PodProperty

PodProperty Pty Ltd
Private
Industry Co-Ownership Services
Founded April 2006
Founder
Headquarters Sydney, Australia
Products Co-Ownership Guide
Services Co-Ownership Agreements
Website PodProperty.com.au

PodProperty is an online legal service provider that specialises in co-ownership agreements for tenants in common.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It is a pioneer in the home co-ownership industry.[8][9][10][11][12]

History

Jeremy Levitt and Jonathan Stambolis co-founded PodProperty in April 2006.[1][2][9][10] Stambolis is a director of PodProperty, and Levitt is the company's chief executive officer (CEO).[8][13][14] The business is built around the legal arrangement of co-ownership of houses, apartments or real estate in Australia.[9][12] The company was established during Australia's housing affordability crisis when there was soaring property prices and rising interest rates on home mortgages.[1][8][15]

It was reported in November 2006 (six months after PodProperty was established) that the company was receiving 30-40 enquiries a day for its co-ownership guide.[1] In June 2007, PodProperty made a submission to the New Zealand Parliament Commerce Select Committee Inquiry into Housing Affordability in New Zealand.[16][17] Its submission "focuses on shared equity schemes and, in particular, co-ownership as a means of improving the affordability of housing in New Zealand, based on the success of this initiative in Australia".[17] The company said in a report in February 2010 that the estimated number of people it has assisted with their co-ownership plans grew 51 per cent year on year and it attributed the growth to the effects of the global financial crisis and people wanting to spread their mortgage risk.[11]

Services and products

PodProperty arranges co-ownership agreements and letters of legal advice for people who want to buy property together as tenants in common.[3][5][11][15][18][19] The PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement can set out the rights and obligations between people in many different types of relationships, including groups of friends, family members, defacto partners (either heterosexual or same-sex) or a combination of these types of relationships, and it can be used to set out how the co-owners want to deal with any other issues relating to the property.[2][5][20] The company has a co-ownership guide for home buyers and real estate investors, which explains how co-ownership works, its importance and how to start or end a co-ownership.[1]

The PodProperty Co-Ownership Guide is given out for free.[5] The company also provides a service to help home owners and real estate investors sell down part of their investments.[21] It charges for co-ownership agreements, and would be co-owners pay on a "per person" basis for this service.[2][10][12][20][22]

Affiliations

PodProperty has a strategic partnership with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Mortgage Choice which has PodProperty listed as their preferred source of co-ownership agreements.[7][13][20][23][24] It launched a co-ownership initiative with the now defunct Wizard Home Loans in 2007 to provide specialised services for single first home buyers looking to purchase property together.[15][18][25]

In 2007, PodProperty organised the co-ownership of a holiday property in Queensland involving five Australian couples living in Indonesia, the Northern Territory and Victoria and assisted another group to buy in Niseko, Japan.[10] They arranged a co-ownership agreement for two friends who pooled their deposits to buy an apartment in Surry Hills, New South Wales in 2008.[26][27] The company also assisted a brother and sister in 2008 to buy an apartment in Sydney's North Bondi and helped them to look for a second one too.[19] In 2013, PodProperty drew up a co-ownership agreement for the sales of a five-bedroom house in Cottage Point, New South Wales waterfront on Sydney's Pittwater.[14]

Recognistions

The company's chief executive officer (CEO), Jeremy Levitt, was nominated as a 2007 SmartCompany Idol.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Great Australian dream on line". The Daily Telegraph. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Majella Corrigan (4 August 2007). "Collective ownership". The Australian. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Crystal Ja (3 November 2007). "Teaming up to enter the market". News.com.au. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  4. ↑ Kate Robertson (8 February 2010). "Getting a toehold in the market". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Larry Schlesinger (9 November 2012). "Buy with friends rather than miss out on a good property opportunity: John Symond". Property Observer. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  6. ↑ "Jeremy Levitt: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Property Share Fact Sheet". Commonwealth Bank of Australia. p. 1. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Alia McMullen (10 November 2006). "Rate rise good news for investors". News.com.au. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Robert Mowbray and Nicholas Warren (July 2007). "Shared-equity home-ownership: welfare and consumer protection issues". Shelter Brief 33 (Shelter NSW): 24. ISSN 1448-7950. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Janet de Silva (8 July 2007). "He ain't heavy, he's my co-owner". The Sydney Morning Herald. pp. 1 & 2. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Katherine Jimenez (24 February 2010). "Groups pool resources to buy a home". The Australian. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "One stop home co-ownership shop". SmartCompany. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Catriona Montalvo (28 November 2012). "Protecting yourself when going halves in a mortgage". Living Space (Commonwealth Bank of Australia). Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Jonathan Chancellor (1 March 2013). "No sharing so Notting Lane, Cottage Point set for March 28 auction". Property Observer. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Amelie Mills (4 March 2009). "Jeremy Levitt – Podproperty". SmartCompany. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  16. ↑ "Submission to New Zealand Parliament Commerce Committee Inquiry into Housing Affordability". Submitted by PodProperty (NZ). New Zealand Parliament. 15 June 2007. pp. 1 – 7. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "New Zealand Monetary Policy and the Residential Housing Market – A Scoping Study Working Paper". Prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Centre for Housing Research, Aotearoa, New Zealand (CHRANZ). May 2009. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-9864505-2-5. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Raquel De Brito (4 November 2007). "Real estate Perth, Western Australia". PerthNow. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 David Potts (23 November 2008). "Prenups not just for the Hollywood types". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 "Partners > Co-Ownership agreements". Mortgage Choice. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  21. ↑ Cispin Hull (September 2006). "Help for investors in strife". All Homes. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  22. ↑ Wendy Mason (14 April 2008). "Avoid aches in the joint". Herald Sun. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  23. ↑ "What is co-ownership?". Mortgage Choice. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  24. ↑ Tian Yang (24 November 2009). "Jeremy Levitt, 2009 Anthill 30under30 winner". Australian Anthill. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  25. ↑ "Wizard, PodProperty launch initiative to facilitate co-ownership". The Adviser. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  26. ↑ Mercedes Maguire (20 April 2008). "Roads to the big dream". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  27. ↑ Vikki Campion (18 July 2009). "Proof that mortgages and mates can mix". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 13 September 2013.

External links