Property Portal Watch » Interviews

Interview with Ken Shuman – trulia.com

Alice Allan — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:05:51 +0000

US property search engine trulia.com marked four years of operation in 2009, and spent the year releasing steady upgrades to everything from its agent profiles to its listing imagery. The search engine, currently number seven on the Hitwise list of US real estate websites, reported bumper traffic figures as the year came to a close.

trulia.com’s head of communications, Ken Shuman, spoke to propertyportalwatch.com about the website’s recent releases, its planned expansion into rental listings, and those Google acquisition rumours.

2009 saw plenty of releases from trulia.com, including property comparison functionality, a price reduction tool, and an Augmented Reality moblie application. Which of these releases had the greatest effect on generating audience interest?

Price reduction was widely adopted. In today’s market, everyone is looking for a good deal. Once we saw the consumer behaviour on the website, we built the price reduction functionality into our iPhone app as well.

Also, mobile continues to be a big growth area. We released new versions of the iPhone app, Augmented Reality app, and we have optimised our website for all mobile devices. The world is becoming more mobile and shopping for a home while walking around a neighborhood is a natural behaviour. On the weekend, 10 percent of traffic is now through mobile devices.

Why did trulia.com decide to release an Augmented Reality mobile application along with an iPhone app and mobile website? Has covering all these bases been worthwhile?

The mobile market is very fragmented and we wanted to make sure everyone has a good experience. The iPhone app continues to see the most use and that is where we continue to innovate. The open house search and most popular search were built for the iPhone and then we added it to the website. We will continue to track where the mobile usage is coming from and we will strategically invest in building applications for our users.

trulia.com recently said it would add rental listings within the next six months, and that the rentals search will debut with millions of listings. Why has trulia.com decided to include rentals?

Launching rentals is a natural extension of our business. 30 percent of users that visit trulia.com are considering renting as well as buying. Potential buyers are thinking twice in today’s market because they do not want to become a statistic. Our ultimate goal is to provide a personalised experience which helps each individual renter or buyer make better decisions. We are developing tools to make sure this is the smartest search option out there for people looking to rent or buy.

Where will these rental listings come from? How will trulia.com gather so many listings for the debut of the rentals search?

We will follow the same model as we have for homes for sale and ensure that we have a flexible platform which accepts listings from a variety of sources.

Discussing the rentals search, you were quoted as saying “We’re building multiple tools to help consumers compare, contrast and make better decisions on whether they should be renting or buying in today’s market”. Can you tell us more about these tools?

We don’t want to disclose too many details just yet. The engineering team is hard at work building tools and I believe our users will be excited with their options.

In late 2009 there were rumours that Google was looking to acquire trulia.com. Can you confirm whether Google was looking into buying trulia.com, and if so, whether an acquisition might still take place?

As a company we do not comment on rumors or speculation.

What can we expect to see from trulia.com over the next few months?

We are laser focused on building tools that will help consumers make better informed decisions. You will see more products that will help trulia.com users have a personalised experience, a smarter search experience and more rich property data and local information throughout 2010. I can’t release any specific product details but I can tell you all our product releases this year will tie back to these key areas.

Where do you think trulia.com will be placed in terms of US real estate websites this time next year?

We are already a top five site in the category and we expect to continue to grow throughout the year. The new year is off to a good start. January 2010 was a record month in terms of unique visitors – 6.3 million – and all our key metrics.

Interview with Tammy Kotula – apartments.com

Alice Allan — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:22:36 +0000

As its names suggests, apartments.com is a US-based property portal focusing specifically on apartments. After a substantial promotional push in 2009, apartments.com has recently moved into the top 10 US real estate websites list.

Here, spokesperson Tammy Kotula talks to propertyportalwatch.com about how the website was promoted, what challenges it is currently facing, and where its focus will be in 2010.

apartments.com is a specialist portal. What does it offer that other apartment-focused portals don’t?

apartments.com has more than 10 years rooted in online advertising expertise. As an industry leader, apartments.com creates easy access to its listings through unmatched exposure on more than 1,000 websites including Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, Univision, and MySpace, and is an exclusive provider of apartment listings to a media network for more than 120 newspapers and their websites including the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.

After acquiring the popular social media website apartmenthomeliving.com, apartments.com advertisers now also benefit from having their listings on two of the nation’s leading apartment search websites.

apartments.com also creates the most relevant products to reach renters online. In addition to creating an iPhone app in 2009, apartments.com was the only Internet Listing Service with a mobile version of its website, which was launched in 2008. Today on-the-go renters can conveniently conduct their apartment search on apartments.com anywhere and anytime from any mobile device.

