At the end of 2012, Dan and Aimee Christie took the plunge and started Property Cycle, a property management business with a personal touch
Q & A
In a nutshell, what does your business do?
Property Cycle is a property management company within Rotorua, we are a husband and wife team who manage rental properties for landlords and provide tenants a high standard of home.
What inspired you to set up your current business?
Having a passion for property that started at a young age. We invested in property and have managed our own properties for more than 10 years.
We manage every property as if it is our own. Our life has changed now we have a daughter and we wanted to create more time with her. We work flexible hours allowing for the different commitments of our clients and our family, which means weekend, early morning and evening appointments with property owners and tenants.
What was the best business decision you have made?
We have made the decision to keep the business small with a capped amount of properties, therefore keeping our service level high and the balance of work and life at an enjoyable level.
Following our passion of property and creating a business around something we love, which helps others enjoy property successfully as well. We love working together as a team and Property Cycle allows us to do this.
What was your worst business mistake (if any) and what did you learn from it?
We wish we had started sooner, we have been planning this since 2007.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for your business in the year ahead?
Growing our business and continuing to maintain our high level of communication, integrity and personal effects. We love the interactions this business provides us.
If you could do any other job for a day, what would that be?
Dan would like to race his bike overseas but he is too old and slow now.
How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
We are involved in a range of sport and recreational activities. We spend a lot of time as a family enjoying the lakes, beaches and forest around Rotorua. We love riding and walking, swimming and relaxing in the beautiful surroundings.
What's the best thing about being in business in Rotorua?
This is a bubbly town that we have called home all our lives, which provides us with an honest insight into what our town provides for so many people. The Rotorua Property Investors Association has also been a great help to us. If anyone is looking at investing they should come along to the monthly meetings.
If you were mayor of Rotorua for one day, what one change would you make?
If I was the mayor for the day I would acknowledge the amount of work our local community puts into our mountain bike trail network and understand how much financial benefit having visitors to our hospitality industry creates. Therefore, allocating more support and funding into this area would be of benefit to our community.