The interesting thing about social media is the way that entrepreneurs are able to leverage the reduced transaction / information costs it enables and bring us applications that you would never have really thought about before.

A perfect example of this is My Property Partner.

My Property Partner launched last week “as a new social networking solution to assist property buyers struggling to buy alone”.

Managing Director, Lynton Pipkorn, explains the rational behind My Property Partner:

“In today’s current climate, with continued low interest rates and the extension of the first homebuyers grant, property prices have not fallen enough to ease the housing affordability crisis for many property buyers. We’re trying to keep the dream of owning property alive for this growing segment of the market,” he said.

I can’t help but feel that the users of this service will more likely be serial property purchasers/investors, not the first time homebuyer who can’t get into the market – I mean, which first home buyers are going to have the spare cash to deal with the legal issues around preparing joint tenancy/tenancy in common type arrangements and the subsequent legal documentation needed to ensure that, should there be a dispute, they are properly positioned?

This is reinforced, in some ways, by Pipkorn when he says:

“My Property Partner puts individual investors together to develop investment partnerships and strategies, allowing them to take advantage of the current opportunities in the premium residential and commercial markets.” 

On this note and, once again, not being an expert, I wonder how fund-raising laws will view a consortium of unrelated parties who jointly invest in a fund to purchase property.

In the end though, this is all detail and something that My Property Partner will no doubt have already thought about (or will have to think about in the near future).

The real point of interest here is that the social network even exists.

The fact that people would go online to meet people who might share in what may very well be one of the biggest purchases they make in their life, is amazing. If successful it would go a long way to demonstrating how comfortable people are becoming with relationships formed online and the value that social media can bring to all aspects of their life.

Interesting.