely the same thing as just selling your home home.

5:04it's maybe just very much easier than selling your home home right so you sell your share and since you own a fraction of the real estate one eighth or one quarter you sell that share as you would sell the whole home and you set your own price we can support you with that and as properties appreciate it's just like traditional real estate the price of these shares goes with the market, of course. We have done a lot of successful resale transactions in the past with owners seeing 10 % average appreciation on their share sales. And so we really see that also the secondary market is something that is thriving and based on the simplicity of the transaction makes it a very effortless thing to do as well.

5:55I'm sure many will appreciate that you could sell it like faster, easier than selling like a traditional home. So Nikolas, how is Mindshare different from a timeshare that many of the people know about? Yeah, well, especially in the US and in the UK, you might have heard of timeshares, a concept of the past. And I think the main difference is really that mine is co-ownership and not timesharing. You own a real fraction of the property. It's real estate and not just time that you are owning. Think of buying with friends or with family just without the hassle because you don't need to know the other owners.

6:33This is something that mine manages for you as well as the whole experience from start to finish by finding the right properties, checking whether they are legally properly built and so on, technically property built, to furnishing, paying the bills, maintaining the home and everything around that. This is all covered and owners simply enjoy their stays without worrying about the hassle. So talk to me about the interest rates. Does this model work in both low and high interest rate environments? Absolutely. We see mine thriving in all interest rate environments. We have been started in a low interest rate environment and And we actually see a lot of interest and increased demand even in high interest environments.

7:22Because over the last two and a half years, you have seen even less people being able or wanting to afford a second home because of the higher interest. And fractional ownership or co-ownership are just making a lot more sense as well. We have sold more than$100 million in real estate across 20 markets with our owners booking more than 10 ,000 stay nights over the last couple of years. And this is really something that high rates couldn't stop, but actually where high rates became a tailwind rather than a headwind. Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Nikolas. Now, I would like to hear about your exit strategies as the founder of MINE.

8:02Is an IPO on the horizon for you? Vanessa, to answer this, I think we all have to have a glass, have to be able to look into a glass bowl in the future. But yeah, I mean, we think this is a product and a company that definitely has the potential to go public when the timing is right. And that means right in terms of the market and for the company. We are a very mission driven company. And the goal is to make home ownership and second home ownership accessible to more people. and connecting families with unused second homes, just as M &B, for example, connected travelers with empty bedrooms, right?

8:46And this is a huge, huge opportunity. We talk about a 4.9 trillion euro asset class in Europe alone, second homes, as I mentioned before, being extremely underutilized and this massive gap to close between the people that dream of owning a second home and those who actually do. This is something that we believe really is a great vision to aspire, a great mission to work on. And yeah, when the timing is right and the market is right, we might also bring the company public. Well, we look forward to Mine Homes' promising future, Nicolas. So how can we get started with Mine Homes? You can basically just come to our website, www.mine-homes.com.

9:33You can just browse and find beautiful properties all across Europe. And if you want, since it's a completely digital process, you would be an owner tomorrow and spend your first holiday in one of these properties in a couple of days or weeks from now. Of course, there's also possibilities to talk to our agents who can also offer you a viewing at the site and walk you through the process. We're here to help. That is so exciting. Now, all of us wants to buy a second home. Thank you so much for joining us. The Founders Story, Nicolas. Thank you, Vanessa.