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Rethink Investing moves fast – but with greater care
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
THE KEY to the Rethink Investing business model is that it is very much like the Virgin brand according to co-founder Scott O'Neill.
It adapts fast to meet the needs and wants of its clients. And, like Virgin, Rethink Investing moves fast, but with a reputation for taking greater care than its rivals. 
Rethink Investing has become Australia’s largest and most experienced buyer’s agency. Since 2015, it assisted more than 3750 clients in acquiring over $4.25 billion worth of real estate.
Rethink has strategically focused on positively-geared, high cashflow investment properties. It has built the wealth of its clients, who are all sophisticated investors and high net worth individuals.
The extraordinary part about the Rethink Investing story is it has expanded from being a commercial property buyer’s agency to a business that focuses on residential buyers and mortgage broking, with a team of property lawyers.
“We have a common goal, a common set of beliefs and values, and ours is all around helping clients build wealth,” co-founder Scott O’Neill told Talking Business.
“We want to use our knowledge in different aspects for the better of our clients and really help them build that sustainable long-term wealth.
“It’s not a get-rich quick scheme. It’s about helping them invest smartly, leveraging properly, protecting their assets and, obviously, you back them up with insurance and lawyers so they don’t make mistakes and get caught out.”
Assisting time poor clients to amass wealth
Mr O’Neill’s firm does all the due diligence for its clients – which is to be expected as they are all busy people who do not have the time to focus on property investing themselves because they are all dedicated to operating highly successful businesses. 
“They don’t want to spend three hours a day trying to understand the commercial market, bidding on properties, visiting properties, or trying to gain access to off-market deals,” Mr O’Neill said.
“They get us to do all that hard work and leg work and we’re there to lower the risk and bring them more deals than they would be able to see on their own. The idea is that they do better (in the process) with us purchasing at a low price and getting a better yield.
“They know we’re not going to be putting risky deals in front of them.”
Rethink Investing proves its worth
And despite the state of the economy, there is a role for Rethink Investing in building wealth for its clients.
Mr O’Neil said the beauty of the commercial property market was that investors could position deals appropriately.
For example, buying office space at the moment is “not a good idea”. He said, simply, one wouldn’t go near it with a “10-foot barge pole”.
Similarly, buying a fashion store in a time of high inflation – and the cost of living crisis hitting middle income earners – “would not deliver good returns”.
However, neighbourhood shopping centres since COVID would be good assets, he believed. As would be medical suites – but only “following a process of due diligence”,
While Rethink Investing is a Sydney-based business, it has branches right around Australia, from Perth to Townsville to Hobart.
Interestingly, 25-30 percent of the Rethink Investing workforce are former-clients. 
“They’ve invested, they’ve done well and a lot of them have walked away from their jobs … and they (later) get a little bit bored so why not stay in the property game?” he said.
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
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