After conducting a national survey to renters, we found that more than 80 percent of renters prefer a walk-through style video. To offer a product unique to other Internet Listing Services and deliver a multimedia experience that renters demand, our “Walk Through Video” product takes renters on a tour of the inside of apartment homes and community common areas so renters can envision where their belongings will fit inside the apartment. It is through our powerful distribution network and product innovation that apartments.com is able to deliver one of the industry’s lowest cost-per-lead advertising solutions.

apartments.com ran its Roommate of the Year contest in 2009, offering free rent for one year. Can you tell us about the results of the competition?

The apartments.com Roommate of the Year contest challenged renters across the country to create a video, in two minutes or less, demonstrating excellent acts of roommate greatness. Throughout the process, we discovered there are a lot of fabulous roommates out there, but in the end, we believe we found the best in the country. Keaton Davis was our Grand Prize winner and walked away with free rent for a year, plus $10,000 and the coveted title of “apartments.com Roommate of the Year.”

We believe the contest was a tremendous success. In the inaugural year, the spartments.com Roommate of the Year contest attracted approximately 50 qualified video entries from across the country. As a result of aggressive promotional efforts including extensive press outreach, print and online advertising and social media marketing, nearly 80,000 videos were viewed on the Roommate of the Year microsite, approximately 20,000 consumers across the country cast their vote for their favourite roomie during the three week voting phase, and more than 100 media placements were secured.

What have been the benefits of running the competition for apartments.com?

The biggest benefit for us was elevating awareness of the apartments.com brand in a creative and fun way. By engaging renters and allowing them to interact with our brand, we deepened their connection with apartments.com. Now, when it is time to move, we hope more renters will remember apartments.com as a reliable renter resource. Increased exposure to our website also benefits our advertisers with more qualified leads.

In addition to the extensive exposure the contest secured for apartments.com, our 12 contest finalists all became brand ambassadors of apartments.com by promoting the contest during the three week public voting phase. During this phase, apartments.com invited America to weigh in on the decision of which finalists would advance to the next phase. As a result, we also saw our finalists aggressively campaign for votes through their Facebook pages and blogs. Some even handed out flyers at their college campuses. The enthusiasm we saw among our finalists exceeded our expectations.

apartments.com released an iPhone application earlier this year. What effect has this had on traffic and listings?

The iPhone app has been a fantastic addition to our mobile strategy. To date, we’ve had more than 100,000 downloads of the iPhone app, delivering tens of thousands of leads to our advertisers. We continue to find our mobile products a highly effective and efficient method of reaching renters and connecting them to our advertised listings, as seen by the 1 million visits to our mobile website and the nearly 500,000 leads those visits generated.

What are some of the challenges currently facing apartments.com and how is the portal tackling these?

Given the current rental market, it is more important than ever that we drive qualified rental leads to the front doors of our advertisers so they can fill and avoid vacancies. To answer this challenge, we continually strive to increase our advertisers’ exposure by driving renters to our website. We currently create easy access to our listings through unmatched exposure on more than 1,000 websites and are the exclusive provider of apartment listings to more than 120 media partners.

Because new online trends continue to reinvent the way renters access information online, we are also challenged with incorporating the most relevant means to reach renters. To meet these challenges, we have made significant strides in both the online video and mobile space to deliver renters a multimedia experience they demand while making our listings accessible from any mobile phone.

Additionally, we launched MyMedia, an online marketing solution and communication tool to help our advertisers increase closing ratios and strengthen retention rates. With MyMedia, our advertisers can send customized brochures, flyers and more to rental prospects and current residents in a consistent and timely manner, helping to fill vacancies and avoid resident turnover.

What can we expect to see from apartments.com in 2010?

We understand that moving is stressful. That is why we continually strive to simply the apartment search process by delivering a superior online experience to our renters. By providing the right tools and resources, renters are able to make informed rental decisions, driving even more qualified leads to our advertisers. In 2010, expect to see several enhancements to our website that answer the ever-evolving needs and expectations of renters searching online.

We are also continuing our commitment to mobile. We aim to grow our mobile audience through our mobile website and native apps while enhancing our existing products to meet the needs of both renters and apartments.com advertisers. In addition, we will be launching another apartments.com Roommate of the Year contest in the spring. Based on its initial success, we look forward to another nationwide search for America’s best roommate in 2010.

Interview with Kelly Roark – frontdoor.com

Alice Allan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:42:54 +0000

frontdoor.com is a US based property listings and information website. It is owned by the Scripps Networks digital media group, which means it is also affiliated with the popular real estate and home cable TV network and website, HGTV.

