EcoHouse Group Warns Investors About Emerging Scams and Ponzi Schemes

Award winning international property developer EcoHouse Groups warns current and potential investors about emerging scams and ponzi schemes coming out of Brazil.

EcoHouse Group is an award winning Anglo-Brazilian construction and Investment Company dedicated to bringing and end to poverty and homelessness in the over populated Brazilian urban centres due to an increasing housing shortage for the growing Brazilian middle class. Ecohouse Group have recently been involved in a campaign to increase the awareness of potential scams and ponzi schemes currently coming out of Brazil which are targeted towards the popular Minha Casa Minah Vida social housing programme and other property related business models.

Minha Casa Minha Vida, whish means 'My House My Life' In English is a government programme that was specifically launched to reduce the massive housing deficit in the country. EcoHouse are one of a small number of developers who speed up their building process by raising funds through investment rather than going though the long drawn out process of getting funding from the banks.
EcoHouse have been very successful and have already paid out millions to investors over last 3 years. Unfortunately this success has caught the eye of scam and boiler room companies, hell bent on relieving you of your hard earn cash and giving you nothing in return, this has become a thorn in the side for EcoHouse who have had their own investors questioning the validity of the programme and the investment EcoHouse offer.

EcoHouse have publicly reassured investors that they do not partnership with any of the scam and ponzi companies recently exposed and that some of these companies simply mention EcoHouse to convince their victims to invest, a tactic we are seeing more and more as EcoHouse grow as a company and become one of the largest real estate group in North East Brazil .

In a recent online campaign to increase awareness and to put investors minds at ease, EcoHouse have launched - amongst other things - a new Flickr page to showcase their developments and other interests such as retail, hospitality, premium homes and restaurants , the Flickr page is an excellent resource which allows current investors and potential investors the opportunity to follow the build progress on the numerous Minha Casa Minha Vida developments that the company has  underway  throughout North East Brazil as well as numerous  photo sets showing entire social housing projects from start to finish as well as photo sets showing actual investors visiting the sites seeing first hand how their funds are being spent.

Seeing building work, completed projects and actual investors touring the sites is very reassuring for investors as a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment business based on a nonexistent financial reality or business model that pays returns to its investors from their own money or from the money paid in by new investors, rather than from profit earned by a real business or project. These schemes usually run for a couple of years until they collapse due to investors either drying up or the scheme getting stopped by the authorities.

New funding for Brazil’s famous and historic sites

Brazil is justly proud of its rich colonial and historical heritage and the buildings and monuments that are so intriguing to millions of tourists every year.
 

So, in order to develop the concept further, President Dilma Rousseff has announced recently a massive new national investment in the country’s tourist sites, particularly the historic ones. She and her administration feel strongly that there is still a great deal of untapped tourist potential for these areas and they are determined to invest to develop it.
 

On Tuesday 20th August Mrs. Rousseff made a keynote speech on the topic in the old colonial city of Sao Joao del Rei, situated in the state of Minas Gerais. “I have no doubt” she declared “that our historic cities are an extraordinary testimonial to our country and our people.”
 

She went on to explain that her government is committing an investment of more than 1.5 Billion Brazilian Reais to the project (that’s equal to about 660 million US Dollars). The money will be allocated among a number of prime locations and the cities and towns that administer them. The two-year programme will operate in several stages, the first of which to include about 40 different locations throughout the nation.
 

The sites will be allowed and encouraged to spend targeted money not just on restoring buildings and other structures but also associated social and cultural development locations too.
 

The various municipalities, working together with the national government, have already identified 425 historical building and outdoor areas that are in need of restoration, either major or minor.
 

But what exactly are the main (or most popular) tourist sites in Brazil? Opinions differ of course but on anyone’s list the following must surely appear (together with many others).

• The Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. This celebrated structure overlooks a huge area, located as it is on top of the seven hundred metre tall Corcovado Mountain. The statue itself, with the famous outstretched arms of the Saviour, is very nearly forty metres tall and is visited by many thousands of people on average every week.
• The Carnival in Rio. This annual event attracts over two million people for each day it performs. Other cities have carnivals too but nothing to rival this.
• Ouro Preto. The name of this colonial gold-rush town means ‘black gold’. It boasts a wealth of churches and municipal buildings dating back to the 1700’s or even earlier.
• The Amazon River. The world’s second longest river (some say the first) at more than four thousand miles long, with its associated hinterland including half the remaining world’s rainforest
• Olinda. A famous historic city on the north-east coast near Recife. Its unique centre is a magnet for all who love Brazil’s architectural heritage

 

Bosque and Casa Nova Construction Updates July 2013

We are pleased to release the latest constructions updates from three of our developments.

 As can be seen from these photos, Casa Nova Green units are now nearing completion and on the Casa Nova Gold project, the foundations have been laid and construction of the units is now underway.

 On our latest project, Bosque Residencial, work is continuing and the shells of many units of the Acacia phase are near completion.

more construction photos here

EcoHouse Brazil CEO Anthony Armstrong Emery Showing up the Locals

EcoHouse is one of the few British firms making it big in Brazil. But the social housing developer has not exactly been welcomed with open arms. Emily Wright travelled to Natal to meet chief executive Anthony Armstrong Emery.

