Home buying has become even more difficult during the last 18 months. Prices are becoming almost impossible for most to afford, inventory is very low, and rates are starting to increase. According to WSJ, Millennials now have the largest share of homebuyers in the US and they are looking for more creative ways to buy a home. This is a differing viewpoint from their parents and past generations where owning a home was a one-person or family thing. Now there are options to purchase fractional homeownership. Fractional homeownership allows for multiple people to ‘buy in’ to the home and share in the use and care.
One startup that is approaching this differently is Beachedge which uses its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) platform to merge data from various lot listings and compare it to idea parameters, resulting in opportunities for homeowners to purchase income-generating beach houses across the United States and the world. BeachEdge acquires coastal land using a checklist of data points that are ranked through the AI platform. Data includes, among others: rental demand, revenue growth, and how investable a home would be as a short-term rental.
“Though the country is currently seeing a major shortage of available homes, there are many coastal lots that sit vacantly; so we aim to revitalize little-known beachfront towns that have the potential to become vacation spots,” said Nikhil Couhdhary, BeachEdge Founder and CEO. “Our goal is to help stimulate the local economy while making a beautiful beachfront home accessible, affordable, and hassle-free.”
The BeachEdge process is easy for homeowners who dream of purchasing a beach home as a short-term rental/second home. Buyers will first get to choose an available lot from the platform based on drivable hours from their city. They may also customize the interior and exterior components of their home using a virtual reality model, and select both lending and building partner through the platform – all while working within the confines of their budget. BeachEdge also plans to incorporate rental management agencies in the process to help homeowners rent their homes, subsequently earning a passive income.
BeachEdge is unique in that it utilizes hybrid construction technology, which is ideal, should labour shortages arise. Both labour and material costs are reduced by building both off-site and on-site. All smart homes that BeachEdge constructs are LEED-certified to reduce costs and minimize energy use and include EV charging stations, greywater recycling, and solar panels.
Companies like Beachedge give the average consumer a way to enjoy what used to only be available to the wealthy.