Here, vice president of interactive sales and development Kelly Roark talks to propertyportalwatch.com about recent developments at frontdoor.com as well as the website’s business model, its use of social media, and its future plans:

Can you tell us about the frontdoor.com business model and how it has changed since the website first launched?

The business model for HGTV’s frontdoor.com has never changed; it’s more that we have begun to roll out enhanced features. Scripps Networks, of which both hgtv.com and frontdoor.com are a part, is a lifestyle media organisation that has been delivering our customers an engaged home audience for the past 15 years largely through on-air and digital advertising. We’ve had national advertisers who have invested in our home category for years, and the addition of frontdoor.com created an even more targeted opportunity for them to reach consumers who are in the home buy, sell or search process.

Within the real estate industry specifically, we offer brokers the opportunity to advertise their listings within top search results as well as throughout our real estate guides on both frontdoor.com and hgtv.com, reaching more than 8 million monthly unique visitors. Agents also have the opportunity to share our 5,500 articles and videos with clients via our Facebook integration, with additional agent products launching within the next few quarters.

frontdoor.com is linked to both Facebook and Twitter. Do you have any other future plans for the website in terms of social networking?

Scripps Networks websites have always been focused on social networking, cultivating popular communities such as HGTV’s Rate My Space, which has recently become a TV program as well. Knowing that our audience of home enthusiasts—of which there is less than 15 percent duplication with realtor.com, trulia.com or zillow.com—enjoy sharing their home passions with people of like interests, we’ve already developed various online communities and social networking opportunities on HGTV’s frontdoor.com. Examples include our Home Styles Guide and the Your First Place section of our My First Place show page, communities where consumers can share and compare photos and video with people of similar interests.

What do you think has been the benefit of having social media integrated into the website?

As we often say, everything comes back to the home. People are passionate about their homes and want to share their likes, dislikes, concerns, questions and passions about the home with people of similar interests—especially during the buy, sell and search processes. So developing social communities that enable people to more easily do this only makes sense.

Where we’ve shifted focus from other real estate sites is to not only build communities of interest on our own site, but to also make it easier for brokers, agents and consumers to share those interests on Facebook, where many have already begun to establish their online social networks. That’s where the “social” part really kicks in—when you can create networking between social communities.

We believe that’s why fans enjoy HGTV’s frontdoor.com: the site offers pragmatic, easy-to-understand real estate information that consumers like and real estate professionals can share to help develop more client relationships online. In one sense, our social media integrations have enabled real estate professionals to enjoy the “halo effect” of the HGTV brands via posting their listings on frontdoor.com and sharing the site’s articles with their clients. We’ve seen countless examples of our content being pushed out by industry professionals on Facebook and Twitter, which validates for us the strength and quality of our content.

frontdoor.com first launched its city guides section in January this year. How many cities does it cover now, and are there plans to expand it further?

Currently we have 54 city guides on HGTV’s frontdoor.com, focused on a combination of major market and destination cities. The intent behind the guides is to offer consumers locally written and locally filmed content describing what it’s like to live in a particular city from the viewpoint of the people who live there. We do have plans to expand the city guide section, with city guides becoming more localised in the near future.

How has the global economic downturn affected frontdoor.com?

Probably the same way that it has hit the industry as a whole in terms of experiencing the impacts of a global market downturn. That said, HGTV’s frontdoor.com is fortunate to have a couple of factors in our favour: (1) we are a relatively new site so there has been a lot of opportunity for upward growth; (2) historically, demand for HGTV content during dramatic experiences such as 9/11 has only reinforced interest in information that helps consumers make the most of their home investment. HGTV’s frontdoor.com, dealing with the buy, sell and search process, is an extension of the information found on HGTV, and user engagement within our articles and video has increased 400 percent since January 2009.

What challenges are you facing with frontdoor.com?

Perhaps the biggest challenge is being able to roll out all of the new features we’re planning as fast as consumers, brokers and agents would like. We’ve been fortunate to see a strong interest in people wanting to get involved with a real estate site that’s part of HGTV. Our intent is for HGTV’s frontdoor.com to be around for the long term, so it’s a careful balance between watching what’s happening in the market and building the site to address the shifts, but also delivering elements that are relevant to consumers, brokers and agents over time as a natural part of the transactional process.

Also, where we’ve been highly successful in developing media and online communities within the food category (Food Network, Food2, Rachel Ray) and the larger home category (HGTV, HGTV Pro, DIY Network), we’re adapting those approaches to frontdoor.com. That means introducing concepts that may be newer to real estate, like TV-to-Web convergent ratios, or the ability to convert TV audience to online audience. That’s an important aspect of HGTV, since we reach 95 million households, and have the ability to convert a high percentage of our viewers to actively engaged searchers of home content online.