I have a reputation here in Brazil for being aggressive," says British developer Anthony Armstrong Emery. He pauses - a little for dramatic effect but mainly to light a fresh cigarette -  and leans back in his leather chair before adding: "It’s usually true. But then this is an extremely hostile environment. I have plenty of enemies."

Meet the self-confessed "big-headed, phenomenally successful" chief executive of EcoHouse Group - the £65m social housing developer set up in 2009 that, as of December last year, became the biggest company in north-eastern Brazil. It is one of the few examples of a British property firm making it big on Brazilian soil. And it has not come without some fallout. Indeed, on journeys between construction sites in Natal - the backwater beach city on Brazil’s north coast and home to EcoHouse HQ - it becomes clear just how seriously Richmond-born Armstrong Emery takes the threat of those aforementioned enemies. The chauffeurs in his reinforced, bulletproof 4x4s are all ex- BOPE officers - a special forces unit of the military police of Rio de Janeiro state, trained in urban warfare - and he travels in the middle of a three-car convoy.

When asked whether such high security is necessary in a seemingly quiet seaside region, he is quick to explain: "Three years ago I rolled into a town once run by four or five powerful local families and became one of the most influential people here. I have killed off business for a lot of local people who were doing poor-quality social housing units by pushing up land prices with my product. And because we are not being funded by Brazilian banks, our source is not controlled by anyone here, so no one can do anything to curb our growth. The security is necessary." Over the course of two days in Natal, Armstrong Emery, 44, explains how he plans to help plug Brazil’s 8m homes deficit by building 40,000 social housing units over the next five years. He also reveals how, so far, he has been able to guarantee his investors a 20% return on their investment within 12 months and insists that not even the most vicious of opponents will get in the way of his ambitious expansion plans.

Offering the option

EcoHouse has over 1,000 staff working across offices in London, Singapore, Dubai, São Paulo and Toronto. Armstrong Emery set up the HQ in Natal in 2009 to focus on Brazil in particular over the next four years in response to the unprecedented investment taking place in the country and to piggy-back on the Brazilian government’s $1tn Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) programme, which aims to deliver 3m new homes to low-income families by 2014.

And Armstrong Emery claims that his investment model and large-scale development has given him the edge to provide a premium product. "People in Brazil were accepting what was given to them because there were no options," he says. "Now I am offering that option." EcoHouse’s fifth social housing scheme has now started on site in Natal as the group plans to build 8,000 social housing units this year, followed by 10,000 in 2014. At £23,000 a unit, sales are expected to bring in revenues of £184m this year, £230m in 2014 and £920m over the next five years.

The units are funded by international investors - mainly from the UK and Singapore - which Armstrong Emery bills as the ultimate opportunity for overseas firms to get in on the Brazilian market while the iron is hot ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. Up until earlier this year, EcoHouse has delivered investors 20% ROI within 12 months. That has now been reduced to 10-17%. "It’s three years on, I have a 1,500-strong client base and I don’t feel I have to dangle the 20% incentive anymore," he says. But it is still an attractive offer when twinned with the security. The company uses a secure investment structure which has been risk-assessed by CAIXA banks, registered with the Brazilian government, and is protected by UK legislation as all investment is placed in an escrow account with Lloyd’s of London. The return uplift comes from every investor putting in £23,600 per unit to fund construction, which is then sold for £31,700 as part of the government-backed scheme - well in line with local prices. Some £27,000 goes back to the investor and the rest stays with EcoHouse. "We sold out one entire scheme with sales worth £5.8m over one weekend last year," says Armstrong Emery. "This is partly because I am able to use quantities of scale to provide a very middle class product for the same price as other, lower-grade units. I am upping the game and eating into everyone else’s margin. "I put in granite work surfaces, porcelain tiling, barbecues and gardens. We are the first social housing developer offering centralised sewage works, for God’s sake. I can do this because we are developing with private funds rather than banks, so we can build quickly, more efficiently and - because I have the money invested in full upfront - I am in a strong position to negotiate with the factories. I don’t want 1,000 of their bricks. I want all of their bricks. As a result I am hitting 30, 40, even 50% reductions on my materials."

Friends in the right places

And despite earlier conversations, life and work in Brazil is not all about battling enemies. Armstrong Emery has friends on hand too. He just makes sure they are the right ones. "Brazil is a third-world country and it is all about who you know," he shrugs, lighting another cigarette. "You need to know the town planners, the local architects. How good a friend you are with these people will determine how quickly you can get things done. You imagine a planner with 5,000 building applications on their desk. I make sure mine go to the top. I don’t pay anyone. It’s all legitimate. But I make sure I know people or that I am working with people who do. We have projects outside Natal in Brasilia, São Paulo, Rio, and for those we need builders. I pick one of the top three construction firms in the area and I make sure they know the right people. This is why it is so important to use local firms."

