Australian tech start-up Vendorable, recently launched its first-of-a-kind end-to-end online platform, looking to change the real estate game. Basically, it allows vendors to list their property online and from there, agents can sign up to compete for the job.
The Vendorable platform fundamentally changes the first and hardest part of property transactions for vendors: finding the right agent to sell their property and working with that agent throughout the course of the sale.
Managing Director, Jason Weeks highlighted that what sets Vendorable apart from its competitors, the many property platforms out there, is its focus on satisfying the requirements of vendors – the inspiration for the platform’s name.
“Our platform is designed to allow vendors to put their property sale opportunities out to a competitive tender and then appoint and work with their selected real estate agent.”
“It encourages value for money and transparency, while acting as a lead generation and marketing management tool for agents,” he explained.
What is the story behind Vendorable?
Vendorable is a result of the founding team’s combined expertise across property, finance, legal, technology and user experience.
The concept for the platform was born in 2013 when legal practitioner Harry Lehmann saw a gap in the market to improve the way vendors could work with real estate agents.
Taking the concept to fellow co-founder Jason, the two then built a unique team to effectively deliver a solution to improve the current state of the real estate services market. The other two co-founders are Thomas Taylor and Shane Niu.
The platform now looking to take a big bite into the highly profitable Australian real estate services industry, with Australia’s residential property industry alone skyrocketing to $5 trillion, and the value of the real estate services industry continuing to grow, currently worth a significant $10 billion.
How does the platform work?
Vendorable gives vendors a range of service and cost propositions to choose from, and brokers the agency agreement electronically, providing instantaneous access to agents’ services and eliminating information asymmetry in the market.
“Vendorable is a platform developed to transform the way property sales are carried out on both sides of the vendor/agent equation,” Jason stated.
“For vendors, it provides a clearer picture of the market and an online solution for appointing and working with real estate agents. For agents, Vendorable concentrates willing sellers in one place, bringing an end to uncertain leads,” he explained.
“The competitive element of the platform is something that benefits the vendors, and the transparency element is of benefit to both parties. Agents get the opportunity to see themselves in the market, and in instances where they might lose a potential appointment but never receive any feedback as to why, they are able to learn how to improve.”
Furthermore, agents’ compliance requirements are built in to the bidding process and appointed agents report to the vendor using Vendorable’s vendor-centric reporting tools.
The market already loves it!
Already, government departments, insolvency practitioners and agents have shown keen interest in the platform, recognising its potential to provide a secure, simple and time-saving solution to managing property transactions.
“From a business perspective, we are very much focusing on the bankruptcy, government and professional trustee space with the first stage release of the platform,” Jason said.
“Bankruptcy practitioners, government agencies and professional trustees demand high levels of probity and transparency. Real estate is one of the highest value asset classes dealt with by these professionals and we aim to meet their risk mitigation needs.”
“Agents use Vendorable’s vendor reporting features, which are of the necessary standard required for businesses, government and stakeholders,” he went on to point out.
The first stage of the platform has been designed to target vendors looking to sell anything from residential to light commercial properties valued at up to $10 million, as the team see this as the space where the majority of agents operate.
“We hope to first establish a business and government portfolio, and with it, grow a base of regular ratings of agents. Once we are confident we have enough ratings to offer guidance to less sophisticated vendors – the market segment with the greatest information asymmetry – we can broaden the platform to these consumers and drive global expansion,” Jason said.
