In less than a year, Ko has introduced several opulent properties around Australia and the region. Every Ko listing is an ideal dream home in some of the most desirable holiday destinations. These dream homes, however, are now within reach of more Australians at a fraction of the full cost. Existing owners of luxury homes can benefit too. By divesting part ownership, owners can see their home used year-round rather than staying empty for most of the year. 

The beauty of Ko is that its approach to buying and selling has removed the red tape and integrated real estate agents from the process without disrupting that market. We spoke with Hanna to learn more about the Ko proposition and the launch of this innovative proptech platform. 

Co-ownership just makes sense. 

In the context of the current property crisis and extraordinary growth over the past decade, the Ko proposition is unique. According to Hanna, it centres around affordability (due to the reduced upfront purchase cost), ease of utilisation, and being hassle-free. 

The idea for Ko came about when Hanna met up with Ryan Fritsch (now CEO and Co-founder of Ko) in 2021 to discuss their shared love for real estate and brainstorm operating models that might work in this region. 

“I’ve always had a passion for real estate,” says Hanna. “I’ve built several developments within NSW over the years, and I’m always looking into building, buying and selling property.” 

“We were looking into some of the co-ownership models operating in Europe and the US. Ryan wanted to hear my take on the co-ownership model and gauge my interest in the vision for Ko. The rest is history.”

Vision centred around the premise that you, as co-owner, buy the asset, utilise the asset, and Ko completely manages that seamless experience for you. For Hanna, it just immediately clicked. 

“I could see this was a gap in the market and that it could be an absolute game-changer for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region”, says Hanna. “We looked at each other and wondered why no one else had considered using this model in the region. We’re glad they hadn’t!”

“The Ko experience is all about dreams coming true,” said Hanna, “That's why our branding is Live Your Dream. We want to give co-owners that seamless experience in terms of asset ownership and the pleasure of having an enjoyable, stress-free holiday.”

It works for new and existing holiday homeowners.

In designing the platform, Hanna’s goal was to ensure that co-owner interactions with Ko would be engaging, transparent and effortless, so they could just relax in their luxury holiday home.

“When we explored the co-ownership opportunity further, we approached it from two main user groups. We wanted to design Ko to work as seamlessly for an existing homeowner as it would for a new holiday homeowner,” says Hanna.

Entry into the luxury property market is expensive. The premise of co-owning a holiday home at a fraction of the full cost helps more Australians realise their dream of having a luxury holiday home. Co-ownership also gives opportunities to existing owners too.  

“Let’s say you own your own home and want to expand into holiday home ownership,” says Hanna. “We offer you an innovative approach to consider. You don't need to own 100 per cent to be still able to use it. Instead, you can own from one-eighth up to half of your property. That way, you can benefit from getting a portion of capital or equity back while still having access to the property and sharing the ongoing costs with other co-owners.”

Overcoming the logistical challenge.

Less than a year later, in 2022, the Ko team achieved a major milestone in launching its minimal viable product (MVP).

“While designing the Ko operating model, we found a significant amount of heavy lifting and testing was needed to solve issues for co-ownership across legal, trust structures, tax and compliance behind the platform,” says Hanna.

“As the first-to-market, Ko offers something very unique. While a seamless experience for its users, what sits behind the tech is operationally challenging and extremely complicated. Overcoming those challenges underpins our ability to scale and grow geographically.”

“We’ve got several stunning homes listed across Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia, and we’re working on adding more, including New Zealand,” said Hanna.

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Hanna outlines the benefits behind the Ko proposition a little further. The Ko platform offers:  

1. Affordability

The idea of buying something luxurious in this market at a fraction of the upfront cost is unique given the current state of the market; interest rates are creeping up, there’s a severe shortage of supply, and a significant rental crunch. Hanna says he believes it will be more of the same for the next several years. He’s confident that the demand for Ko will grow, as it has advantages for both sellers and buyers.

2. Ease of utilisation

According to Hanna’s research, holiday homes are typically utilised for about a fifth of the year (15-20%). He gives the example that if you own a $15 million property, you might think you’re only using $3 million worth, and the other $12 million is just sitting there. 

“If you can offset up to 50% of that $12 million, then that’s the dream, right?” beams Hanna. “The big difference between us and the existing real estate market is that it's not about the sale. It’s all about seamless utilisation.”

“We want to drive utilisation rates. We want you to use the property because, for us, that’s our co-owners living their dream. If a luxury holiday home in Palm Beach or Byron Bay has been utilised at least 80% of the year through co-ownership with Ko, we've done our job.”

3. A hassle-free experience

“To truly live your dream, it has to be 100% hassle-free,” says Hanna. 

“As a ‘Ko-owner’, you won't have to worry about maintenance, upkeep or administration. We handle all of that on your behalf. That’s the real beauty of the Ko platform. We want you to stay within our ecosystem and meet all your needs so that you can just relax and enjoy your property,” said Hanna.

“The Ko experience doesn't just start and stop at the transaction. We’re there for the full lifecycle of our ecosystem, including resale if required. You just don’t see that broad level of service anywhere else.”

“The secret to our ecosystem is how we match the buyer and the seller to the property. We get that intersection between buyer and seller right because we’re working with an exceptional bunch of real estate agents and buyer’s agent partners. We see them as stakeholders, a part of our ecosystem,” says Hanna.

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A positive disruption.

“Some might see it as disruptive, as each property is no longer about a single purchase,” said Hanna, “but we see co-ownership as a positive disruption. It's evolutionary, progressive and opens up the market to more potential buyers,” says Hanna.

Hanna says the co-ownership model doesn’t change how real estate works. Instead, it takes the existing model, improves it and adds more options. Ko addresses the usual concerns and complexities to simplify luxury property ownership and management. Many of the typical time-consuming, manual and human-based processes simply disappear with Ko.

“We’re streamlining the experience through automation and transparency,” says Hanna.  “Our technical architecture is based on exception management, exception handling and personalisation. Once you get that right, the benefits of automation speak for themselves.” 

“We’ve already designed for future possibilities of expansion and asset diversification, even to the point of on-chain capabilities, smart contracts, and tokenisation of assets. It’s radical, but it’s the future we’re heading to.”

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Tried-and-tested luxury to Ko standards.

Ko is a curated experience. Ko visits the property, physically inspects it, and ensures every property on the platform meets the Ko criteria. 

“We ensure every home is fit-for-purpose and meets our high standards because the one thing we never want to damage is our reputation,” says Hanna.

“We're exploring virtual tours and launch events at our properties, depending on whether you're local or flying in and out. We know that purchasing shares in a luxury holiday home is probably not a decision people make in a split second. When it comes time for you to inspect a Ko property, we already want to understand your entire aspirational and emotional context.”

“After all, if you fall in love with one of our stunning homes and the location, it's an easy decision to live your dream.”

Join Ryan Fritsch and Rich Harvey, CEO of Propertybuyer, online as they discuss everything you need to know about co-ownership with Ko. Streaming live on 4th April 2023 from 12.30 to 1pm AEST. Register now.