The Herald Sun has revealed how Generation Z and social-media savvy millennials are using everything from TikTok to Instagram to rattle the rungs of Victoria’s property ladder.
Now we take a closer look at how individual influencers built their following.
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JORDAN VAN DEN BERG
Social media handle: @purplepingers
Jordan van den Berg was infuriated by real estate agents at the time he started to post on Instagram in 2021.
Jordan van den Berg in action filming homes in Melbourne for his Instagram page.
With hundreds of people messaging him about their own experiences he was inspired to go further, exposing rentals in Victoria that didn’t meet the minimum standards set out in the Residential Tenancies Act.
The 28-year-old has gained a following of almost 250,000 across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube as well as 25,000 members in his Reddit thread, Sh**rentals.
“People, like everyone in Australia, have had a bad experience with a real estate agent, no matter who you are, whether you’re a landlord or renter,” Mr van den Berg said.
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“People began submitting their own stories; so I started telling those stories.”
When tenants revealed the state of their rental through his website and social media channels, he said by sharing those stories online, rental listings were taken down, real estate agents were fined and landlords dropped their agencies in some cases.
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Jordan van den Berg says he hopes that everyone will be able to afford to live in a home that isn’t falling apart.
“At the end of the day, landlords and real estate agencies know that they can get away with it, unless they’re called out very specifically,” he said.
“I think landlords that complain about the minimum standards being onerous are kind of outing themselves because they would want to rent houses that don’t meet the minimum standards.
“Enforcing the minimum standards relies on renters to be their own rental cops and while we have this massive power imbalance, that’s not possible.”
Mr van den Berg said his main drive for revealing dodgy rentals is the hope that one day, everyone will be able to afford to live in a home that isn’t falling apart.
“And the social media aspect has allowed me to reach a lot more people than I would have been able to if I had to rely on traditional media,” he said.
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