An Online Estate Agent in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

? An Online E Agent in Saudi Arabia An Online E Agent in Saudi Arabia Introduction Over the past 10 years, the world, and specifically the world of house shoppers, has increasingly taken the digital route (Crowston, Sawyer & Wigand, 2001). Customers are turning to the internet to look for information to help their buying. They adapt the “how to” search technique on Google.com to search for specific brand names, read review sites and also search on the go with their tablets and smartphones (Lecinski, 2012). Google, Inc. refers to this thought as Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), which means that the notion that shopping is no longer concerning showing up in a shop, or in this paper’s case at an open house or an agent’s office, looking for counsel or advice on what to purchase or the cost that should pay (Lecinski, 2012). As Google’s ZMOT handbook for dealers puts it, the sales channel is not, in reality, a channel anymore. Today there is a new-fangled, empowered client generation, which does its research earlier before going out to do the actual buying. With every endeavour in this world calls for business opportunities, and since around the year 2000, online estate agents started to offer an option to the customary fee structure, maintaining cheaper, predetermined fee selling packages (Lecinski, 2012). These internet estate agents declare to grant private property vendors the capability of advertise their property through the leading property portals (the ideal medium utilised by customary high street estate agents) for a portion of the price of the customary estate agency. New-fangled models have been brought in, which applies digital media screens on behalf of the agents’ customary high street window (Lecinski, 2012). These screens permit these agents to convey their listings into a remote area where setting up a workplace might otherwise not be achievable. A report, in 2010, confirmed that online estate agents normally charge a fixed fee of ?400 to ?1,000, with others charging an extra commission on sales (Lecinski, 2012). Also, others charge extra fees for additional services like the supply of a "For Sale" post, professionally and efficiently taken photographs, as well as accompanied viewings. In Saudi Arabia, particularly, real estate is considered as one of the fastest growing businesses second to oil (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). Financial experts argue that the construction of 500,000 housing units planned by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, at a price of SAR 250 billion, would assist ease real estate rents and prices. The newly developed mortgage law, as well as its executive bylaw, contain principles for real estate finance and growth and allow banking institutions to support real estate projects. Internet users in this country were last reported at 13,000,000 in 2011, according to a report by World Bank published in 2012 (Muhanna & Wolf, 2013). These are individuals with access to the worldwide web. Therefore, as the nation’s economy and internet user population continues to enhance rapidly, demand for house units will also continue to increase (Muhanna & Wolf, 2013). This opens a window of opportunities for realtors. So, if someone is short of business ideas, then online real estate investment should be considered. Aims and Objectives This dissertation will dwell on this business venture (online house agents) discussing the possible advantages of starting an online house agent website instead of using the customary method. The paper will incorporate sections such as aims and objectives, literature review, research methods and planning to execute the recommendations. This paper will adapt the Goggle and NAR (National Association of Realtors) study in order to come up with its findings. The goal is to assist the reader understand the growing role of digital media in the client home search procedure. It will uncover the trends, as well as insights, around digital media application amongst home shoppers, whether they were searching for home, an apartment or newly constructed home. It is vital for online realtors to understand their market population how people shop online in order for them to form winning strategies. The research aims to assist real estate experts understand that digital marketing techniques across paid search, display, video, social channels and mobile are vital so as to reach today’s house shopper. With these types of techniques in place, brokers and realtors can position themselves to drive their dealings forward and succeed at the vital Zero Moment of Truth. The paper will create an online estate agent helping its clients to find their interest of buying, selling or renting proprieties, commercial shops or even free lands. The paper will develop a huge network through connecting all estate agents in Saudi Arabia together by offering them to advertise in the website, which makes it easier rather than the traditional way of going to the offices. Other objectives include creating a prototype for the website, a mobile application for the website, a survey for the idea in both languages Arabic and English and another Survey after the completion of the first version of the website. Literature Review When a home or apartment is put for sale, it incorporates the process of marketing it to likely home buyers, with the aim of attaining a purchase offer, which ends in concluding the deal (Muhanna, 2009). If the home is projected on the internet, then it helps the buyer since a lot of people know concerning the sale because, and; therefore, it increases the number of potential buyers. Online home sales gives the vendor the chance to select from various offers that they have gotten, as well as close the deal promptly through selling the home (Muhanna, 2009). Online real estate agents need to optimize their search utilising terms as if they were the actual buyers and searching to buy a property. The webmasters should ensure that the website appears at the top of the search engine since these are rated as the most prominent sites when it comes to selecting information from the internet. For this reason, I chose www.3qarfinder.com, whose domain appears on the top of every search engine that is used in Saudi Arabia. Online real estate agents should ensure that their website provides complete information concerning the homes on sale. The information on the website should include the price, area, nearness to significant locations and transport logistics among others (Levitt & Syverson, 2008). The agent should bear in mind that it is the purchaser who is going to use the website to find homes. If the website is, by any chance, not user-friendly, then the buyer will move on to another home-selling website. Hence, it is vital to look from the buyer’s viewpoint when listing homes on the internet. Online home purchasing is a nice, as well as an abenjoyable experience (Levitt & Syverson, 2008). Therefore, when an online real estate agent lists his or her property, they should also upload photos or pictures, as well as some vivid description of the home in order to provide buyers with a good feeling that this is the home of his/her dreams. As a way of advertising the website, it is vital that