Property Search 4U Grows through the BEC Network

Background

In 1999 Fred Haggar started a company as a corporate buyer’s agent providing procurement solutions to businesses.  In 2004, after some success, the company was asked by a long-standing client to secure a commercial lease which at the time was outside its scope of services.

Through this experience Fred realised that there was an opportunity to offer the market a unique and much - needed independent service.  A service that would represent exclusively lessees and buyers of commercial properties and residential transactions, and Property Search 4U was borne in 2005.

Fred described his early days running his own business as awakening as he realised very quickly that while there was a need for this unique service, the market was uneducated about and unaware of such an exclusive service.  Although unknown in Australia, appointing a buyer’s agent or tenant’s representative when leasing or buying real estate is well established in overseas markets, especially the USA where it is actually the norm.

Knowing that the company’s services were not understood within the Australian market they made a key strategic decision to initially focus on educating potential clients rather then engaging in the hard sell (typical and expected in established services).  This strategy paid off and their client base grew as more and more satisfied clients recommended their unique and personalised services.

When asked about his experience as an owner of a new business Fred recalls with some pain a client suddenly changing his mind after Property Search 4U had researched and inspected 107 investment properties.  Fred recalled that “This sudden change of mind was due to his accountant’s advice to invest in overseas real estate”.  Fred is happy to report that his company did survive this setback and now receives regular glowing testimonials from satisfied clients having realised both the financial and intangible benefits from using the service.

BEC Involvement

When asked how the Business Enterprise Centre has assisted him Fred said, ”In our research to expand the service to the Sutherland Shire, we recognised the need for exposure to the local businesses and individuals, and the decision was made to join BEC as we discovered the BEC is the primary business association in the Shire.  Our strategy paid off as the Sutherland Shire office contributed 21% to our total revenue in its first year, which was in part due to the networking and exposure through BEC events.”

Because turnover during the first 2 years was erratic, the principal was the director, buyer’s agent, researcher, analyst and secretary among other things.  Now the business operates from two offices (The Shire and Eastern Suburbs), is fully staffed with an annual growth of 16%.  Property Search 4U is the only “Shire” based buyer’s agent and recently won a highly recommended nomination in the 2007 Australian Achiever Award for NSW’s Real Estate Services.

Fred Haggar
Property Search 4U
Ph: 0409 740 880
Email: fhaggar@propertysearch4u.com.au
Web: www.propertysearch4u.com.au

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