Meet the Team
Our TeamWe’re Australians with deep local market knowledge and meaningful experience living overseas. We know what it’s like to make high-stakes decisions from another hemisphere and why clarity beats proximity every time.
CORALA exists because buying property overseas compounds risk. We built a boutique buyer representation service to remove that risk.
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Paulo Velho
HEAD OF GROWTH, REAL ESTATE LICENCE 4962055
Paulo works with Australian communities on the ground in the U.S., helping expats purchase high-performance property in Australia.
Buying a property in New South Wales from New York taught Paulo that finding the right opportunity is only half of the equation. Having the right advisors, people who specialise in cross-border investing, a trusted team on the ground, and the confidence of a complete picture, that's what makes a great investment decision possible. CORALA was built to give every Australian expat exactly that confidence, no matter where they are in the world.
Prior to CORALA, Paulo spent four-and-a-half years in Real Estate Advisory at KPMG across Australia and the United States, advising governments, institutions, and private capital on property and infrastructure transactions worth over A$3 billion. This built on an early career in residential real estate and real estate funds management.
Paulo holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Property Development & Valuation and a Master of Commerce in Finance & Management.
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Ben Drayton
HEAD OF ACQUISITIONS, REAL ESTATE LICENCE REP400065199C
Ben leads acquisitions and purchases assets nationwide for CORALA clients.
He grew up on Sydney’s North Shore and spent eight years living in Vienna.
Living abroad changes your relationship with home. You build momentum overseas while still watching what unfolds back in Australia. When you’re not physically present, you rely entirely on the judgement of the person acting on your behalf.
Before property, Ben built and led digital products across multiple industries. His background in psychology and business shaped how he approaches high-stakes decisions: remove bias, make trade-offs explicit, and commit only when the downside is understood and priced.
He has also learned that “good enough” is expensive. That lesson stayed. At CORALA, Ben’s role is simple: turn strategy into asset - without compromise. Properties are not selected because they are available. They are secured because they satisfy the investment brief - structurally and defensibly.
Anything less is noise.
For Australians living abroad, property is rarely just financial. It is position - a way to stay connected to the market and the country while building a life elsewhere.
Ben holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and an MBA.
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Logan Atkinson
REAL ESTATE LEARNING PLACEMENT
Logan works on marketing content and the growth engine behind CORALA - helping building the systems, stories, and strategy that connect Australians abroad with the information they need to act with conviction.
Logan's path to CORALA wasn't linear - Bunnings' paint team, a stint in accounting, running his own cleaning business. Different industries, different problems, but the same lesson repeated: it's people, people, and people. Every job came down to understanding what someone actually needed and delivering on it, face to face.
Logan has a Bachelor of Commerce and a career defined less by a single track and more by a habit taking opportunities as they presented themselves, rather than waiting for the perfect moment to arrive.
Logan is driven by the same instinct that's shaped every role at CORALA: service that goes beyond the transaction. Whether it was a paint colour or a piece of content that changes how someone sees their next move, Logan is always keen to deliver the best outcome for the person on the other end.
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