the agent considers posting ads on classified websites. The agent can exploit classified sites in order to write their own description on the home, as well as upload pictures, and furthermore, leave links to the website. Finally, social networking sites go a long way to advertising any product out there. Therefore, creating a Facebook page and a Twitter handle will also go a long way in advertising the homes (Jud, Winkler & Sirmans, 2009). Real estate purchasing through social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedln has made the business boom because a lot of people access these sites today. Methodology In 2012, NAR mailed out questionnaires to a random sample population of 102,056 home purchasers (Lecinski, 2012). The current home purchasers had to have bought a home between March of 2011 and April 2012. The Tailored Survey Plan Method was applied in studying the sample, which comprises of the survey, a pre-postcard mailing and a re-mailing of the study. Applying this method, a sum of 8,501 responses was obtained (Lecinski, 2012). After accounting for undeliverable survey forms, the study had an adjusted response rate of 9.1%. The Google & Complete survey followed clickstream actions of anonymous in-market real estate clients in competes online user panels. These actions were followed for 3 months from what was known as a renovation, one of several signals of interest performed on a few select real estate websites. Google & Compete went further into the 2011 and 2012 survey and observed users’ completing a desired end action (Lecinski, 2012). From there, Google tracked the activity backwards to 90 days earlier and the online action of those “converters” to expose insights and patterns. Conversion behaviours were acknowledged as one of the following: registering to sell or buy, handing in a lead form, sharing a listing, viewing a contact number, utilising a house mortgage calculator, as well as viewing directions to an agent’s office or the actual home. Both research incorporated a survey of in-market real estate searchers online; in 2011, in general, the research centered on home shoppers, with the questions reaching 923 respondents (Lecinski, 2012). On the other hand, in 2012, it centered on fresh home shoppers who use mobile devices, and received 214 respondents (Lecinski, 2012). Jointly, survey results and the clickstream brought to light numerous trends connected to the online home shoppers’ shopping habits along with their searching patterns. Planning The timeline of this project will include function, form, first meeting/web site consultation, register a domain, the graphic design & usability & SEO, content gathering, SEO & database design and incorporating content & shopping cart proofing. The first step into establishing a website is to find out precisely what the aim of that site is going to be and in our case is to market homes (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). The next procedure is to find out what the owner of the website wants and, in essence, how the website will look like. It is vital that the home marketing website maintains the visual graphics of the homes that the online realtor is marketing (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). The next step is where you met with a developer to give specifications on how you want your website to be. It is advisable to grant his written documents for easy remembrance. The following step is to register a domain at a cost that is effective to the earning of the business. However, domains cost roughly 10 to 15 US dollars a year, which practically cheap. The usability and SEO test will help establish whether the site reflects the realtors’ visions (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). The graphic layout and design of content is a balance between visual persuasion and branding. The next step is to incorporate content into the web design. The time span of this relies on the size of the website. Finally, it is really vital to have more than one person proofing the project. Mobile applications can totally change people’s view of online home shopping in Saudi Arabia since they assist realtors to answers roughly all questions that shoppers have concerning the homes under sale (Crowston, Sawyer & Wigand, 2001). While websites have turned into the norm when it comes to homes listings, a likely buyer is out there, and putting an app on their phones rather than utilising their browsers, could take an online agent’s service to another level. This will assist in selling the merits of the properties, and make the agent stand out amongst the rest. Conclusion Over the past 10 years, the world, and specifically the world of house shoppers, has increasingly taken the digital route. Customers are turning to the internet to look for information to help their buying. With every endeavour in this world calls for business opportunities, and since around the year 2000, online estate agents have offered an option to the customary fee structure, maintaining cheaper, predetermined fee selling packages. In Saudi Arabia, particularly, real estate is considered as one of the fastest growing businesses second to oil. This paper has looked into the raising business venture of online realtors. Other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have tried it, and it appears extremely successful; therefore, Saudi Arabia should also seek to improve its online real estate marketing world through creating liable websites that will successfully assist home seekers find the homes they desire when they use this method. Saudi Arabian online real estate agent should consider implementing the recommendations offered in the literature review of this paper successfully in order to incorporate their business not only to local home seekers, but also international home seekers who wish to settle in Saudi Arabia. References Crowston, K, Sawyer, S & Wigand, R 2001, 'Investigating the interplay between structure and information and communications technology in the real estate industry', Information Technology & People, vol. 14, no. 2, pp.163–183. Print. Dabholkar, P A & Overby, J W 2005, 'Linking process and outcome to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations: An investigation of real estate agent service', International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 16, No: 1, pp.10-27. Jud, D, Winkler, D T & Sirmans, S 2009, 'The impact of information technology on real estate licensee income', Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-16. Lecinski, J 2012, The digital house hunt: Consumer and market trends in real estate. A Joint study from the National Association of Realtors® and Google, NAR, Chicago. Levitt, S D & Syverson, C 2008, 'Market distortions when agents are better informed: The value of information in real estate transactions', The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 599-611. Mini, J F & Brooks, N A 2004, Beginning-to-end online automation of real estate transactions, Ziprealty, Inc, Emeryville, CA. Muhanna, W 2009, 'E-Commerce in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry', Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-16. Muhanna, W A & Wolf, J R 2013, 'The impact of e-commerce on the real estate industry', Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 141-152. Read More