Our Update
Oc, CEOopo Report
ENZO RAIMONDO: The chief executive officer of the REIV since 2000 is a former CEO of the Real Estate Institute of South Australia. He is also a director of RealestateVIEW.com.au, an innovative online property listing site in which the REIV is the controlling shareholder; a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; a Fellow of the Australian Institute Of Management; and a Member of National Association of Realtors (USA).
Each spring buying weekend there are about 2500 auctions around Australia and these two cities account for about 90 per cent of those. More than 50 per cent are in Melbourne. Although we are at present collecting only about 70 per cent of Sydney auction results, this is increasing and we anticipate it will continue to do so
Buyers and all those interested in the property market are now able to keep abreast of the latest auction results thanks to a timely free service provided by the REIV. The weekly e-mail alerts service, which the REIV plans to expand to include weekday sales results, operates through free subscriptions via the soldtoday. com.au website. Already it has been expanded to Sydney, in partnership with the REINSW. The website and alerts service were created to inform consumers about the market, providing them with valuable pre-purchase research data and enabling them to track particular properties. It also provides tools to allow the reader to make up their own mind about the state of the market. This was also part of a defensive strategy devised by the institute to protect real estate agents from the pirating of their data or the monetising of it by third parties. As media companies moved to align their reporting of property results with their own commercial interests – Fairfax owns Australian Property Monitors, now reporting auction results for its publications – or to base them on
national commercial decisions, as with News Ltd’s alignment with RP Data, it was important for the REIV to give the public direct access to its results. By signing up on the soldtoday.com. au website, subscribers receive e-mailed auction results every Saturday night – no more waiting to read them in the newspaper on Sunday morning. They can specify one or more suburbs for which they want to receive the results and these can be in Sydney, Melbourne or both. Sophisticated software differentiates the results by suburb ensuring that subscribers receive only the results they want. However each e-mail also includes a link to the full list of results, offering easy access for those who want a broader view. The results reported include those for which the price is undisclosed, although those results do not include the price. Usually this is at the vendor’s request – although the auction takes place in public some vendors do not want a wider group of people to know their property’s selling price. Privacy principles require that agents respect their request not to disclose the price. Since the move by print media away from publishing REIV results, we have
EA THE ESTATE AGENT
Estate Agent is published for the Real Estate Institute of Victoria by LandEd Publishing.
Publisher Tom Skotnicki, Director LandEd Publishing tomskot@netspeed.com.au +61 419 581 874 Editor Anthony Black anthonyblackmedia@gmail.com Senior Writers Leon Gettler, Besa Deda, Dina Ross, Annie Reid, Kylie Skotnicki
held a very successful campaign to promote the soldtoday.com.au service. This has included using billboards, radio and online advertising and has resulted in the rate of subscriptions increasing from about 15 a day to more than 200 a day. Each spring buying weekend there are about 2500 auctions around Australia and these two cities account for about 90 per cent of those. More than 50 per cent are in Melbourne. Although we are at present collecting only about 70 per cent of Sydney auction results, this is increasing and we anticipate it will continue to do so. The REIV is a regular commentator on the Victorian property market and, with the REINSW, this commentary will be extended to the Sydney market. This provides consumers with timely, credible and impartial market commentary and helps build a relationship of trust between the buying and selling public and the agents. We want that trust relationship to mean that it is to the agents the public turns for information about the state of the market and for advice. In keeping with this building of trust, the intention is that the soldtoday.com.au service will remain free to the public. Enzo Raimondo
Design and Production Pagemasters: Art Director Anita Belia Advertising Tom Skotnicki, Director LandEd Publishing tomskot@netspeed.com.au +61 419 581 874 Cover photograph Rob Nicki
The views and opinions expressed in articles and columns of Estate Agent are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the Real Estate institute of Victoria or LandEd Publishing
The Estate Agent ❘ December 2013
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