Expansion plans

Last month Armstrong Emery opened an office in his birthplace of Richmond and says that London will become the hub for all future European deals and Singapore will be the Asia Pacific equivalent. "EcoHouse was initially set up to raise funds for investment in Brazil," he says. "But we are doing more commercial work now across Brazil - we are hoping to deliver 500 office units in São Paulo over the next two years to generate £35m - and the rest of the world. "I am keeping an eye on Europe - any deals there will be done through London. Spain and Portugal, for example, are struggling at the moment. But there might well be some great opportunities on the horizon to pick up real estate at low prices - especially from bank repossessions." Capitalising on the weak, he says, is the British way. "We take advantage of those in weak positions. It is what we have been doing throughout British history. We may have done it in a velvet glove but we did it all the same. I don’t mind admitting this is how I sometimes do business. I can be pretty hostile when it comes to deals and aggressive when it comes to politics. I am on the front page of most local newspapers here every day and I have cut very close to the bone. But I will absolutely carry on what I am doing." On balance, the reinforced, bulletproof 4x4s were probably a wise investment.

EcoHouse Brazil makes donation of special beds to Varela Santiago Childrens Hospital

ECOHOUSE Brazil Constructions, run by English businessman Anthony Armstrong Emery, will make a donation of around 20 specialist beds to the value of R$45 thousand to the Varela Santiago children’s hospital next Friday (3), at 9;30. The cementing of the partnership between the developer and the hospital began one year ago with the idea of charging just R$1 and one can of milk as the registration fee in the selling of any of their developments. The total collected from the selling of their projects is passed onto the hospital.

Last December, Anthony Armstrong Emery formally delivered, during an event at the hospital, a check to the value of R$45 thousand and Christmas presents to Angela Trinidade, the Technical Director.

Singapore Investors Visit the Varela Santiago Childrens hospital

Around 10 Singaporean Investors from Ecohouse Brasil constructions, this morning,Friday the 3^rd, visited the Varela Santiago Children’s hospital. On this occasion, they visited the infant ward of the hospitalwhich was inaugurated last week, where twenty hospital beds were especially donated by the company for children between the ages of 0 and 2, still breastfeeding. They also visited the future Neo –Natal Intensive Therapy Unit.



The Director of Ecohouse Brasil Constructions, Gabriela Medeiros, said that the investors from Singapore were in Natal to get to know the company better and she took this opportunity to show them the Hospital that they are partnered with as part of their social responsibility program. “They are very curious with respect to our company’s role in social responsibility and therefore we brought them here to visit this institution.  Social responsibility makes up part of our company as our objective is not only to construct quality homes but also to concern ourselves with the community in which we live in. We have a partnership with both Varela Santiago and with orphans,” said the director.

Gabriela Medeiros said that the partnership was cemented last year with the idea of charging just R$1 and one can of milk as the registration fee in the selling of any of their developments. The total collected from the selling of their projects is passed onto the unit. Last December, Anthony Armstrong, formally delivered during an event at the hospital, a check to the value of R$45 thousand and Christmas presents to the Technical Director, Angela Trinidade. “We hope that all businesses can do the same, as helping is our moral duty,” highlighted the Director, Gabriela Medeiros.

The General Administrator and Head of finance of Varela Santiago Hospital, Francisco Regis da Costa Neta, said that their partnership began around one year ago when the directors of the company visited the hospital and were moved by the need and cause of the institution. He also stated that at the time the infant ward was being completed they were only missing the beds – the special cradles.

“Any and all companies that are looking to collaborate with us we receive with great satisfaction as these added up efforts guarantee the continuation of our services. We depend on the united forces of the municipal, state and federal government and the population, but unfortunately the government is very absent and we are at the mercy of the population that are our partners,” stated the manager.

Francisco Regis da Costa said that the delay in transfers continue to hurt the functioning of the unit. At the end of last year, 2012, the general director of the hospital, Paulo Xavier achieved a 20% incentive on production of the hospital by the Ministry of Health.Resources to the value of R$ 974 thousand are in the Municipal Health Secretariat of Natal but they have not found a way to legally make this transfer to Varela Santiago

EcoHouse Brazil Donates 20 Hospital Beds to the Children of Varela Santiago

This Friday (03) the construction company ECO HOUSE BRAZIL, donated 20 hospital beds to the children’s hospital, Varela Santiago. The beds are especially for children ages 0 to 2 who are still breast feeding. These beds were fundamental to the opening of the new wing in the hospital: The Infant Unit. The beds arrived and are valued at R$45 thousand and occupy four rooms of the new wing.

Happy by the incentive of the developer, the administrator of the hospital Francisco Regis de Costa Neto explained his gratitude, “We didn’t have conditions to afford the quantity of beds we received. We are happy that through our partnership with ECOHOUSE GROUP, it is now possible to inaugurate the new wing for children between the ages of 0 to 2 who have different types of illnesses,” he said. Gabriela Medeiros, the Director of ECOHOUSE GROUP, explained their concern with the social responsibility of the company. “We are very concerned about the community in which we live in. We are aware of the difficulties facedby the hospital and are happy in establishing our partnership one more time,” she said.