Freedom Group launches a Bucharest-based co-working office network for real estate agents

Freedom Group, a company founded by the entrepreneur Octavian Bădescu, launches a network of office spaces for real estate agents, in partnership with four major operators in the coworking industry.

The offices are located in different areas of the capital and can be used as needed by the Freedom Group affiliated agents, starting February. Currently, this is the largest office network in the country, where real estate agents can work or organize their meetings and has 22 spaces located in class A office buildings. The costs are integrated into the subscription service packages. made available by the Freedom Group, the use of spaces having a budget of between 30 and 150 euros per month, per consultant. According to Freedom Group, this new service responds to a trend in the way of working among all the professional categories that work on their own and looking for quality offices, at prices customized to the needs of their activity.

According to Freedom Group estimates, more than 3,000 real estate agents operate in Bucharest. The vast majority work either on their own or in small teams and implicitly most of them face problems such as: lack of adequate space for work and meetings, too high operating costs in relation to the number of hours actually spent at office, logistical or geographical limitations, as well as the lack of sufficient opportunities for contact with other agents or potential clients.

“The opportunity offered by the Freedom Group to real estate consultants is a first on the real estate market in Romania and allows access to the largest network of top offices, geographically dispersed in Bucharest, where the real estate agent member of the Freedom Group will be able to work, meet with customers, guild colleagues or potential partners. The consultant will use the spaces based on programming, as much as he needs and will have available including computers equipped with a complete and personalized operating system in the cloud, having both a physical and a virtual office. The offices will be available nationally and even globally, as the networks with which we started this collaboration have a worldwide reach, which our company also aims at,” said Octavian Bădescu, founder of Freedom Group.

According to Freedom Group representatives, a major shortcoming for many realtors is the obligation to bear in different forms, in full, the costs of rent and utilities for a space that uses 10 – 20 – 30% of the over 150  working hours  of the month.

The founder of Feedom Group plans to extend this new service to other cities in Romania and abroad, depending on the demand and the growth rate of the company and the current partners providing services in the market for coworking spaces. The entrepreneur expects that in the next decade this model will become increasingly demanded in Romania, by consultants from any field. 

The launch of the new type of support service integrates with the unique business model promoted by the Freedom Group starting in September 2019: the real estate consulting company, organized as a joint stock company, owned in an increasing proportion even by the real estate agents, who they are also customers of the network. In the last months of 2019, 11.5% of the founders’ shares were purchased by agents and other investors, and currently the capitalization of the company has exceeded 3 million euros.

Freedom Group is the brand under which the activities of services with human support (through real estate agents) are carried out in the real estate trading market, the project being set up by Octavian Bădescu, in 2017. In the first phase the company acquired a RE / MAX franchise, at which gave up a few months ago. Former Sales Director of Sameday Courier, Dana Gațe, joined the company in 2018, as an associate. The main specialization of the company is in the residential segment, but the services offered by Freedom Group extend over several areas, from property management, to offering access to investment opportunities in Romania and abroad. The company has differentiated itself by specializing in exclusive representation (of a single party) in a real estate transaction and at this moment it has 8 consultants in the team. Octavian Bădescu believes that based on this innovative business model, Freedom Group has the potential to become in time one of the most respected real estate consulting companies worldwide.

Octavian Bădescu, the founder of the company, has almost 20 years experience in the services sector, during which he created and developed innovative projects and brands in several fields: direct marketing, market research, courier and real estate. Octavian Bădescu founded and led relevant companies in certain market niches, such as Retailplus Eastern Europe, acquired in 2012 by a company belonging to AC Nielsen group, one of the world leaders in the research market or Sameday Courier – the first Romanian company listed on the AeRO market. Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). Sameday Courier was acquired in 2017, by eMAG, the largest online retailer in Romania.