Year in review, 2023 projects : a word from the club manager

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The CIPG club team joins me in wishing you a wonderful year 2023 !

On the personal investment side, I took the time to boost the rental yields of my old garages. Some rents were not up to the level of the proposed service and well below the market price. I still maintained an aggressive pricing strategy on a lot of 7 parking spaces for which I am aiming for a permanent 100 % fill rate. I still haven’t found a new warehouse to expand my business model of storage, warehousing and winterization of vehicles. It must be said that the price of premises in good condition has soared this year and the increase in credit rates force me to find a smaller premises to finance it with personal finances and without a mortgage. With my partner, we have studied solutions to reorganize and expand the current space of our warehouse to accommodate even more tenants. I will soon provide you with a complete explanation and figures on the forum.

Nothing has really changed during this year, the properties intended for housing that we hold with my companion, are always time consuming. Their profitability is quite average compared to the rental investments we have made in the real estate niche. But the houses remain another source of complementary incomes, it is the strategy of diversification that we decided and from my point of view the real estate is so vast that it is necessary to have a little of everything so that a patrimony is effective in the time. Enough about me, we will now see the balance sheet of the club, since this is the purpose of this article.

10 years since our club exists, what a journey we have made in the last few years! I recently had discussions with some of the historical members of the club, the evolution of our site is incredible. If someone had told me 10 years ago that our community would be so big, that we would develop tools such as online rental management and accounting. I would like to thank the members of the volunteer team who help me so much. Thank you also to all the members for making this community live and grow on a daily basis, it is above all your success and thanks to you that we are still here 10 years later to help and accompany you.

18 benefits of the CIPG club

There are two questions that I would like to see disappear in 2023. The readers of our blog often ask us : “I don’t see what the club will bring me”, they expect a rousing explanation with all the advantages and unfortunately I have to admit that we don’t have time to oversell the club. The other question comes from some members : “sorry I didn’t find this feature”. We are lucky that our webmaster is patient, a big thank you to him, by the way, and that he spends a lot of time to simplify the exchange platform. Look in your toolbox, there are shortcuts to all the modules on the site. On the occasion of the 2023 greetings, I will make a summary of the big advantages of the club according to your real estate situation :

Investor

1. Strategies and business models : we present profitable strategies to help you make money with the real estate niche.
2. Finding the right deals : it’s a daily challenge especially with the current situation, but we see that there are still nuggets and good deals to be made !
3. Barometer : reassure yourself with our barometer to evaluate the value of a property.
4. Qualitative simulators : 7 tools to save time, calculate the profitability and cash flow of a project. Explain your needs and we will develop our simulators.
5. Invest serenely : take advantage of the experience of a community to avoid pitfalls, scams and get valuable advice to succeed in your rental investments.
6. Negotiate : use the tips of other investors to negotiate the purchase price and then your bank loan.

Lessor owner

1. Find serious tenants : use the experience of others to create a strategy and select good tenants.
2. Manage on your own : use our online rental management and accounting modules to manage on your own, without agencies and without hidden costs.
3. Sample contracts, letters and documents : 22 sample letters, contracts and documents, all validated by a legal expert, are at your disposal.
4. Put the law on your side : you will never again be alone to face problems with your tenants. Our rental team will help you on a daily basis.
5. Tax optimization : discover the tax optimization offered by the real estate niche thanks to our experts.
6. Boost your rental income : our members share service ideas or tips to help you boost your rental income.
7. Save time : your tenants ask too many questions, save time and send them to our dedicated space : https://www.parking-garage.com/en/tenant-space/

Real estate salesperson (professional accepted)

1. Valuation of your property : assistance in finding the right price for your property for sale.
2. Identify the curious : we have created a module where our vendor members share their experiences so you won’t waste your time.
3. Showcase your property : club members have a great showcase to highlight their properties for sale. Beyond our classified ads, we can write an entire article dedicated to the property you are selling and share it with all our readers.
4. Interact with a community of buyers : you have free rein to reach out directly to the club’s investors, but also their feedback to better position your offer.
5. Selling at no cost : apart from the club membership fee, we do not take a commission on sales made within our club.

You are a merchant, we accept everyone in our club. There is no different rate for companies, the only rule imposed is to be moderate in the self-promotion of your services. We have in our club real estate professionals who publish ads of properties for sale that we promote to our community.

Tenant

Sorry, our club was created to help investors and landlords, our vocation is to defend them. We are not a collective of mutual aid to tenants, we have created a space dedicated to tenants, customers of our members. The sole purpose of this tenant space is to provide a page for our landlord members to refer their tenants with common questions.

The year 2022 : constructive exchanges

The problems and difficulties of 2021 are far behind us. The year 2022 has flown by, the forum remains the cornerstone of our community with over 734 exchanges to date. Thank you for all the contributions you have left in the forum or in our training modules. Sharing experiences is important to help others progress.

The community is growing well

We had already talked about it during last year’s review, when a group grows too fast it is the beginning of problems. I refuse to go back to the problems of the year 2021, this nightmare was not interesting for anyone.

The one-time membership closure is working well. It was implemented last year to reduce the workload of the team during the membership waves. We have been able to better support new members to the club and have been able to correct the exercises in the training modules very quickly. In 2023, I will be closing memberships even faster and longer than the previous year to allow the club team to better handle the influx of new people on the platform.

Lack of time

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that all the problems of the previous year are solved. We had noticed a big increase in the content sent by our members, to update our training modules and our blog articles. I warmly thank all contributors for the excellent feedback and information sharing. We have already updated several contents, without catching up with the previous year. Unfortunately, we are running out of time to take these contents and integrate them into the site.