What has been the impact of your listing partnerships with newspaper groups and the Internet Broadcasting network of sites?

While the announcements are relatively new, we are already beginning to see increases in online consumers who are searching listings on HGTV’s frontdoor.com. But the true impacts will be seen in the coming year: our intent in establishing these strategic partnerships was two-fold: (1) to leverage Scripps Networks’ media clout and provide easier access for the real estate industry to a unique audience of home searchers beyond page one of Google’s search results; (2) to help promote broker and agent listings at a highly localised level – across the US.

Are there any big plans ahead for frontdoor.com you can tell us about?

Well, our most recent announcement worth noting relates to frontdoor.com’s acquisition of openhouse.com. We believe HGTV’s frontdoor.com is extremely well-positioned to take online open house marketing to a more expansive audience. When you consider on-air promotional vehicles like HGTV’s Open House Sunday programming (10:30 am to 1:30 pm), which drives more engaged viewers to search open house properties on frontdoor.com, there is an even broader opportunity to promote open house search as a result of this addition to the Scripps digital fold. As for the future, now that we’ve built the foundation of the site, expect to see some interesting, new features next year that may emphasise a different type of engagement in online real estate search.

Interview with Anton Kreil – hablib.com

Alice Allan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:26:48 +0000

hablib.com, or “Habitation Libertum”, is a free residential property platform that was launched
in August. The For Sale By Owner website is the work of Anton Kreil from the BBC2 series Million Dollar Traders. Here, Anton discusses the creation, business model and future of hablib.com with propertyportalwatch.com:

What made you decide to create hablib.com?

I started researching the online property advertising market and what it would take to create a unique offering. I realised that if I married the worlds of Facebook style social networking and residential property, homeowners and developers could monetise their social networks by avoiding paying an estate agent’s fee.

Can you tell us about the process of putting the website together?

The build took 10 months and began with five months of mapping the logic of the website. There are many interactions amongst homeowners and buyers like arranging viewings, managing the bid process and we also created conveyancing software that every user gets for free. We then started designing the whole site. We wanted to give the user total freedom to do anything in the property world all from one page. The last stage was coding the site then testing everything multiple times.

Can you tell us about hablib.com’s business model? What does hablib.com offer that other property websites don’t?

By rightmove.co.uk’s own numbers the average new build developer paying a monthly membership fee has 65 properties uploaded at any one time. rightmove.co.uk clients, on average, receive 95 leads per month. Therefore, if you pay to be on rightmove.co.uk you should expect to obtain on average 1.46 leads Per Property Per Month (PPPM). hablib.com don’t believe this is good enough.

A reducing Per Property Per Month (PPPM) rate

hablib.com give single dwelling homeowners the ability to advertise one property for free. If you are in business to make money from buying and selling property and want to advertise more than one, hablib.com classify you as a property developer. To advertise multiple properties on hablib.com, developers are charged advertising rates at a reducing per property rate well below current market rates. The top package is for 65 properties. We are 70 percent cheaper than rightmove.co.uk.

A reducing Cost Per Lead (CPL)

As a developer your Cost Per Lead (CPL) on hablib.com goes to zero the more leads you obtain. Because we’re a social networking site, we leave it to you how many leads you want to make. It’s like deciding who you want to be your friend on Facebook. Essentially YOU choose your Cost Per Lead not someone else.

Transferable Capacity

We don’t charge developers on a per development basis. Every developer pays for capacity. If a developer has a new build in Scotland, they can replace it with a new build in London.

Affiliate Marketing

When purchasing one of hablib.com’s advertising packages, all developers qualify for hablib.com’s entry affiliate marketing program “HablibWave”. We give all developers a referral code to pass on to other developers they know. When your referrals join hablib.com, they enter that referral code and hablib.com pay you 50 percent commission into your bank account every month. As a developer if you refer more than two people on the same advertising package, you make money. No other property portal in the UK pays their members to be on their site.

Zero percent estate agency

If you sell property through hablib.com you pay zero percent. As a single dwelling homeowner the savings are huge as it’s totally free. As a developer, even on the top package you would only have to sell one property every 18 months at the UK average house price to justify being on the site.

What do you think will make it a success?

The fastest growing demographic of Facebook users in the UK is the over 40s. hablib.com’s market is essentially for the over 30s. Homeowners, landlords, re-developers and new build developers. Essentially what will make hablib.com a success is if the over 30s and over 40s embrace social networking.

