25. Realestate Investing Australia
Stephen Tolle founded Realestate Investing Australia because he realised just how few Australians were cracking into the property market.
Revenue: $26.4 million
Growth: 186%
Founders: Stephen Tolle, 42, and Shane Noney
Head office: Sydney
Year founded: 2011
Employees: 11
Industry: Education and property
Website: reiaust.com.au
Stephen Tolle founded Realestate Investing Australia because he realised just how few Australians were cracking into the property market.
“It was only getting worse, so I started a business that will help educate the importance of people having to invest into something outside of their jobs and help them achieve the Australian dream,” Tolle told SmartCompany.
“No other company in Australia offers our product and the main reason we can have confidence in growth is that our researchers will only work on the No. 1 location in the whole of Australia in certain price points before they take off and what that does is eliminate risk. This creates a win-win situation for the client and us, as rebuild the clients wealth, we grow our business.”
Realestate Investing Australia currently turns over a whopping $26.4 million and Tolle has spoken on stage all over the country with property experts like John McGrath and Cherie Barber.
Despite this success, the business has still copped its fair share of tough times.
“The worst thing that could of happened to us at the start of our business, did happen,” Tolle says.
“The builder that was building the properties for our clients went broke and we had twelve clients’ properties halfway through construction which took approximately eight months longer than it should have to build.
“The end result was we did the right thing by all the clients and paid for the entire interest costs that the banks charged our clients and we lost any profit that we would of made.”
However, Tolle says putting his clients before profit has paid off in the long run.
“That decision has come back a thousand-fold because the clients understand that things happen in life and we did the right thing by them and did not leave them in the lurch at a time of need,” he says.
“We have happy clients and that has always been our core focus at the very start and still is today.”
