Matthew Sullivan, CEO of QuantmRE, Inc – Interview Series

Matthew Sullivan is the CEO and Founder of QuantmRE. A seasoned entrepreneur, Matthew has a proven track record in real estate innovation through his experiences as Co-Founder of the $50M Secured Real Estate Income Strategies Fund, and as Founder and President of Crowdventure.com, a real estate crowdfunding company.

AT: QuantmRE invests in single family owner-occupied real estate via an equity share. Can you share with us how this works?

MS: QuantmRE’s EQRE Agreements allow the owners of single-family detached properties and condominiums the ability to grant an economic right to some portion of the future appreciation of the property in exchange for a fee or other consideration.

An EQRE Agreement is not a loan or credit-based transaction, but rather is an equity-based consumer finance instrument designed as an alternative to traditional mortgage debt.

The proceeds paid to the homeowner may be used for supplementing retirement income and funds, improving the property, reducing debt, investment diversification and other financial purposes.

AT: Is there a transfer of title on the property?

MS: No – the homeowner remains listed as owner on title. QuantmRE will record with the county recorder’s office a Performance Deed of Trust on your property. This is a lien on the property that protects our interests, but is not a loan, security or swap instrument. Our agreement with the homeowner is simply a consumer contract that memorializes our investment in the property.

AT: Could you share with us your underwriting criteria when it comes to entering into these equity agreements?

MS: We use a three-tier underwriting standard based on the equity position in the home. Each tier takes into account initial LTV, origination combined LTV, and depending on tier, some level of FICO and mortgage performance history.  Post-transaction, maximum CLTV is 90%.

AT: You’ve stated that you are focusing on California property. Are there specific regions or cities in California that you either avoid or target?

MS: As returns on the EQRE Fund are determined by the increase in value of the underlying assets, we intend to target the areas in California that are likely to see healthy asset price appreciation.

AT: What happens to the equity once a homeowner sells their home or if the homeowner wants to repay QuantmRE before they sell their home?

MS: The homeowner sells a percentage of the equity in their home to QuantmRE. In exchange we pay the homeowner with US$. This real estate asset that we have purchased from the homeowner, a percentage of the equity in their home, goes into a pool with other equity from other homeowners. Our investment tokens are irrevocably tied to these pools of assets. Proceeds received from the sale of our investment tokens will be used to fund the purchase of additional fractional equity interests in single family residences.

When a homeowner sells their home, they pay QuantmRE the value of the percentage of equity that we originally bought, plus any agreed appreciation / depreciation associated with our equity portion.

If the homeowner wants to repay QuantmRE and not sell their home, the repayment amount will be based on the value of the home at the time of the proposed repayment, within certain provisions in our agreement to ensure that QuantmRE does not unnecessarily take a loss on equity in the event that market conditions are not favorable at that time.

AT: You often mention the term “equity freedom.” What does this mean and how does it benefit the homeowner?

MS: We describe our service as ‘Equity Freedom’ as there is no loan, interest charges or monthly payments associated with the arrangement. Our Shared Equity program is designed to enable homeowners to release the so-called ‘dead money’ that is locked up in the equity in their homes without taking on more debt. That means owner-occupiers, owners of second homes, vacation properties and income/rental homes could get access to significant amounts of capital with no interest to pay, no monthly payments, and no restrictions on how they might spend the money.

AT: What happens if the homeowner stops paying the property tax or mortgage payments?

MS: The property owner has responsibility to properly maintain the property, pay all property taxes on time and make sure that the property is properly insured in accordance with the provisions of the shared equity agreement with QuantmRE. If the homeowner is unable to make these payments, QuantmRE may step in and assist the homeowner in order to protect our asset, however payment of the home mortgage and all taxes is an important and key term of our agreement.

AT: You chose to partner with Securrency for investor onboarding and token minting. Can you tell us more about this partnership?

MS: Securrency provides a critical technology piece on QuantmRE’s offering, which is to provide an off-chain validation service that enables us to control the distribution of our asset-backed tokens. With Securrency’s technology, we are able to ascertain the KYC and AML status of a prospective investor, issue securities tokens and track the change of ownership down to a fractional level. The ability to maintain an updated cap table is a critical securities law requirement, as is the ability to distribute dividends and replace lost or stolen tokens. Most important, Securrency enables us to reliably control how, where and when our tokens move from wallet to wallet. This means that we are able to meet the most stringent BSA, AML and KYC requirements for our offerings, both to national and international investors.

AT: You've partnered with Prime Trust, could you tell us more about this partnership?

MS: QuantmRE's partnership with Prime Trust enables investors to buy EQRE securities tokens without the need for their own digital wallet – Prime Trust acts as the regulated and insured custodian for these digital assets and is able to hold digital assets such as EQRE on behalf of the investor.

AT: Can you let us know when you expect to launch the STO for the EQRE token?

MS: Accredited investors are able to invest in EQRE tokens today by visiting www.QuantmRE.com.

AT:  Is there anything else that you would like to share about QuantmRE?

By bringing Blockchain technologies to the real-estate sector in a regulated and compliant way, QuantmRE is re-imagining the way houses are financed. At the same time we are solving a number of problems relating to the intrinsic value of tokens which we believe will generate new levels of trust for asset-backed tokens and provide the launchpad for the mass adoption of crypto security token offerings.

Thank you for the interview, this sounds like one of the more unique real estate projects out there. For those who wish to learn more visit the QuantmRE STO website or view the QuantmRE token listing details page.