Why do you think the For Sale By Owner model is becoming more popular in the UK?

With a bit of training anyone can become a croupier in a casino. You just have to get a job at the casino first. The estate agents industry is like a casino. Traditional estate agents are the owners of the tables. The Internet has created an avenue for homeowners to interact with each other. The odds that the house will win are shrinking. There is only one way estate agents’ fees can go and that’s down. That means ad budgets will go down. FSBO is becoming more popular because more people are realising they can easily trade property without paying an estate agent’s fee.

What challenges do you expect to face in establishing the website in the UK marketplace and how do you plan to tackle them?

Critical mass is clearly the challenge. We will achieve slow growth in year one as people get used to the concept, and exponential growth in year two as people realise hablib.com is their only real online choice in the UK to avoid paying estate agents’ fees. The more landlords and developers that get hold of hablib.com affiliate marketing contract the better it is for us and them. hablib.com get a larger and wider selection of properties on the website and landlords and developers get a cheap marketing platform and save paying estate agent fees.

What are some of the plans you have for hablib.com’s future?

We have tonnes of plans but I can’t give any away at this stage.

Interview with Douglas Pope – hotpads.com

Alice Allan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:29:12 +0000

Map based search engine hotpads.com has won its fair share of awards for online innovation over the past year. The website was launched in November 2005 by three college roommates from the University of Notre Dame.

Initially it covered rentals only, but in November 2007 added for sale listings and included vacation listings earlier this year. hotpads.com has grown to include around 3 million homes for sale and more than 350,000 rental listings.

propertyportalwatch.com spoke to co-founder Douglas Pope about the history and future of the website.

What does hotpads.com offer that other real estate search engines don’t?

hotpads.com features a full screen map based search engine developed from the ground up. This allows us to customize the search experience for the housing shopper, allowing them to search by real estate’s most important attribute, location. We list both rental and for sale housing, so we are applicable to a larger audience. This also allows us to be pretty strong in the first time home buyer category because in our buy vs. rent search our users are able to compare rental homes and homes for sale in the same search results based on monthly payment.

What do you think were the factors that helped hotpads.com grow?

hotpads.com was started by three college roommates a year out of school. We have grown organically through word of mouth. Because we do both rentals and for sale homes, people are more likely to tell their friends and family about hotpads.com. Housing shoppers come to hotpads.com for two reasons, 1) our search technology and 2) our depth of listing coverage…not necessarily in that order. We have over 350,000 rental properties available and 3 million homes for sale.

Can you tell us about the hotpads.com business model and how it has changed since the website first launched?

When we first launched in 2005 we were planning to do a “free trial” and then charge a nominal fee to list. That went by the wayside pretty quickly and now we have an advertising and featured listing model that works well. For those clients that want to drive extra housing shoppers to their listings, we allow them to purchase featured listings that do just that. Featured listings are served on an auction basis, so there is no set price for them. The more someone pays the more their listing will be featured. So, depending on a given marketing budget, a realtor or property manager can spend $0.50 a day or $3 a day or more and their listing will get the appropriate amount of attention.

You added vacation listings in March this year and were since honoured with a Webby award. What future plans do you have for the website?

We are constantly working on improving the search experience. We will also be launching some mobile applications and social functionality including user profiles in the near future.

How has the global economic downturn affected hotpads.com?

We make a great deal of our revenue from advertising. Advertising budgets are often the first things that get cut during an economic downturn, so 2008 was pretty slow for advertising but things have been picking up in the second half of 2009. I think the housing bubble and bust has helped housing websites in general. The housing market has been a major part of the national dialogue in recent years, and that has helped traffic even if the number of overall transactions are down.

What challenges are you facing with hotpads.com?

We face the same challenges of any site. We always need more traffic and need to monetize that traffic better. But, in particular, for a site that gets 1 million visitors a month…there are a lot of people that don’t know about hotpads.com. So, we need to get out and build our brand more.

Podcast Interview with Alex Chesterman – CEO of Zoopla

Simon Baker — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:27:14 +0000

I recently had the chance to sit down with Alex Chesterman in London to have a chat about his business. Recently Zoopla has hit the headlines with its announcement that it is acquiring Propertyfinder.com in the UK from the REA Group. Alex talks about his business model and how he sees things panning out in the UK market.

Here is the podcast of that interview.

Interview with Sarah Beeny – tepilo.com

Emma Sorensen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:11:29 +0000

Earlier this month we reported on the arrival of a new UK website that aims to transform the way people buy and sell property. tepilo.com is the brainchild of TV presenter Sarah Beeny and has just gone live in “phase 1″. propertyportalwatch.com spoke to Sarah about her new website, which is “a platform that allows you to take independent control of buying and selling your home.”

