Homely captures the stories of our streets with David Webb

In episode #21, Ludwina Dautovic and David Webb talk about how Homely captures the stories of our streets.

About David Webb and Homely.com.au

Welcome to The Room Xchange Podcast. I’m Ludwina Dautovic and today I have the pleasure of speaking with David Webb, Head of Industry for Homely.com.au.

With 14 years’ experience across sales, property management, as a business owner and as an agency supplier, David brings a breadth of knowledge to his work while also seeking to anticipate the demands of an ever-changing real estate industry.

A message from our host and CEO - Ludwina Dautovic

It's wonderful to hear about innovative and disruptive platforms generating value for the real estate industry. Homely's street reviews are capturing the best of our neighbourhoods by giving residents the opportunity to tell the stories of their streets.

Every street has a story. We give residents the opportunity to share those stories so potential new residents can know the vibe of the street - David Webb

In this episode on Homely we discuss:

• The family business and how it led to Homely
• The founders story of how they bought their dream home in the wrong street
• Trip advisor sparked the idea. If we can get reviews for holidays, restaurants and more, why not for our streets?
• They were featured on The Today Show in the USA and the A Current Affair the next day.
• It started as Street Review and turned into it's own portal, called Homely
• They partnered with leading real estate agencies
• In 2018 it hit #2 is listing volumes
• In 2022 they did what has become known as the largest industry capital raise
• You can ask questions on the platform and leave a review of a street
• The technology legitimises the reviewer to ensure the review doesn't come from spam or inappropriate in language. If so, it gets flagged to their customer care team.
• They've noticed the reviews change over time as the suburb has evolved providing great insights into our suburbs.
• We discussed if we'll ever see reviews for landlords and real estate agents such as Airbnb
• Ludwina proposed the idea that the real estate industry recognise a house sharing arrangement from The Room Xchange as a legitimate form of a rental history and reference. Stay tuned on this one. I'm hoping it may lead somewhere:)

When will we start seeing house-sharing references as having the same value as a tenancy references? Ludwina Dautovic

Timestamps

0:00:00 - Interview with David Webb, Head of Industry for Homely

0:01:55 - From Father's business to Homely

0:03:43 - The Spencer family story: Pioneers of wholesale lending in the 1990s

0:05:12 - The story of Homely's Founders and their successful business acquisition

0:07:46 - How a small website became a real estate phenomenon

0:09:14 - Exploring Homely's street reviews

0:14:56 - Exploring the impact of reviews on house-sharing

0:17:31 - Exploring the benefits of a reviews based rental system

0:19:29 - Benefits of a rental history for young adults and The Room Xchange housemates"

0:22:37 - Positive rental history and House-sharing arrangements

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