THE FUTURE OF RESIDENTIAL SALES THE COVID PANDEMIC HAS FOCUSED THE EYES OF EVERYONE ON HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP THEM DO THEIR JOBS, AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR RESIDENTIAL SURVEYORS TO IMPROVE THE PROPERTY SELLING PROCESS.
T
he property industry has reached a crossroads, according CCO of Offr, Philip Farrell: “What is key here,
and it’s not just as a result of Covid, is that the property industry is now going through the most radical change in how it operates in 100 years.
Jonathan says the company is working with about 20 strategic partners around Ireland and the
That is going to continue and is going to be driven
advantage for these smaller firms is the speed of transactions.
by proptech and tech products”. Necessity is the mother of innovation as well as
New tech available
invention, and Covid has woken surveyors up to
There are a multitude of companies offering new tech to help surveyors advertise, sell and complete
the need to adopt new technologies. This is
the transaction process. Healy Hines, CEO of Beagel.io, says the company’s platform offers a way for
something that Jonathan Fenn, Director and
agents to upload properties online and then those interested can view details and make offers online
Head of Ireland at BidX1, has noticed: “There’s
24 hours a day. Healy explains: “Beagel Bid is a bidding provider; we power the online bidding transaction
definitely been a tech awakening in our industry
for the estate agent. We effectively enable them to run their businesses 24 hours a day. We connect the
since Covid happened. It’s very much been at the
estate agents, their vendors/clients, any purchasers, anybody that’s interested in the property, solicitors,
front of the transactions. There are a lot of
everybody who’s involved in the transaction, and give transparency on the overall bidding process”.
adaptions around digital viewings, 360º tours,
When someone expresses interest in a property, they can see what the current offer status is.
digital floorplans, interactive viewings, and that’s
Once they express an interest in it, they can make offers and be kept updated live with what offers
all well and good and it’s really improving the
are made on the property.
outlook for the property and how it appears online.
Philip Farrell explains that Offr is a button that sits on the agent’s own website in their branding.
More importantly, we see changes around the
When viewing a property, you click the button and a panel will pop up in the agent’s colours. In this
bidding and the closing parts. That’s ultimately
panel, buyers can upload proof of ID and proof of funds, register to bid, make bids, make appointments,
where our industry needs to make big strides and
and complete a virtual viewing and a 3D tour: “It creates one environment for everyone to plug into so
introduce technology to it. The more transparency
they are able to transact in a much more efficient manner. They can submit offers and the agent can
we can put around bidding, the more speed we can
decide what conditions they require. The agent must approve people to make their offers. Agents can
put around closing the sale, that’s going to have a
decide the levels of compliance and details they want from each buyer before they submit their offers”.
huge impact on our space”.
IAM Sold Property Auctions runs online auctions and public auctions across the island of Ireland.
FEATURE Colm Quinn Journalist and Sub-Editor, Think Media
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SURVEYORS JOURNAL Volume 10, Issue 3, Autumn 2020
