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][5] Stambolis is a director of PodProperty, and Levitt is the company's chief executive officer (CEO).[6][7] The business is built around the legal arrangement of co-ownership of houses, apartments or real estate in Australia.[4][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 2008 financial crisis and people wanting to spread mortgage risk.[12][1]
PodProperty facilitates co-ownership agreements and offers legal advice for individuals interested in purchasing property together as tenants in common.[13][14][12][9][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.[3][14][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.[14] They charge for their co-ownership agreements, with fees based on a "per person" basis.[3][5][8][17][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][6][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.[5] 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.[7]
The company's chief executive officer (CEO), Jeremy Levitt, was nominated as a 2007 SmartCompany Idol.[9]
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