Online property venture is dancer’s portal to success
Karen Muller is the co-founder of property sales site Quoin Online. She tells Margaret Harris that she learnt the hard way not to let anyone else’s opinion of her define who she is and what she can achieve
What do you do at work?
Continuous research and innovation to ensure our products remain relevant to users — the ability to supply bespoke solutions keeps our products cutting-edge. We are specialist software developers with years of experience in property. How did you get to be where you are now in terms of your career?
I worked in corporate travel sales — setting up in-house travel agencies and negotiating corporate deals with airlines, hotel groups and managed corporate travel spend. I then followed a friend to pursue a career in residential property sales at the V& A Marina at Seeff.
After concluding the sale of the last building at the Marina to a foreign investor, I joined the buyer to set up a commercial real-estate investment company in Cape Town. I identified acquisitions, did the due diligence and concluded the deals.
While acquiring commercial properties and after identifying certain failings — primarily the lack of available information relating to properties and financial information underpinning the investments — we took inspiration from my husband and his partner’s business, which had already been successfully trading off an online auction platform in the car space for eight years. Taking commercial property transactions online was the most natural solution.
Tell me more about how you can buy and sell property online.
The property disposal methodology is pre-agreed with the seller and the documentation is loaded on the site. A twophased methodology is used, phase one dealing with nonbinding sealed offers and phase two with binding competitive offers. The system operates within a closed environment, giving access only to registered (Fica-ed) buyers and brokers via secured logins where various user permissions allow selected buyers access to “due diligence” information.
The portal, although not an online auction site, allows prospective purchasers to bid against each other for a specified period, before the offer period closes. So the seller is able to maximise the selling price. But, unlike an auction, the seller retains control, as the seller must still accept the offer. Multiple offers on a property used to be time-consuming, but an online competitive offer platform arrives at the best price more quickly.
The integrity and transparency of the system ensure it is acceptable to the broader property market, especially listed funds that have corporate governance requirements. The trail of information is robust, auditable and available to sellers.
What do you most enjoy about your work?
When our clients use our platform for a second and third time to dispose of their properties because they are pleased with the results we achieved the last time they used the system; being a pioneer of a successful, proven innovative business that many people told us would never work; and enjoying solid client relationships.
What do you least enjoy?
Admin! Although it is necessary to ensure our pre-vetted due-diligence documentation is accurate, it is not as exciting as closing a sale.
What qualities do you need for your job?
Patience, persistence, negotiation skills, innovation, flexibility and a positive attitude.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
A ballerina. I loved ballet, but stopped after eight years because I didn’t think I was good enough. To this day I regret giving up. That was my first lesson — to not let anyone else’s opinion of you define who you are and what you can achieve.