You may remember back in March we said good bye to our co-founder Jess as Mortgage Mates branched into a new direction . Since then, we have been in a whirlwind on all things Mortgage Mates and life in general and this is just a small update of what has been happening for us.
In April Founder Daisy got married- marrying her ‘Mortgage Mate’ and celebrating a life together despite the impacts of Covid-19. We tried to take some time at this point to recharge and refocus ready to move forward with what was to come. It was at this point that things started ramping up, especially as the team of one now has to make all the decisions 🙂 !
With Jess departing, it gave us an opportunity to reconsider the direction Mortgage Mates wanted to go in and after a lot of thought the decision was made to redevelop our website. Over the past three months we have been working with our developers to create something new and innovative which will better support our users into the space of co-ownership. (More on that later).
In May, Daisy undertook her first professional photo shoot for the website- with some of the photos captured showing above. At Mortgage Mates we are about more than just housing, we are about connection and community- so my new husband and our furbaby Bo were also included in the pictures. Whilst I don’t think the models of Italian Vogue have anything to worry about- it is great to have a professional set of pictures to use for the website, for social media posts and in media statements. We think these pictures represent who Mortgage Mates is and what we represent and look forward to sharing more of who we are as we continue to develop brand.
Along with the new website, a decision was made to be more proactive in the proptech space here in Perth. Thanks to the hard work of Ash, the Proptech Hub WA has been growing from strength to strength and we enjoy having the opportunity to take part in some of the work he is doing. In May, Mortgage Mates attended the SOCIAL HOUSING & SUSTAINABILTY SHOWCASE WA 2021 which was a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the work we are doing in the housing affordability space in Australia. We presented alongside a range of other affordable housing services based at Proptech WA including Home Hub WA, a social and affordable real estate platform, and JNG property group which supports co-living opportunities here in Perth. There was lots of interest in how we work, and we have since developed some relationships with third parties as a direct result of the presentation. As many of you know, Mortgage Mates is passionate about the development of an affordable housing system and value getting to know other players in this space.
Later that month, Mortgage Mates was lucky enough to attend the Perth event of the first Proptech Association Australia awards ceremony, where Mortgage Mates was awarded the Proptech for Good Award. We were extremely proud to be recognised for the work we are doing, not just in proptech, but also social tech and community impact too. It makes the long hours and dedication very much worthwhile and has definitely spurred us on over the last few weeks.
Since June Mortgage Mates has been taking part in the Austrade UK Fintech Academy, looking at how and when we launch our UK platform once its development is completed.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, we are currently in the process of developing our new platform for Australia. Directly after this is completed we will be building our UK platform to bring co-ownership to the British market. We are extremely excited about our new branded site and the capabilities it brings, and believe it make sense to operate in both markets as soon as possible.
A survey by HSBC demonstrates that UK home owners are extremely open to co-ownership and in particular buying with a stranger!
The work our developers are doing to bring to life the vision of Mortgage Mates has been fantastic, and we are extremely excited to add in some new features which we believe will enhance the experience of our users in owning a home.
If you are interested in learning when our new site is in operation, please go to www.mortgagemates.com.au and sign up to our subscription service so we can assist you in signing up to our website to find your Mate and co-own a home together!
That’s it from us for now, this piece feels like just as much as a whirlwind as life has been, but stay tuned to see more of what we are up to in the next couple of months as we enable Every Australian to own a Home!