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Breaking new ground
Oligo's Johan Huurman trades Spain for Prague
 | | Finding the Spanish market "overheated," Huurman was attracted by the growth and potential of Prague. |
By Villu Arak
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
Jan. 20, 2005
Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda. It's a sad swim in the bitter wake of escaped dreams. Not so for Johan Huurman, 28, an Irish-born investor and entrepreneur. Rather than run aground in the overheated residential property market in Spain, Huurman sold everything he owned in his adopted country, turned down his native Ireland and bought into a Prague-based real estate agency to start anew.
What is it that drove him to take the plunge and what has been his experience? Less than six months into his position as co-owner and managing director at Oligo realitni servis, Huurman agreed to share his thoughts on the Czech property scene.
The Prague Post: Why did you leave Spain and how did Prague catch your interest?
Johan Huurman: I worked with new residential developments in Barcelona and Valencia. It is a coastal area that has been known as a very good investment in the past 12 years. But it has been slowing down with the arrival of a socialist government. They stepped in, promising to reduce prices on flats. As a result, it now takes six to 12 months to sell a flat. Before, it took three months. So I decided to quit.
I sold everything I had and circumnavigated the Atlantic for eight months. When I finished in July, I wanted to continue in real estate. But with the Spanish market slowing down at the moment, the Czech market sounded very attractive. I had an Irish possibility, but that market is overheated just like Spain, where people cannot afford to move out of their parents' house until they're 30. If you're in Dublin, a small apartment -- what they call here a 1+kk -- costs 250,000 euros [$328,000 / 7.6 million Kc]. The barrier of entry is very high. There is a moment when a city attracts people, and then there's a moment when it spits them out. Right now, Dublin is spitting people out. Many people say that Prague is no longer the great place to be, but it is, because it is still attracting people.
TPP: How did you do your due diligence before becoming a partner at Oligo?
JH: I spoke to Lucie Bukova, who was looking to sell part of her company. It was a matter of trust and friendship; only then did I look at the books. I saw that it was a steady company that had been running for over three years. It has had its ups and downs, but is pretty well-structured and has possibilities for the kind of flexibility I was looking for. And I decided to buy [into] it. Oligo is based on Irish and Czech capital with three partners running the 15-person company.
TPP: New ownership often runs into organizational resistance from staff. How can a new owner overcome that?
JH: I'm not the most autocratic leader. I use democratic reasoning -- and, when I involve the employees, they see what I'm trying to do.
TPP: Three months into your involvement with Czech real estate, what are your reactions?
JH: The Czech market is upside down. It takes more care of the buyer than the seller. One major barrier is that sellers tend not to work with exclusive contracts. They go to a lot of agents and think they have more chances of selling this way. On the Irish and Spanish markets, exclusivity is a must. So that's the concept I want to change here. As exclusive agents, we would promote the property, give back information about how many people are interested in it, and protect the selling price. Perhaps after two months, we can tell the owner that we've listed their property on this Web site, in that magazine, and that there are so many people interested. But potential buyers really think that you should paint your house. As an agent, I would prefer to have 20 exclusive agreements over 200 nonexclusives.
TPP: Besides more emphasis on exclusive contracts, what other techniques are you importing through Oligo?
JOHAN HUURMAN
Managing Director, Oligo realitni servis
Born: Limerick, Ireland, Jan. 9, 1977, raised in Spain
Education: Degree in business organization from Staffordshire University, business administration from Universidad ESERP de Barcelona, hospitality management at The Hague Hotel School and a yachting master's from Facultad de Nautica de Barcelona
Family status: In a committed relationship
Hobbies: Tennis, going to the mountains, gym, reading |
JH: Right now, we're dividing the city into sections and doing very hard door-to-door work, asking people what property they have. Another thing we're doing is putting up billboards. The concept of using billboards -- such as signs in the yard -- doesn't exist here in the residential sector. I would say that in Ireland, 70 percent of the sales are done through billboards. People who see that billboard will be exclusively interested in that property. What I see currently is that people call and say they want this, this, and this. You kill yourself looking for it. And you don't have exclusivity. Another real estate agent will simply go and take [the sale] away.
TPP: Why haven't billboards caught on?
JH: People don't go ahead with it. But billboards do work. So far we've had a good response to billboards, especially with flats. The Czech people are very stubborn, and it's hard to change their minds. But they're very bright and once they see results, they'll go straight at it.
TPP: What kind of training do local agents need most?
JH: Selling a property is just about common sense and earning people's trust. Talking to people nonstop is what it's really about. You gain their trust by getting to know them. Brokers should not be sitting down behind the desk and looking on the Internet or making phone calls. You have someone outside talking to people directly. It's a technique that has been very successful in Spain. One agency in Valencia opened 50 new small offices in three years, with five to six people working in each. The concept is personalized to that district -- these small agents have an assigned area and they are contacting everybody in it. People know their faces, and there is always someone to go to.
TPP: Are you happy with Oligo's level of activity, or are you looking to grow it?
JH: In the next three years, we're definitely planning to grow and open new branches. Our new office in Benesov is part of that. But our most immediate concern is to move the main office. Its current location [on the first floor of a building at 28. rijna in Prague 1] is not good for real estate. If you go to other countries, real estate offices are on the ground floor like shops.
TPP: What would you say to an outsider who is looking in and perhaps thinking about jumping into the Czech market themselves?
JH: I didn't have expectations as to how things would go here. So take it as it comes. Once you know where a problem is, 80 percent is already solved. Don't think about the problem, think about finding a solution.
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