I'm growing more than I ever have
Ailo
15 October 2026
Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader at Harcourts Solutions, on moving to Ailo and what came after.
Charlene Amber runs a portfolio of around 750 properties at Harcourts Solutions in Brisbane. She wants it to reach 1,000. When the business began looking at a move to Ailo, she was the person the rest of the team watched. If Charlene was okay with it, everyone else would be.
She was not okay with it, at least not at first. Charlene knew the legacy system from beginning to end, and had brought it with her from a previous business. It had its flaws, but she had a workaround for every one of them. On a portfolio that size, that is how you survive.
“I knew the old system inside out - and even though it was full of flaws, I just had to get really good at the workarounds & I didn't want to change my life.”
— Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader, Harcourts Solutions
What moved her was seeing Ailo for herself. Visiting other agencies already running on Ailo, and time spent with her principal Jodie, did more than any presentation could. The business took the team through it step by step, and the decision was made together rather than handed down.
“It was a big change for me to go to Ailo. But once you actually got into it, it is so process and procedure driven. Ailo is just built for property management. I just want to keep growing now. Turns out I really did need this in my life.”
— Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader, Harcourts Solutions
Charlene is honest that there was an adjustment period. She had the questions anyone running a large portfolio would have, and it took a little while to find her feet. Onboarding has since improved, and businesses going live on Ailo now settle in within about two weeks.
“It was like, how long is it going to take? Are my clients going to suffer? Am I still going to be able to grow? I think I flourished with it.”
— Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader, Harcourts Solutions
What carried her through was the team around her. The procedures were built with the people who would use them, and the change felt shared. The business has since grown from around 2,300 properties to roughly 3,500, including an acquisition of an additional 1,050 or so.
The shift Charlene describes now is less about any feature and more about how her day feels. Work arrives when it needs to be done, not all at once, and her time goes to owners rather than to chasing.
“You're actually proactive not reactive. That's the difference. Spending more time with those owners, giving better advice, than chasing up a payment.”
— Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader, Harcourts Solutions
She no longer takes work home unless it is the kind she wants to do, like ideas for how the team could be structured as it grows. Her grandson visits the office, and every couple of hours they play ball up and down the hall. In a few weeks she is heading away for two weeks, probably the first time she will travel without her laptop.
“I'm not stressed about it anymore. And I'm still growing. I'm growing more than I ever have.”
— Charlene Amber, Pod and Team Leader, Harcourts Solutions
The person everyone looked to before the move is still the person everyone looks to. The difference is that Charlene now spends her energy on the portfolio she is building, the team growing with her, and the thousand properties she has had in her sights all along.