Property and Online advertising

The next in my series of industry-wise online advertising, I am going to discuss property and online advertising.

Much like recruitment and finance, property has also adopted the internet quite some time ago. Different real estate companies have their own websites on which properties being sold/let by them are advertised. Depending upon the geographic reach of the estate agent, a post code search can be done to generate a list of properties in a particular area.

Apart from the real estate companies themselves, there are also property portals that provide links to different property related websites. They also provide generalized information on the property market.

The moment someone decides that he / she needs to buy/let properties, the first action taken is to do an appropriate google search. For example, therefore, if I am looking for properties in Kingsbury in North London, I would enter ‘ Properties in Kingsbury’ as my google search.

The number of keyword choices in this property related online advertising is phenomenal. And since every property dealer wouldn’t want every keyword, the cost of keywords would be lower compared to keywords in any other market where a keyword has national relevance. For example every estate agent wouldn’t want to buy the keyword ‘properties in Reading’… while virtually every credit card company would wish to buy ‘ Cards with 0% interest’…

Property advertising is extremely useful. As a potential buyer, I can spend a few hours on my PC surfing different property sites, zeroing in on the actual properties that interest me. Having found a property of interest, I can then drill down, view the property on the website and, if necessary, speak with the estate agent and book a viewing appointment.

Use of online for property is not merely in context of buying/letting properties. It is also in context of research –

Average property cost in a certain area

Average sale price of properties in a certain area

Movement of properties prices in inflationary / deflationary times

Establishing whether or not the fundamentals of an area are strong vis-a-vis the property market

There is no limitation on ‘type’ of property one could advertise online. Starting from a flat to a mansion all types of properties can be advertised. This is contrast with recruitment, where we had agreed that very senior positions are not amenable to online advertising.

As of now, I see no disadvantages of online property advertising. The one thing you can’t do online is view the property! And there is no substitute for actually visiting and seeing the property. But viewing is done only after a very intensive due diligence over the internet on factors surrounding the decision.

All in all, property and online seem to be ‘made for each other’. With passage of time, usage of the internet for property buying/letting will increase. And more refinements will make it even more worthwhile to spend time on the net before actually rambling around the area one wishes to consider for a potential move.