Now, when is that time machine going to be ready for action?
Have you ever seen the movie, “Hot Tub Time Machine”?
Silly, far-fetched, yet pretty funny none-the-less.
The part of this movie that made me laugh and say, “If only…”, was where the character ‘Lou’, who had been dragged back into time with his buddies, was back in the present day hosting a lavish party, in his mansion, covered in gold, sporting a nicely implanted head of hair and surrounded by gorgeous women – all based on his massive internet business: Lougle.
What discovery, business or world changing thing would you like to go back in time to invent?
Mine’s pretty simple: Realestate.com.au
From the purchase of a domain name whilst working from a garage in the 1990’s, now to a multi-billion dollar behemoth that has the property listing game sewn up – “If you’re not on Realestate.com.au, you’re not in the market!”
True in every sense.
With over 90{5be8b5650852dcf96a34828ba5a88d9285f6c7439f02c8133f6b05e7d943eaff} of property buyer research and searches being attributed to REA and to a lesser extent, Domain, I don’t know of an Agent or property seller who would be game to sell without listing on the REA portal.
When I first started in real estate in 2002, online searches represented about 25{5be8b5650852dcf96a34828ba5a88d9285f6c7439f02c8133f6b05e7d943eaff} of buyer activity, today that’s almost the only place buyers look – on their mobile or PC – especially REA.
Whilst REA won’t have a bar of anyone saying they have a monopoly in the online property search space, their brand and its performance is almost unstoppable.
I’ve had countless ‘wannabees’ approach me to list my properties on their sites because, “We are here to give REA a shake up.” My immediate answer is, “Do you have a spare $500million to do that?” “Ah, no.” “Ok, I’ll stick with what works best for my clients and my business. Let me know when you are neck and neck with REA”
REA know their reach and power. Good luck to them. (Can someone hurry up with that time machine?)
And by them knowing that, they can pretty much dictate their pricing to agents, which flow through to the consumers – property sellers.
Only 20 years ago and beyond, it was the newspapers and magazines who could charge what they wanted for you to advertise your home, it was almost the only mass media available.
Now print media is struggling (dying?) and the online world is where it is at. And REA is it!
REA now have the luxury of implementing yearly price rises on their online listing products, and as of June 2017, prices will rise anywhere from 10{5be8b5650852dcf96a34828ba5a88d9285f6c7439f02c8133f6b05e7d943eaff}-20{5be8b5650852dcf96a34828ba5a88d9285f6c7439f02c8133f6b05e7d943eaff}.
With a changing Real Estate landscape, no sector will be immune from these rises and will have to pass them onto the consumer.
Whether you are selling your own home or property with a DIY or cut price group, or hiring a full service agent, getting your property in front of buyers will cost more, so home sellers will be looking for the best deal on commissions and fees to off-set these rises.
REA’s profits will remain healthy and properties will continue to sell with their expert exposure and digital savvy.
You have to love a great success story.
Did I mention I was still waiting on that time machine? Just checking.
