Internet real estate
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real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
industry, Internet real estate is the concept of publishing housing estates for sale or rent online, and for consumers seeking to buy or rent properties through such platforms. Often,
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
real estate properties are listed and managed by
landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...
s themselves. However, there are few exceptions where an online
real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...
would exist, still dealing via the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
and often stating a flat fee and not a commission based on the percentage of total sales. Internet real estate platforms surfaced around 1999 when technology advanced and statistics prove that more than 1 million homes were sold by the owners themselves in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
alone in 2000. Some of the primary Internet real estate platforms include
Zillow Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006, and was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spencer R ...
,
Trulia Trulia is an American online real estate marketplace which is a subsidiary of Zillow. It facilitates buyers and renters to find homes and neighborhoods across the United States through recommendations, local insights, and map overlays that offer ...
,
Yahoo! Real Estate Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
,
Redfin Redfin Corporation, based in Seattle, operates a residential real estate brokerage in 95 markets in the United States and Canada and in other markets via partner/referral agents. Its business model includes charging home sellers below-average fe ...
and
Realtor.com Realtor.com is a real estate listings website operated by the News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc. and based in Santa Clara, California. It is the second most visited real estate listings website in the United States as of 2021, with over 100 million ...
.Delcoure, Natalya, and Norm G. Miller. International Residential Real Estate Brokerage Fees And Implications For The US Brokerage Industry. 1st ed. 2002. Print.


International e-real estate statistics

According to Realtors, 90% of home buyers searched online during the process of seeking a property and the percentage of consumers searching for information relating to real estate on Google has increased by 253% over the last 4 years.Google, The
National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. It has over 1.4 million members, making it one of the biggest trade associations in the USA including NAR's institutes, so ...
®. The Digital House Hunt: Consumer And Market Trends In Real Estate. 1st ed. 2012. Print.
With an increase of 5.5% from just 0% of people using the Internet to carry our house sales within the last decade in the UK, figures show that there will be a huge increase to a percentage of 50 by 2018. Figures will hit 70% by 2020, with only a third of the UK population seeking help through traditional methods of real estate agents.


Process of dealing with Internet real estate

The process of the concept of Internet real estate usually begins with owners listing their homes with its quoted price on online platforms such as Trulia, Yahoo! Real Estate, cyber home, ''The New York Times'' and even
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
. The greater number of platform owners list their properties, the greater the diffusion of information. As buyers who are seeking a piece of property, search engines are usually their first pit-stop. "69% of home shoppers who take action on real estate brand website begin their research with a local term, i.e "Houston homes for sale" on a search engine", reports Realtor. Once a potential buyer contacts the seller, they would go through the details of the property – sizing, amenities, condition, and pricing, if not stated. After which, an appointment for the viewing of the property would usually be scheduled and in some cases, potential buyers may request for a refurnish of certain amenities or parts of the property. If terms and conditions are met between both parties, the buyer would usually negotiate for the best offer if interested and a deposit may be requested by the owner. Finally, both parties will agree on a date for full payment, signing on official payment, and the handover of keys to the property.


Design

Generally, buyers are attracted to Internet real estate due to its accessibility and the range of properties available.


Advantages


Convenience

Due to distance decay, personal commitments, and time constraints, many turn to the web to carry out their daily activities –
online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...
, online bookings and for communication between parties. Using the web to put out properties for sale and purchasing properties is no exception. The age of technology has aided in reducing time and money within Internet real estate. Users may list their properties or search for them at their fingertips, reaching out to a greater number of people significantly than traditional methods. In contrast, the traditional methods of contacting and meeting up with a real estate agent cost more money (agent and transportation fees) and time.


Direct communications and transactions

One of the prime differences between traditional real estate and Internet real estate is often the middleman's absence, known as a broker or a real estate agent. At times, real estate agents may be present, still dealing with customers directly from the web. Real estate agents often profit by absorbing a certain percentage of the final sale or rent price as commission. There are cases where commission percentage hits a figure of 6% in America. Internet real estate reduces the cost of an agent and conserves time spent relaying amongst three parties.


Human interaction

The use of the Internet has, in turn, the reduced time between human interaction, which buyers do crave at times.


Disadvantages

Just like any other operations, risks do exist when dealing with Internet real estate. There have been cases where personal details and financial information were copied when
cybercriminal A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing the ...
s posed as sellers who listed their properties. Unfortunately, they published fake information about themselves and their properties and collected deposits and rent for a property of which they had no ownership. Furthermore, using the web to deal with real estate increases the chances of data being encrypted or retrieved.Fobert, J. (2013). Cyber and Data Security Risks and the Real Estate Industry. 1st ed. America.


References

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External links


Newsweek: Internet for Sale
Internet terminology