New site could shake up real estate

Just-launched dxbproperty.com helps homebuyers and sellers match each others needs very quickly and easily.

'This is not yet another real estate website', explained Tony Fernando, Managing Director of ITSthe1, the company behind DXBPROPERTY. 'With DXBPROPERTY we bring a new dimension to the property market in Dubai. We are not in anyway affiliated to a particular property developer nor are we a real estate company. What we provide is a medium by which buyers and sellers can interact' explained Mr. Fernando. 'Any individual property owner can post their property on the site completely free. In the case of real estate companies, they can choose to advertise in groups of 5, 10, 15, 20 or more properties.'

According to Mr. Fernando, the service is free even for real estate companies at the moment. Once the website is popular and the number of visitors increase, a competitively priced charging structure will be applied to companies advertising their property at the website.

'Tens of thousands of Dirhams are spent by developers and real estate companies advertising property in print media such as newspapers and magazines', said Mr. Fernando. 'But for a buyer, finding property to his exact needs is a daunting task, as it means scanning through every page and calling for more details'. 'The advantage of having it online, means the search can be very specific and easy. One can choose to search not only for a specific developer or development, but also choose the price range, number of bedrooms or narrow the search down with facilities and features specific to their exact needs. Any change to the state of the property can also be updated instantly, unlike in the case of print media' Mr. Fernando continued saying.

'We are excited to offer our customers industry-leading solutions. We believe this new technology will enable our customers to more efficiently search, identify and view property. Being an IT Solutions company specialising in workflow and web technology, gives us the edge to make the user experience especially easy and interactive', emphasised Mr. Fernando. 'Features such as the 'alert' service which notifies subscribed users when a property of their choice is made available, differentiates our services'.

ITSthe1 specializes in providing cutting-edge web solutions. It presently ranks no.9 in the Top Middle East Business Websites in April. AME Info Business Index is an automatically generated compilation of the twenty-five most popular Middle East business websites visited by AME Info users in the current month. ITSthe1 is also behind other ground-breaking initiative such as DXBWEB, a visual directory for everything in Dubai.

Many real estate agents worry that sites like these could be a first step in an online evolution that could threaten their commission-based business just as Expedia, Travelocity and others that have reframed the travel business.

Mr. Fernando said it was not his intention to take away any part of real estate agents' commissions. Instead, DXBPROPERTY is an advertising-supported site providing an alternative method of advertising property with easier, better and global reach.