Nathaniel Dunne’s office just off Iola’s downtown square is nondescript. No fancy signage. Not even a welcome mat.
But inside, teems a world of high finance.
Dunne works in a small space on the second floor of a renovated building on South Jefferson. Generally, a lone, white truck labeled “House Buyers, USA,” sits outside, the lone promotion Dunne does locally.
Upstairs, the small working quarters of House Buyers, USA is dominated by a multitude of clocks set to the various time zones around the globe. A large white board with a grid containing scribbles and numbers below each time zone depicts that area’s current business transactions.
Dunne’s modest environment belies the success of his business that has broken new ground in an economy where investors continue to play it safe.
DUNNE was born in Kingaroy, Australia, a small agricultural town of about 7,500 near the eastern coast. He grew up in the larger city of Toowoomba — west of the Brisbane, Queensland’s capital city. He received a bachelor’s degree of business from the University of Southern Queensland.
Dunne, 35, and his brother Matt, are the founders of House Buyers USA, a global real estate investment firm. He coordinates from the United States and Matt coordinates from the “Aussie side.”
“My goal was to not work a job,” Dunne said of his aspirations after college. He married his wife, Lisa, in 2001, and initially they bought, renovated and resold houses on the Australian market. When they had enough money saved, they moved to the U.S. in 2005 and started the business.
“We had to put it all together,” Dunne said. “We were one of the first businesses to have the whole package.”
Now, with only seven full-time employees, his company coordinates the buying, selling and renting of houses around the world. They provide all of the logistics — Realtors, bankers, lawyers and property managers.
When the economic crisis hit the U.S. in 2007, Dunne and his brother saw the silver lining —a time for investors to get into the market.
“The loans began tightening up,” Dunne said. “I could see the change back then, it was the beginning of the economic collapse.”
With housing prices at an all-time low, House Buyers USA began to coordinate with buyers overseas.
“It’s taking advantage of it (the poor economy), it’s like any other investment,” he said.
When business began to pick up, the Australian news program “Today Tonight” did a feature on the Dunne brothers’ work.
“It exploded from there,” Dunne said.
MOST OF Dunne’s work can be done directly from his office in Iola, coordinating over the phone and through video communication with clients in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and most recently China.
