I’ve Seen the SOLD Signs - But Where Did Arizto Come From?

Although Arizto has been in the pipeline for years, it’s hard to believe we’ve only been live and operating for just over a month; because for a small startup company with big ambition - already, we’ve made some waves.

In case you’re a first time visitor -

Arizto is a real-estate platform that simplifies and streamlines the process of selling a home, and provides a transparent, quality experience for everyone involved in the process.

Across our first four weeks, our Facebook community has increased, we’ve listed 70 homes, grown to 35+ staff and, most importantly, SOLD or placed under contract 18 homes in current locations of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga - so things are tracking pretty well!

We have been working hard to inform you about how our platform runs, and demonstrate that our business actually works (see: the SOLD pictures on your Facebook feed); however, many of you have been asking about how Arizto came to exist - so today, we’re bringing you into that story, and touching on how our company works to benefit you. Here’s how Arizto went from an initial idea to a kiwi owned and operated real-estate platform.

Arizto’s director and co-founder, Pernell Callaghan, grew up in Whangarei and went to Dilworth boarding school in Auckland city. Like most teens going through high-school, he didn’t have a clear idea about what he wanted to do when he left - but an agent had come to talk to his class about real-estate as a potential career option, and when the time came to go out into the world, Pernell recalled his presentation, went straight to his offices and asked for a job. It’s here we realise that status-quo deviations must be in Pernell’s blood.

He started out in the office doing menial tasks; cleaning, admin, filing, anything that would keep a roof over his head. Naturally, he started to absorb the ins and outs of what it took to be a real estate agent, and sure enough, six months in, Pernell made the decision to become licensed. For over 5 years, he learnt as much as he could, worked tirelessly for the same agency and enjoyed huge successes which were recognised in the form of awards, big wins and - full transparency - a pretty decent income.

But, by his fifth year in the real-estate industry, Pernell needed a new challenge.

In 2016, he resigned, threw caution to the wind and, drawing on everything he’d learnt during his time as an agent, started a company under his own name - Callaghan real-estate. The agency didn’t last long - but it’s not for the reason you might assume. Despite being profitable, and growing from one person to fourteen in the space of six months, Pernell couldn’t shake the feeling that running under a traditional real-estate model may not be the best way to do business.

For the agents, the traditional model seemed clunky and de-motivating. They were having to spend most of their time prospecting new clients, rather than actually doing what they are best at - selling homes. The sellers, in turn, were having to pay thousands of dollars in agency and commission fees, plus extra marketing and listing costs, which directly impacted their pocket across the process of selling their property. When a buyer became interested in signing off on a property, the whole operation could be slowed if the necessary reports hadn’t been obtained upfront, which could be expensive for the buyer, and devastating for the seller if things weren’t quite as they seemed.

The cogs started turning for Pernell and, inspired by platforms that were harnessing technology to reduce overheads, streamline services and craft solutions to industry problems, the foundations for Arizto were forming. A clear vision of providing a transparent, efficient, quality, customer-focussed product to market drove him to take the parts of real-estate he thought could be improved, and chip away at a concrete concept. After working through unexpected challenges, sleepless nights and inevitable system kinks - on May 28th 2018 - Arizto was launched.

Arizto sells homes at a flat rate of $7,500. A seller pays $2,500 upfront, which covers marketing materials (photography, floor-plans, HD videography and more), listings on realestate.co.nz and Trademe, important reports that can facilitate a sale, including meth testing, LIM reports and council property files, and teams them with a licensed agent who specialises in their area. When, and only when their home sells through Arizto, the seller pays a second flat fee of $5,000, which covers the agent’s work and business costs - without any hidden extras.

But how can we afford to operate at such a low cost? What sort of technology is involved? And how precisely does our business work to benefit the seller, buyer and agent? Is it all too good to be true? We’ll be going into more detail about this in the coming days - but in the meantime, if you’d like more information about Arizto, see our full list of FAQ’s here, or for more specific enquiries, email info@arizto.co.nz.

Just quickly - before you go - today, Pernell and the team would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our early believer, for trusting that we do what we say we do. Even though Arizto has been built on the foundation of transparency, we know that it can feel risky to put your confidence in something that steps away from a traditional model - in Arizto’s case, real-estate - so we don’t take your initial support for granted. We are excited to bring you with us into what we think will be the future of real-estate!

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