FIRST to the details of the properties through the portal from the start. “We want to increase the transparency in any property transactions. That is why when you get into the portal, you get to see the daily international property news update, then you get to see legal advice free of charge in our portal here,” he said. “When I said I want to increase the transparency, what we’re doing is actually we are reversing the whole buying process by allowing the investor to see what happened to the market first,” he added.
Dave Loo, founder and CEO of OrangeTee
OrangeTee founder new venture specialises in cross border real estate
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ave Loo is well-known in Singapore real estate circles as the founder of OrangeTee. Now he is back with his new venture, whyborder, which is a specialised real estate portal for buyers of international property. Buying property nowadays has shifted from having traditional physical walk-in appointments and oculars to having virtual 3D tours. Whilst technology is opening more doors for developers to reach out to a wider base of customers, online portals with various real estate services have likewise been in demand worldwide. Founder and CEO Dave Loo told Real Estate Asia that whyborder aims to sell any property listed on its portal within 45 days. “The aim that we try to achieve is actually no listing will stay in my portal for more than 45 days, that means we want to make sure that when you list a property with us, we can help you to sell the property globally, within 45 days,” he said. “Our existing network globally, direct contact with investors, and agency network in all these cities, are also key reasons why we think we can sell properties within 45 days,” he added. Loo has been in the real estate industry for multiple decades. From starting 8
REAL ESTATE ASIA | Q1 2021
OrangeTee in 2000 and selling properties overseas in various regions, he now brings his expertise into launching whyborder which opened in February 2021. “In the past, what we do is we go to various locations, mainly in Asia, to do weekend events on Saturday and Sunday. We book a hotel, and then we bring overseas property into this hotel and do an exhibition over the two days,” he said. “Over the last about 20 years, we actually developed ourselves or we actually made ourselves known among developers in these 24 countries and 54 cities. Now we are putting everything into the portal. We can make the whole marketing cost a lot cheaper and the buyer can buy at the quickest speed. So, this is actually a new model right now.” he added. When the company conceptualized how they were going to build the portal, Loo said that their main goal was to increase transparency with the customers. Instead of the buyer first being contacted by an agent, prospective clients are given access
Key markets Loo said that whyborder has observed that Asian investors have 10 to 12 key cities where they seek to buy properties. Among these are Singapore, London, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Toronto, Manila, Sydney, and Melbourne and Perth. Whilst some buy for personal homes, such those who send their children to study abroad, there are also some who buy properties to use as ‘weekend homes’. So where are these people buying? “It depends on the country. Let us say in the case of the UK, I think what you see quite a big percentage of is buying for kids to study there for personal use. Then places like Bangkok, Thailand, you will get to see a new segment that people are buying there for weekend homes,” he said. According to Loo, the Thailand real estate market is currently facing quite a severe oversupply situation. It has resulted in more buyers becoming interested to invest as property prices take a dip. “A lot of investors enter this market because they’re getting a very substantial discount. There have been those who are actually eyeing this market,” he said. “One of the key reasons why we want to develop this portal is to make sure that developers can maintain the low marketing costs. Then, they can make sure that they sell the price locally and overseas at the same level,” he said. “When you come to this portal, we assure you that you’re buying at the same price as the local, so you will not suffer despite buying from overseas. The key objective is to make sure that both locals and overseas buyers can buy the property at the same value,” he added.
“The existing network globally, direct contact with investors, and agency network in cities, are key reasons why OrangeTee can sell properties within 45 days”
