Jignesh Kapadia says his new agency – Luxon Real Estate – is about delivering something special to Melbourne’s real estate scene.
“Whatever we do in terms of providing service to a client or vendor, or just a phone inquiry, we want to add ‘Wow!’ to it. My focus is, ‘How we can create experiences for vendors and purchasers which becomes a long-lasting relationship?’”
This customer-centric approach would surprise no-one who’s met Jignesh, who emigrated to Melbourne from India in 2005 to study environmental science. After graduating, Jignesh couldn’t find a job related to his studies, so he started working for Telstra and ended up being there for 12 years.
As an account manager for the carrier, Jignesh’s day was all about customer interaction, meeting with those running businesses, understanding their needs and providing solutions.
“Talking to people is my strength,” he said.
During this time, Jignesh began investing in property and made the decision to slowly transition toward real estate, which resulted in a role at a friend’s business in 2019.
“When I finally started, it was a bumpy ride and I wasn’t sure whether it was for me, but then, the things I’d learned working for Telstra – try and do things differently, don’t do what everyone else is doing – actually helped my career,” he explained.
He had ambitions to start his own business, but knew he needed to learn the ropes first.
As Jignesh’s career progressed, he was drawn to selling in the new construction sector. It was an expertise that proved fruitful in 2020.
“COVID hit and a lot of agents were in trouble. I was working with builders and had brand-new houses to sell,” he said.
“I made relationships and built networks so in 2020, when everyone else was struggling, I got a lot of work.”
While Jignesh liked working for his friend’s agency, his longing to build his own operation and keep more of his commission grew.
Jignesh had also built up name recognition and didn’t believe he needed to be tied to an agency to succeed.
“I didn’t need to rely on working for somebody else – I could have my own brand, create my own culture and pass onto other people whatever I learned,” he said.
“With a lot of the builders I worked with, they were happy with me and saying they didn’t care who I worked for, they just wanted to work with me. I decided, ‘That’s enough of working for someone else – let’s do it on my own.’”
Jignesh said he’d been following Dan Argent for years and admired what he was achieving at UrbanX.
“When I thought it was time to start up on my own there was no question – I knew it was Dan and UrbanX. He’s helping agents do well, and his focus is on overall growth, not just, ‘Open up an agency and do $1 million or $2 million a year,” he said.
“He’s understands that I want to grow as a human, I want to grow as a business, and I want to grow as a team. Those things are very important to me and my family.”
Jignesh said one of the big attractions during start-up was UrbanX’s ability to create stunning branding.
“That was my first love – they do beautiful branding, and they don’t do what everyone else is doing,” he said.
“The colour scheme you use, the logo you use and the marketing you use around your branding are all important. I don’t see branding done by anybody else as good as UrbanX does it.
“And they’re fast. His team did it all in a few weeks. I was up and running with everything – website, real estate profiles, all the collateral for branding, everything was done so smoothly.”
Jignesh said the ongoing support has been sensational as well.
“I’d score it 11 out of 10. When it comes to service – people asking for your invoices, taking payments, putting listings online, listing and sale administration – those are the sorts of things they do behind the scenes, which are so important and allow me to concentrate on what I do best.
“My business is just four weeks old, but I know that six months down the track when things are even busier, I will thrive with the backup of UrbanX.”