What is the thinking behind tepilo.com? Why start it?

Around three quarters of home buyers are using the internet to search online for properties online, many using popular property portals such as Rightmove and Globrix. But the majority, around 90%, still use an Estate Agent to sell their property (according to the Office of Fair Trading) even though this can be a costly process.

This is because there is a general perception held by the public that selling your home is daunting and incredibly complicated. Of course this isn’t the case at all.

By providing a simple to use platform, coupled with excellent advice and a step by step guide, we could help people through the process and dispel the myth that selling a home can be a minefield.

At the end of the day, we need to kick start the economy; buying and selling houses is a great start – so why not save some pennies in the process?

Do you think there’s room for yet another property related website in an already crowded UK market? And at this time, when there’s a downturn?

There are a host of other portals out there, but most charge a minimum fee to upload and sell your property online. Not only is ours completely free to use for the vendor and buyer but will give you all the advice you need along the way.

We are passionate about property and really believe that the public will warm to Tepilo – it’s already creating quite a buzz!

You’re in pre-launch phase – what’s been the reaction so far from the public?

Feedback so far has been incredibly encouraging, from both consumers and businesses alike.
Not only has everyone found our service simple and easy to use (uploading properties is a breeze) but we also have some great looking properties on the website already. The “ask Sarah a question” function has been a particularly success addition to the site; it’s working really well.

Is there any significance to the name – tepilo.com?

My father had a fictional story about Tepilo Castle; he used to tell me about it all the time when I was very young. To me it seemed like a magically and beautiful place – and so it seemed fitting to name the site after the castle as we all aspire to live in our dream home.

How does tepilo.com differ from the many for sale by owner (FSBO) websites emerging in the UK?

We set up Tepilo to be different from the beginning, for instance:
• The site is completely free to use – with no charges for uploading your property
• We make it easy for you – the site is packed with advice, including a video library of hints and tips that we are constantly updating.
• We provide practical profit enhancer tips too – in particular the “design for profit” section lays out ideas on how to design your house to maximise your profit.
• We host the negotiation process through the site. The users are completely in control of how much they want to offer or accept on a home, but by negotiating on the site we’re giving the vendor more opportunity to get a good deal or hold out for the price they want.
• We encourage the personal touch – using owner descriptions and a magazine style layout, we aim to give buyers much more of an insight into what’s great about each property.

Who do you see as competitors for tepilo.com – are you going head to head with property portals?

There is nothing quite like us online but we’re not competing head to head with any other portals, in fact we are working directly with one or two. We would like to be seen as an additional resource for their users, and a good option for those not already advertising online.

What kind of business model will the website operate under – how will the site generate revenue?

Our aim is to keep the site free for users and in order to generate revenue we will use advertising and affiliate schemes but this won’t be used to excess. By keeping the team small team means our cost base is low, which is what makes this possible.

What has the response been from agents – do they feel sidelined by the site?

Our aim isn’t to compete with Estate Agents but rather to open up options for buyers and sellers. Overall though we’ve had a positive response with well wishing and even some asking if they can add properties to the site!

As a longer term project, how do you hope this will change the way people buy and sell houses in the UK?

We see this as a long term, education project, and over time we hope to be an essential place to advertise your property or search for the best deals and advice. This is just the beginning, and the site is still in its infancy but by listening to user feedback, we aim to constantly evolve and adapt to our users’ requirements. As more people get to grips with selling their property and reaping the rewards we hope to see far more private sales.

You can find out more about Sarah’s website at tepilo.com.

Podcast Interview with Patrick Grove

Simon Baker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:16:08 +0000

Welcome to the first in our new series of podcasts. During a recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I had the chance to talk with Patrick Grove, the Executive Chairman of iProperty about iProperty and its operations throughout South East Asia.

Interview with Peter Wright – realestate.com.au

Emma Sorensen — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:30:39 +0000

realestate.com.au Logo

Peter Wright is currently General Manager-Residential, for the REA Group owned market leading Australian property portal, realestate.com.au. As of July he’ll be General Manager of Sales and Operations.

propertyportalwatch.com spoke to Peter about his new role and where he sees the Australian portal market heading.

You’ve only recently joined realestate.com.au – what do you bring to the table? And what do you hope to achieve at realestate.com.au on a personal level?
I have a corporate IT and telecommunications background with a focus on general management, change management and sales growth management in evolving markets. In recent years I have been responsible for leading teams through cultural change, managing the co-ordination of multiple sales channels to accommodate new market offerings and developing systems and process to support large-scale organisational growth.

