Property Investment Professionals of Australia – PIPA

PIPA Member Profile | Melinda Jennison, Streamline Property Buyers

Feb 2024Karen Millers

Brisbane-based Melinda Jennison established Streamline Property Buyers, which has a simple ethos of helping people make sound property investment decisions, in 2017 after a career in academia that included cystic fibrosis research.

| CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?
Our business, Streamline Property Buyers, provides a unique buyer’s agency service offering in the Brisbane property market. We have started as a husband and wife team, and we simply want to help people make sound decisions in relation to property. Scott, my husband, is a licensed builder, and my background is in research. We are also both experienced property investors and property developers, so we understand property from many different angles. We can advise our clients in several ways in relation to a property purchase, regardless of whether a property is ready to move into, or if a property requires renovation, refurbishment, or redevelopment. We have combined our skillset to assist buyers looking at Brisbane property and to ensure they understand everything about the property they are buying. Put simply, we make the invisible visible.

| HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A PROPERTY INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL AND WHAT WAS YOUR PATHWAY INTO THE PROFESSION (INCL. OTHER CAREERS)?
My career started in academia, where I was working in the field of exercise science. I completed a PhD program in 2001 and was lecturing and conducting research in that field for a few years. Whilst I enjoyed the teaching component, I found the research personally challenging – simply because I was conducting research on people who were a similar age to me, but they had end stage lung disease (cystic fibrosis).

At the same time, I met Scott and we started to build our property portfolio. We had renovated two of our own PPR’s and started our property investment journey. Once we started a family, I took a step away from academia and worked within our own construction company for many years, which allowed me to be with my three boys when they were young. The natural progression was to move into the world of property development in Brisbane and we continued to build our own portfolio, which now includes both residential and industrial property.

I have now been helping home buyers, investors and “Mum and Dad” property developers since 2017 to find suitable properties for renovation, investment, and development, as this is what I love to do, it is within a field that my current skillset seems to match and I get a real buzz from helping others. I’m now following my passion of combining research, people, and property … and I could not be happier.

| HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT PIPA?
Through research! When I first started as a buyer’s agent (working for another company) I immersed myself in all of the available information sources within the industry. I like to put 100 per cent into everything I do, and I found out about PIPA and the importance of being associated with this type of association.

| WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REASONS WHY YOU JOINED PIPA?
I have met a lot of people who have relied on property investment advice that has not been in their best interest, and as a consequence, they have lost significant sums of money.

I wanted to set myself apart from the advice that a property spruiker may give, and I wanted to become an advocate for protecting people from individuals and companies that are not providing quality advice. I am also passionate about educating people, and therefore I joined PIPA so I could be recognised as an ethical and trusted specialist in the Brisbane property market.

| HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A QPIA?
I completed the PIPA Accreditation Program late in 2018 and officially became a QPIA in March the next year. I am very excited to continue my journey in this space.

| WHAT WERE YOUR MAIN REASONS FOR BECOMING A QPIA?
I believe that having the QPIA qualification will highlight our commitment to the high standards that we offer and provide a certain level of reassurance for clients who we are lucky enough to work with. Maintaining this qualification through an ongoing program of professional development will demonstrate our willingness to stay at the forefront of relative industry news and hopefully our clients will see us as a trusted property investment specialist in the Brisbane market.

| HOW WILL THE QPIA SUPPORT YOUR CAREER?
I believe that having the QPIA qualification will highlight our commitment to the high standards that we offer and provide a certain level or reassurance for clients who we are lucky enough to work with. Maintaining this qualification through an ongoing program of professional development will demonstrate our willingness to stay at the forefront of relative industry news and hopefully our clients will see us as a trusted property investment specialist in the Brisbane market.

| HOW WOULD YOU LIKE PIPA TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS AND ITS GROWTH?
Ideally, I’d like to see PIPA succeed in its lobbying to regulate the property investment industry. I believe that would help, not only our business, but the quality of the industry as a whole. As well as that, I’m very keen to lean on PIPA for the development of my own industry knowledge through the resources that are made available to me through our membership.


| WOULD YOU RECOMMEND OTHER PROPERTY INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS TO BECOME MEMBERS OF PIPA AND COMPLETE THE QPIA? WHY?
Of course! I have met with a lot of industry business professionals through various networks and I have told them all to join PIPA and complete the accreditation course to become a QPIA. I am a huge advocate! The reason is simple … the more people become aware, the more the industry will clean up.

In the end, this will result in fewer consumers making decisions that cost them money based on bad advice.


| WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR CAREER IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS AND BEYOND?
Great question … where do I start?

Ultimately it is about exceeding the expectations of our existing and future clients, building brand awareness and credibility and increasing our market share in the Brisbane property space. If we wow our clients with our service, they will become our best advocates. Watch this space.

Originally Published: PIPA Adviser Issue #14

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