Online Real Estate Auctions Gather Momentum
bid now on geewizauctions
I know my boss is just going to say I told you so, but he would be right. About four years ago Tony Wiles predicted online real estate auctions would become a popular way to buy and sell property. He proceeded to create www.geewizauctions.com, Australia’s online real estate auction site. I was intrigued at the time and came to believe in his vision. I could see it could work, I just knew that it was a massive project.
I have worked with Tony over the past four years helping him to develop the website and promote his new venture. This is not easy to do when money runs dry. Geewizauctions.com (I loved the name when he first told me, it was one of the few things we agreed upon!) was created by the IT gurus at Aussiehome.com and after thorough testing had a soft launch mid 2008. There have been three successful sales so far and very positive feedback from buyers and sellers alike.
My Google Alerts send me daily updates about real estate and I have noticed a considerable surge in stories about sites providing online real estate bidding services around the world. It’s not surprising really, the real estate industry couldn’t stay in the 20th century forever. I am now seeing the future Tony had predicted back in 2005. Quite amazing really.
Bid Online
Propertyweek.com ran a story titled Pattinson teams up with estate agents for online sale which looks at UK firms offering ‘an ongoing Ebay-style auction that it claims will be more transparent and allow investors to access transactions without the hassle of attending sales in person.’ It quotes one agent, ‘the online auction will offer a new level of transparency in the auctions sector.. . . these have attracted a lot more tentative buyers who would otherwise think twice and who want the flexibility to make considered decisions outside the auction room.’
This sounds so similar to our initial press releases it’s not funny.
And although there is already an online auction platform for real estate in the US (realtybid.com which we discovered while creating geewizauctions.com), it hasn’t stopped other start ups from giving it a go as well. Globest.com reports about a New York based site called Bid on the City which claims to offer ‘real time bidding online or in person.’
The author goes on to say ‘what is already clear is that the site reflects a trend: no matter how you describe them, online real estate auctions are gaining traction’.
Online bidding is even being used for choosing your real estate agent. Journalgazette.net reports that sellers and buyers are soliciting agent quotes online via Doorfly.com another US based website. ‘Founders Tatum Hindman and Jon Coulter envisioned the site as a place consumers could find Realtors and compare qualifications.’
I’m sure there will be more updates in my inbox tomorrow.
So yes Tony, you were right, as always.
Sources:
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=36&storycode=3140057&c=1
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090511/BIZ/305119949
http://www.globest.com/news/1391_1391/insider/178284-1.html
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )What is twitter generated traffic really worth?
I recently twittered via @anreps about a new property for sale on ANREPS real estate website. The house had only been on their website for half an hour and had only had one page view when I sent a link to it via twitter. After two minutes I refreshed the page and there had been 22 visitors to that property page. I refreshed again a minute later and it had 37 visitors.
Now I realise these aren’t huge numbers, but it did seem quite impressive within the space of just a few minutes. I have read about twitter posts crashing servers because they can’t cope with the traffic, but that wasn’t going to be a problem here.
I was quite pleased that my experiment worked. But this was short lived as I thought about where the traffic had come from. And I was right. When I checked the traffic using bit.ly the majority from the US, with two from the UK and one from Israel.
So where is the real value? Don’t I want Australians to click on the link? Doesn’t it come down to wanting a potential client or buyer to view the website? Or is it positive just to have an increase in traffic to the site?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )
lisacsmith perth wa 