At realestate.com.au my focus is to continue to drive sales growth through value-added online real estate solutions. This means understanding the different needs across the real estate industry and delivering solutions that meet those needs. We are moving from a pure supplier of online services to a partner that assists agents to get the most out of their online channel. And from a staff perspective I want to see that the entrepreneurial spirit that has been so core to our business is maintained as we continue to grow.

It’s been a big year so far for realestate.com.au with a peak of 4.8 million unique browsers in March, are you happy with the way the website is ranking in this market?
Visitation to the site peaked at 4,872,106 million unique browsers during the month of March, a 10.9 per cent increase from the same time last year. We are confident we will reach the 5 million mark in the coming months. This is another data point supporting the inevitable move to online as the most effective way to search for properties and agents.

Where do you see the business going and how are you going to grow it?
Moving forward we are looking at tailoring a customised approach with agents, addressing their online and business advertising needs and offering marketing solutions that will add value to their bottom line. At the same time we will continue to build on the ease of use and the functionality of our website. Our success is linked to continuing to add value to consumers and agents. To achieve this we have restructured our business so there is a dedicated focus on agents, a dedicated focus on new products and a dedicated focus on the website. We are convinced this focus will maintain our leadership position in the marketplace.

What are the key challenges you are facing at realestate.com.au?
I see challenges as opportunities and like with any business, there is an ongoing need to work closely with our customers and consumers to offer them products that are relevant, targeted and cost effective. Bringing to life in a simple way online applications and capabilities is what sets apart the great web sites. We need to maintain our ability to deliver here. As a business I think it is important to focus on agent education by unearthing the power of online and demonstrating what it can do for their business, particularly where customers are looking at cost effective ways to make every dollar go the extra mile.

Likewise continued user education is essential to get the most out of online advertising. As the market tightens, we are seeing that agents are looking more towards online versus traditional media

How do you hope to win against your biggest competitors like domain.com.au?
We are focused on servicing the needs of our customers and consumers.

Rumours are that the REA Group is focusing on the core Australian business, realestate.com.au, are you able to comment on this?
We are allocating investment in proportion to existing revenues and growth potential.

Do you think Google is a real threat to property portals?
We see Google as a real partner as we are one of its largest customers.

Where do you see the Australian property portal market heading overall, and why?
It is inevitable that online will become the dominant advertising medium for real estate in Australia. This is because of the flexibility, cost effectiveness and exposure it offers to property seekers than traditional media. Online is far more measurable and offers greater lead generation with detailed reporting so vendors can track to see how their campaign are performing.

Interview with Luke Kelly – parklet.co.uk

Emma Sorensen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:43:55 +0000

Young UK entrepreneur, Luke Kelly, is the managing director and founder of parklet.co.uk. Park Let is not your standard property portal – it’s the UK’s largest parking space letting agent.

Park Let have just launched a new tool on their website which allows property owners to determine how much they could earn from letting out idle/available parking spaces.

propertyportalwatch.com spoke to Luke Kelly about his innovative garage portal and lettings business, and what the future holds for Park Let.

Who is behind parklet.co.uk?
Park Let is a privately owned company set up by myself in February 2004. However at that point in time I was still working in insurance in London so my girlfriend and now wife was actually running the company. We now have an additional five members of staff and are growing quickly.

What gave you the idea for parklet.co.uk when many owners could simply list a garage locally or via a standard property portal?
There were places where garages could be advertised, but not parking spaces. Really the business started out from personal experience. I was parking at Chelmsford train station in Essex and becoming increasingly frustrated for a number of reasons. The cost of parking seemed to increase well above inflation, if I didn’t get there early enough there was no guarantee I could get a space and also my car was constantly being dented by others opening their doors in to it. Finally, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my car at the car park overnight if I wanted to go out for a drink in London.

I noticed a number of properties nearby that seemed to have empty driveways and I literally just knocked on the door and negotiated a price for parking there. It seemed like a win-win situation.

I started the company in much the same way with hard graft and leafleted people near the railway station to see if there was much interest. People liked the idea of making extra income and also felt positive about the security aspect: having a car parked on the drive all day gives the impression that the property is occupied.

Going back to your question, yes people could list their garage locally in a newspaper or similar but people don’t always live and work in the same area and so it would fall on deaf ears. A website is a much better way of notifying people about available spaces.

Today, the average value of a space (per annum) outside London is £1,019 and £1,848 in London so there is definitely money to be made. The clever landlords with property in premium sites are now starting to rent out their flats and houses separately to the driveways and parking spaces.

