REAL TALK SERIES: PICKAHOUSE.COM.AU W/ RACHEL MA
Helen Tran
??Sydney Real Estate Agent | ?? Helping you with the sale of your family home and getting y'all excited about your next chapter | ???? Helping first home buyers make their first purchase | ?? +61 452 211 853
I was scrolling in Instagram one day (as I do on the daily) and came across @Pickahouse.com.au I followed it, went into the account to see the content with no conscious thought (as I do), liked a few pictures and that was that.
Then I noticed it more and more and wanted to get to know about Pickahouse.com.au, so as I do I went onto the website checked it out and checked out their Facebook page and LinkedIn page (I do my research).
With questions in my mind I reached out to Rachel Ma the director of the online company and here we are.
Here’s what I found out about Pickahouse.com.au and after reading the answers given by RacheI, I know that I will be signing up with them to help out my clients sell and rent their house/apartment.
1. Tell me a little bit about Pickahouse.com.au:
Pickahouse.com.au is a website developed by a Sydney-based technology company for the residential property market in Australia. It is designed for people who want to buy, sell, rent or share properties.
It’s an online marketplace for posting property ads free of charge.
The website lets users take control of when and what they want to post without having to worry about the advertising costs for selling or renting out properties.
2. I am interested to know how this startup came about (how did you come across this niche in the market)?
I have had previous experience in selling and renting out my properties through real estate agents, and each time I was surprised by the cost of advertising when I added everything up. I was told by agents that the fees were incurred when they advertised for me in newspapers, and sometimes through pamphlet letterbox drops. Later, when news media websites and social media gradually took place of traditional advertising methods, I saw the convenience that internet has brought us. I thought the cost of advertising could be reduced, but I was amazed to learn that the fees could still be up to thousands of dollars. This made me wonder if there was a more economical option for property owners to sell or rent, like some online marketplaces for miscellaneous goods exchange which do not charge users for basic requirements. After consulting with my friends in IT and legal fields, I started off making an online platform free for people who have needs in property sales and rentals.
3. What’s the one question from home buyers you always hear from the website pickahouse.com.au?
“How much is the owner exactly asking for?” – If the listing has its price section displayed as ‘Contact agent’ or ‘POA (price on application)’, potential buyers want to know if they can really afford to buy, but they do not want to give away their personal details to agents who they have never met. On the other hand, agents want to collect as much information as possible from potential buyers so as to facilitate their future sales and rentals. To create a win-win situation, I added a messaging function on the Pickahouse website where the two parties can communicate comfortably without having to worry about their email addresses or phone numbers being collected. Of course, after basic trust is established, buyers normally feel reasonable to leave their contact information with their agents for further offline meetings.
4. How does pickahouse.com.au serve its customers/users and who are its customers/users?
As a property online marketplace, Pickahouse serves its users from the two sides of the property transaction, real estate agents or property owners on one side, buyers and renters on the other.
Property owners usually have their houses listed through agents who are experienced in describing properties, putting the best features of the properties forward to potential buyers. I am not saying that private owners can’t post listings themselves. But often, you can tell immediately from the descriptions and images in the listings whether the user is experienced in property sales or not.
Buyers and tenants, on the other hand, search for properties according to their requirements for which Pickahouse has made ‘filters’ for them. If they can’t find their ideal properties at that time, they have another option, that is, to post an ad themselves as ‘to buy’ or ‘to rent’, so that agents or landlords can find such customers on Pickahouse quickly without having to search around from their database.
Listing an ad has been made simple and easy. Templates are already made for users, such as ‘for sale’, ‘for rent’, ‘to buy’ and ‘to rent’ etc. All users need to do is to follow the steps in the templates and upload images of the properties, if any, then click ‘post’.
There is also a section for users to review their ads and edit or even archive their ads at any time when they log in.
5. Is there a cost to list property on the website pickahouse.com.au?
My purpose for making this website is to lower the cost of advertising for properties. Therefore, it is free to list any residential properties in Australia on Pickahouse. There is no section for users to enter their credit card details or PayPal information.
6. How is pickahouse.com.au different from platforms such as domain.com.au and realestate.com.au?
Domain.com.au and realestate.com.au are websites where real estate agents post properties for sale and for rent at a fee, either one-off or through a package deal through real estate agencies. These websites are not marketplaces, and buyers and renters can only choose from those listed.
While Pickahouse.com.au offers a free platform for real estate agents to post listings, it also encourages buyers and renters to have a say of what they are actually looking for, and protects their personal information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, from being unwillingly collected. There can still be communication and enquiries happening through inbox messaging on Pickahouse. Eventually, when there is enough trust built up between the buyers/renters and agents, they are willing to exchange contact details for further offline communication.
7. What’s something that annoys you about our industry and how could that be changed?
Trust is very hard to build between buyers/renters and agents. Property investment is a big decision in one’s life. It’s naturally challenging for buyers to believe in what another person, someone that you don’t know at all, says through a few lines and photos, then put hundreds of thousands of dollars in, either with their lifesavings or with twenty to thirty years of mortgage payments. That is one of the reasons why buyers are very cautious with agents.
For this reason, Pickahouse has designed a vote-and-review function. Every user can be voted by stars and vote for others, and make comments according to their personal experiences with another Pickahouse user. There is no incentive or punishment attached, therefore users are encouraged to give their voluntary and genuine opinions.
8. Is property a passion of yours (I am assuming here, haha) if so, please elaborate?
Yes, personally I have benefited from property investment and I do hope that other people have their ideal places to live in and make property investment as one of their financial planning strategies.
9. What’s your favourite part of running this startup?
With more and more users registering and advertising on Pickahouse, I am happy to see that this startup product has targeted their pain point and has become one of the channels that they can advertise for their property needs.
I love to help save everyone’s time and money.
10. Why should sellers and agents advertise on pickahouse.com.au?
Pickahouse.com.au offers a free marketplace for property sales and rentals in Australia. It is safe, easy to use and keeps its professional standards. Therefore, it is a wise alternative to other websites that charge fees for advertising.
Contact PICKAHOUSE.COM.AU:
M | +61 406 808 558
W | https://www.pickahouse.com.au