Technology transforms property sales
February 2006
Homebuyers and investors the world over are increasingly turning to the internet to search for suitable properties - to the benefit of sellers whose agents are able to offer smart web usage as part of their marketing strategy.
"Indeed," says Berry Everitt, MD of the Chas Everitt International property group, "we have a growing number of clients around the country who can testify to the effectiveness of internet advertising that uses second and even third-generation web technologies."
Static ads on the internet, he notes, are seldom enough these days to really motivate buyers. On the other hand, the group's offices in the Western Cape have notched up several sales recently on the strength of the carefully-prepared virtual tours placed on its website, www.chaseveritt.com.
"Virtual tours are especially popular among international buyers who want to invest in South Africa, but do not have the time to visit and travel around the country in search of a suitable home.
"For example, our Northern Suburbs office in Cape Town recently sold a small home on a large plot in Parow North to a buyer from Bristol for R650 000, within a week of listing the property and placing a virtual tour on the website.
"And our Somerset West office has recently sold several upmarket properties profiled on the website to European buyers and expats living in London. These include an upmarket family home with exceptional views in a security estate, which was sold to a German buyer for R2,4-million, and double-storey penthouse overlooking False Bay that was bought by a UK buyer for R1,6-million."
A South African living in London also recently paid R1,9-million for a four-bedroom family home in Bakkershoogte that he viewed via a virtual tour on the Chas Everitt International website.
But it is not only overseas buyers who are making use of the opportunity the internet affords them to "view" properties at a distance. "In a recent instance a buyer relocating from East London spotted a R2,2-million Plattekloof property on our website, and signed an offer to purchase just 19 days after the home was listed," notes Everitt
It is, he says, difficult to quantify the actual number of local consumers using the internet as a house-hunting tool, but a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors in the US does give a good indication of how fast internet use may be growing.
"The huge NAR consumer study found that use of the internet among American
home seekers had increased from a mere two percent in 1995 to 77 percent last
year. A total of 24 percent of buyers also identified the internet as the place
they first saw the new home they bought, up from 15 percent in
2004 and two percent in 1997."
"Consequently, home sellers really cannot afford to discount the significance of the internet - or the importance of selecting an agency that has provided the resources for its agents to be able to offer really savvy web advertising."
Issued by Chas Everitt International
For further information call Brenda Smith at
Chas Everitt International Bryanston on 011 463 2033
or visit www.chaseveritt.com