On the whole towns and city centres drive the highest rental income as they tend to be near offices and shops. However areas near railway stations, busy hospitals and leisure attractions can also demand higher rental income. There also tend to be microcosms within areas such as places with congested on-road parking for example, where Victorian properties weren’t built with driveways to accommodate cars.

Who are your biggest competitors?
We don’t really have any competitors as such – we are the only agent in the UK that offers a fully managed service for the monthly letting of parking spaces and garages. There are smaller companies out there that offer daily parking services but we don’t want to get in to that market. We feel that property owners have greater peace of mind knowing that the same car owner is coming and going every day and that they are guaranteed a monthly income. Of course, there are other companies jumping on the bandwagon but we are by far the largest operator in the UK.

I suppose the only competition we have is traditional car parks. However this is now changing too. Many of the major car park operators and some councils are choosing to market their spaces with us too so we are now becoming more of a marketplace for parking spaces, allowing motorists to shop around and compare prices. We always give as many details as we can about a parking space so that motorists can make a fair comparison. As I said above, some people like the idea of parking on an individual’s drive and will walk a little further to their destination. For others price may be the only important criteria and for others location. We try to cater for everyone. Having said that, around three quarters of our spaces are still at individual’s homes and we anticipate that continuing.

parklet.co.uk has over 17500 parking spaces and garages for let across the UK – how far towards saturation point do you think you are?
A long way off! Our offering is nationwide and there are 30m or so motorists out there so we’ve got a long way to go. More seriously, we appreciate that not every car owner has a need to rent a parking space on a monthly basis but we firmly believe that many motorists just aren’t aware they can shop around for their parking space and save money.

To date our growth curve continues to be exponential, with no sign of things slowing down. In fact, we are in the fortunate situation that we are actually benefiting from the current economic climate in that more landlords are on our books than ever and an increasing number of car owners are looking at ways to save money.

Are you able to tell us about the kind of traffic, or user numbers, that you have?
Our site statistics are confidential I’m afraid, but we do list very well for most related organic search terms. However, visitors and users are pie in the sky unless someone actually lists or rents a space. I can tell you that we have let over 10,000 parking spaces and garages. Our average contract lasts about 18 months too so it’s a good source of income for a reasonable amount of time.

Our website was built in house so we are fortunate enough to have been able to develop a platform that meets our exact needs. We are purely an online business – we don’t have any high street presence at all so it is important that we can track a large number of KPIs.

One aspect of our site that users seem to appreciate is the ‘My Park Let’ area which allows both landlords and tenants to keep track of their account. We do have some landlords who let out a number of spaces (for example a property investor with multiple flats in one building) and the ‘My Park Let’ area is invaluable to them. Some of our tenants are businesses too who require up to 10 spaces for their staff: their accounts department also likes the efficiency of having an online statement.

What kind of business model do you operate under?
We charge 15% commission on the rental fees we collect on behalf of our landlords, plus a one off admin fee of £25 which is deducted from the first month’s rent. Our strength has been that we do not charge a penny until we have let the space(s). No parking space receives preferential treatment either – all are marketed alongside each other.

How has the new price guide tool been received?
Quite well I think. Owing to the amount of data we have we are in the unique situation that we can provide a tool that cannot be replicated. The tool is dynamic looking at the 10,000 contracts we have let as well as those advertised today, and is therefore very accurate. We were also quite keen to ensure that the tool could be used by anyone, without the need to register. I don’t know about you but I get fed up of having to register with hundreds of websites and remember my password before I’ve even decided to become a customer.

What are the key challenges you are facing?
Although we are growing quite fast and business is good, I would still say customer awareness. We are pioneers creating a new marketplace which is tough. My ambition is to be the first port of call for anyone looking for a parking space across the whole of the UK.

Where do you see the business going and how are you going to grow it?
I’m confident our business will continue to grow, and we intend to offer excellent customer service to get there. Our most successful marketers are our existing customers, and we never forget that. Renting a monthly car parking space is certainly not a regular purchase but people do move house and move jobs and so if we keep our customers happy we hope they’ll not only come back to us but recommend us as well.

The number of car owners in the UK keeps going up and with issues like the ‘workplace parking levy’ rearing its head in the UK, there is certainly more of a focus on our industry.

Any future plans you can tell us about – is global expansion on the cards?
No great expansion plans at present, quite the opposite in fact. We see our strength being our focus on one thing, monthly parking. Global expansion with a partner one day would make sense though – we definitely think there is a market in other major cities across Europe but we want to make our UK operation a complete success before we head across the channel. Getting things right here will make any future expansion a lot easier in future.