Indeed, the members of the team and myself are all salaried employees, executives or company managers so our actions on the site are voluntary and punctual. Our time is precious, that’s why I’m going to set an achievable goal that you’ll discover a little further down.

How the investor club will evolve in 2023

The line of conduct in 2023 remains the same, the main objective is to help you to invest and manage your real estate alone.

▶ Did you know : Our club operates on a win/win model. Each member receives help and shares his or her experience, and all membership fees fund the evolution of our site.

Membership Fees

I had frozen the price of the membership fees for 3 years but everything has increased. Our main expenses are related to the development of the website modules and the price of consultations with real estate and legal experts. The latter have risen sharply, which is why we have to pass on this increase to the club’s members. Click here to discover our new offers.

It is obvious that the members who subscribed before the increase of the rates will not be impacted by this increase. Too bad for those who hesitate, you had to join the club before 2023… I reassure you, the increase remains low and you still have the choice between the membership without subscription and without commitment and the subscription with a preferential rate.

The subscription is the ideal formula to benefit from a fixed rate over time. As a proof, some of our former members who after 10 years still pay a derisory fee compared to the new services offered. I would like to thank these members for their unfailing loyalty and confirm my intention to preserve the old subscriptions for several years!

The 2023 budget remains the same as the previous year. The portion of your membership fee dedicated to support remains at 82%. The development of the club through advertising remains at 8% and the operating costs of the platform remain at 10%. We have found a budget distribution that works well and I am counting on new memberships to maintain it.

Platinum status 💎 5-year membership

The Platinium status 💎 (Premium membership for 5 years) is very much in demand, thanks to its hyper advantageous no-commitment rate and the guarantee without increase for 60 months. I reserve this promotional offer for club members with 3 years of seniority, who will be able to take this status upon request. I know that many of you are disappointed by this decision, but you will understand that I prefer to reward the loyalty of some members rather than to make the community grow. Rest assured, the Platinium status 💎 will be available to everyone on Black Friday 2023.

Big change expected in the real estate barometer

We are going to completely revise our real estate barometer to improve it and make it evolve more easily according to the feedback from the field. This simulator will no longer be a simple Excel document but a more intelligent and more efficient version directly online on our site. This new version will better integrate the real estate type: warehouse, hangar, local, store and commercial walls.

Update our content

As I explained earlier, we have many contributions to publish on the platform. I am aware that it is the richness of the contents which founds the quality of our platform. The goal set in 2023 is achievable: update 2 topics per month. While leaving the priority to the private articles and the training modules of the platform, reserved to the members of the club. The forum will also have new contents and we must improve the management of sub-forum for private groups and collectives.

Payment of rents via the platform and without fees

The showcase sheets present the rentals of the club members. Premium members ✨ of the club can activate online booking, payment of the deposit, first rent, and then online signing of the rental contract. Today, you cash on your personal account Paypal or Stripe the deposit and the first rent, the CIPG club does not take any fees on this transaction since we integrate directly your payment module on your dedicated page. Only the platforms Paypal and Stripe charge fees related to the banking transaction.

Several members have asked me for the possibility that their tenants pay their rent by credit card directly on our site. After checking the feasibility with our webmaster, we have no technical reason to refuse this request, we will soon exchange with the concerned members to set up a secure access for your tenants. With this solution, the club will not take any fees on your rents, neither for you nor for your tenants. However, keep in mind that Paypal and Stripe will charge you fees for each transaction (2.9 % of the price + € 0.35 for Paypal and 1.4 % of the price + € 0.25 for Stripe). Members who wish to reduce their fees by switching to Strip can be assisted by our webmaster, so please ask.

Keep club members better informed

Another point that comes up often is perhaps the lack of communication on the club side. Many of you write to me to tell me that a content you had read has evolved and that you discovered it by chance. It is true that we do not like to send too many emails per month, the notifications of the forum are already numerous, reflecting the activity of the latter. Be reassured, I have taken note to send you a small message when a private content is updated, I understood the importance especially that in 2023 we will put the package on the update of our articles.

If you were to join the team in 2023

To date, the volunteer team is composed of 14 volunteers, that I will never thank enough for the work provided in this beautiful adventure. If you want to devote a little time for the life of the club, contact me via the site or by phone (you will find it on the dashboard of your personalized support), we will be delighted to welcome you in a sub-team :

• blog that writes the articles and updates the training content of the exchange platform. They are looking for people in 2023 !
• forum which organizes, animates and moderates the exchanges on the community forum. They too are recruiting in 2023 !
• rental which exchanges with tenants and helps landlords manage their rentals.
• adminsitrative handles the administrative management of the club and our document templates.
• community manager who manages the communication by mail and on social networks.

Conclusion

It is impossible to say with certainty what will really happen in 2023 on the real estate market. It is difficult to predict the future of rental investment, but one thing is sure : CIPG club will be at your side again this year to help you realize your projects and manage your tenants. The platform is made for you, it is your private space. What should be changed or improved? Do not hesitate to tell us your expectations and your ideas for improvement by leaving a private and anonymous comment at the bottom of this article.

If you want to help our club, it is very simple. You can :
– View our content and take action by joining our club,
– Share your experiences with the community,
– Follow and share our activity on social networks,
– Recommend the CIPG club to people who want to create additional income.

THANK YOU, for your numerous messages. It is thanks to you that our club has become the reference for investors and owners of parking lots, garages, storage rooms, cellars, containers, stores, sheds and warehouses !

What are your rental income goals for 2023 ? Will you take the plunge and join the winners club ?