At 24 years old, young business owner Codie Smith took an almighty gamble and started his very own business, in an industry that was largely untested. Now 12 months on his business, Ausrental, has assisted over 100 clients and has interstate expansion right around the corner.
Like many young Australians Smith was making his way in the ever-growing real estate industry working in the rental department for a large company. However, it was at this time that Smith was able to see a gap in the market and swiftly acted on the opportunity that had presented itself to him.
“I had been in the real estate industry for a while in Melbourne and I was working for Hockingstuart in leasing. I just had a lot of enquiries coming through from prospective tenants letting me know that they couldn’t make inspection times, whether they were local and they were time poor, or they were interstate or overseas and couldn’t make inspections without flying down which was not really feasible. It was just happening way to often and I just saw a gap in the market, which lead me to develop a website and the brand Ausrental.”
Although the concept seems fairly straight forward it cannot be under estimated how much of a risk this was for a 24-year-old who had no indication other than his own experience whether there was even a market for the business.
“We knew there were buyers advocates out there who would act on the behalf of potential buyers, so what I did is become a rental advocate as such. To my knowledge there was not anybody that I knew of providing that service.”
The concept for the business is a simple one Ausrental will act on the tenant’s behalf through liaising with them on the location, budget, property requirements and move in date, then research properties that match the tenant’s criteria. Once the client is happy Ausrental will then narrow that list down and attend inspections on the client’s behalf taking pictures videos or even facetiming the client and provide each client with a report on the property so the client can be at ease with the property they decide on.
Smith says that some of the benefits of being able to provide this service are not only saving clients time and money interstate to attend inspections but also open up opportunities that clients may not have had through his relationships with real estate agents.
“The feedback we have been getting from our clients is how much money and time they have saved by not having to travel interstate to attend inspections.
When you are moving interstate, there are so many things you need to consider like moving all of your furniture, your job, your cars, to be able to take the stress out of trying to find a house and have something ready to go as soon as they arrive is something our clients really appreciate.
“The other big part of it is we have really good relationships with the agents which is a huge plus in such a competitive market. If we are given enough time by the client we also have the opportunity for off market properties which is huge, that way we aren’t even competing against anyone and there are properties available for clients which they would not have even known about if they were trying to lease by themselves. Everyone wins in that situation because the incoming tenant doesn’t have to compete against anyone, the landlord saves on advertising fees and the leasing consultant knows they’re getting a great tenant with a smooth and seamless transaction.”
If the first 12 months are anything to go by then it would appear that Ausrental is a business that Australians are going to become more and more familiar with, and with the exciting news of a Sydney division opening in the end of March more and more tenants are going to be able to move interstate with peace of mind.
To get in touch with Codie you can contact us via live chat, give us a call or fill out the contact form on the home page - https://www.ausrental.com/.