Another Leading Ballarat Woman Set To Challenge The 'Boys Club.'
While not quite telling the men in her industry to 'get stuffed' like Michelle Payne did after winning last year's Melbourne Cup, Julie O'Donohue is nonetheless taking on the very
Julie O'Donohue (Wettenhall), a born and bred Western District girl and her team of 10 launched a new way for buyers and sellers to 'do' real estate - one that works more like a dating site or a car ride service. Buyers and sellers are matched and connected based on a set of criteria relating to what their personal property requirements are. It's known in the web world as an"online marketplace."
"online marketplace"
"In the past sellers have needed real estate agents to find the buyers, but not now. Our smart platform connects buyers and sellers directly." Estate agents can benefit as well as the system streamlines communication and finds the right buyers quickly. Julie explained how buyers create a profile of what they want in a home, and sellers complete a comprehensive property profile, including photos. The Next Address system then simply reviews all the data and finds the buyers and connects them to the sellers. "The best part," Julie said,"... it works 24/7, every time a new buyer or seller registers, the website automatically reviews all the profiles."
"You know your home best"
Julie also explained why you should show people your home yourself. "You know your home best, how the sun shines through in the winter, or the extra storage in the garage that is out of sight. How can you expect an agent, who could have 100 other homes for sale in their office, to remember all your home's great details?" Julie also allayed any fears regarding security, pointing out that real estate agents hold open homes without security checks every week. "With our system, you will have had contact via email with the potential buyer or seller. You are in complete control of the process."
"You are in complete control of the process"
That was one part of the conversation which impressed us: Control. Having sold a home recently and finding a lack of communication with the agent to be an issue, we were intrigued that this model could provide complete control. As Julie explained, we would be able to email buyers after they inspected the home and know immediately if there was any interest. Now that alone sounded like a great reason to use Next Address.
"Every day we negotiate"
We asked Julie about people's fear of negotiating to get the right price."Every day we negotiate, with our children and our partners, with our staff or our bosses to get that much-wanted pay rise. So why do we think we can't negotiate the sale of our home?" Julie explained that most real estate agents have limited negotiating training as it is not part of their core training. Julie explained that on the Next Address website, there are simple step by step guides for buyers and sellers, as well as all the resources you need to do it yourself: from "Negotiating Tips" to "What is a Vendor Statement?" to a "Sample Offer to Purchase" document.
Julie and her team strongly believe in the power and versatility of the web. We were shown some great other online businesses, which are aligned to Next Address, which help to keep all the costs down, as well as provide great information. From a website that tells you all about suburbs to one which can create a complete house floor plan for $35. Julie also showed us some websites, which real estate agents use, to work out what price to list your home for. These are all listed on the Next Address website. They are free, and anyone can research how much their home is worth.
