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Award-winning interstate broker group, N1 Finance, has partnered with online real estate portal, Seekahome, to create a new app to shake up the real estate market.
The DIY property renting app, Snailapp, aims to connect landlords directly with potential tenants by allowing them to create and post rental listings for free on the platform. It has also been built with a messenger service to initiate instant conversations between the tenant and landlord.
According to the latest census data compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2011, approximately 2.3 million occupied private dwellings, or 29.4%, were rented. With average weekly rents currently sitting at $483, according to data from Corelogic RP Data, and average property management fees at 5%, Ren Wong, director of N1 Finance says the market for DIY rental apps is huge.
“We know many landlords are happy with their existing property agents. This app targets those landlords looking for a quick, free and simple alternative to existing channels to source tenants. The unique selling point for the app is it facilitates communication easily between landlord and tenant as Snailapp is likely to be used by the landlord, not the agent,” Wong said.
The app has already received positive feedback, according to Wong, so he expects it to grow substantially over the coming year.
“We expect to have matched hundreds of tenants and landlords in the first 12 months and there has already been some positive feedback from current users,” he said.
“Once the platform hits scale, we believe there is a great opportunity to take on the established platforms, and this is part of our value-adding service to our existing investor clientele.”
