| PodProperty Pty Ltd | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Co-Ownership Services |
| Foundation: | April 2006 |
| Location City: | Sydney, Australia |
| Products: | Co-Ownership Guide |
PodProperty is an Australian online legal service provider that specializes in co-ownership agreements for tenants in common.[1]
Jeremy Levitt and Jonathan Stambolis co-founded PodProperty in April 2006.[2] [3] [4] Stambolis is a director of PodProperty, and Levitt is the company's chief executive officer (CEO).[5] [6] The business is built around the legal arrangement of co-ownership of houses, apartments or real estate in Australia.[7] [8] The company was established during Australia's housing affordability crisis when there were soaring property prices and rising interest rates on home mortgages.[2] [9] 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.[2] In June 2007, PodProperty made a submission to the New Zealand Parliament Commerce Select Committee Inquiry into Housing Affordability in New Zealand.[10] [11] 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".[11] 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 percent and it attributed the growth to the effects of the global financial crisis and people wanting to spread their mortgage risk.[12]
PodProperty facilitates co-ownership agreements and offers legal advice for individuals interested in purchasing property together as tenants in common.[13] [14] [15] [16] Their Co-Ownership Agreement caters to various relationships, including friends, family members, and de facto partners, allowing them to address property-related matters.[17] The company provides a free Co-Ownership Guide and also offers a service to assist homeowners and real estate investors in selling part of their investments. They charge for their co-ownership agreements, with fees based on a "per person" basis.[18] [19]
PodProperty has a strategic partnership with the Commonwealth Bank and Mortgage Choice which has PodProperty listed as their preferred source of co-ownership agreements.[20] [5] [17] [21] [22] It launched a co-ownership initiative with Wizard Home Loans in 2007 to provide specialised services for single first home buyers looking to purchase property together.[9] [15] [23]
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.[4] They arranged a co-ownership agreement for two friends who pooled their deposits to buy an apartment in Surry Hills in 2008.[24] [25] 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.[16] In 2013, PodProperty drew up a co-ownership agreement for the sales of a five-bedroom house in Cottage Point waterfront on Sydney's Pittwater.[6]
The company's chief executive officer (CEO), Jeremy Levitt, was nominated as a 2007 SmartCompany Idol.[9]