APRIL 2010 | www.opp.org.uk
Media Q&A • Inez Rix, Direct Auctions
try to sell by themselves and their ‘discounts’ of 30% don’t stand up in the marketplace. I used to receive the lists from the banks but always had similar properties from private owners that were quite a bit cheaper. We do not get involved with repossessed properties as they are actually handled by the courts and are controlled by Subasteros. No one is allowed to make a fee from selling and the whole process is a nightmare. You have to be masochistic or have a lot of hair to cope with it. We deal directly with owners or
agents who have properties privately for sale and that works for us. Some banks are talking to us wanting to use our services, but I’m still not convinced on their prices – yet.
We do not get involved with repossessed properties as they are actually handled by the courts and are controlled by Subasteros. No one is allowed to make a fee from selling and the whole process is a nightmare.
pro-active in our marketing. We have a brand name built on reliability, longevity and honesty. This engages the bidders/attendees. Our fi rst auction in Alicante in February had 98 attendees. However, we also off er a softer auction approach that ensures buyers are totally protected and that is key. Most buyers still buy out of auction though.
Direct Auctions has been involved with several high profi le TV shows about Spain’s property market. Has this been a positive experience, despite negative media coverage?
This has been incredibly positive for us. Whether it’s shown in a negative or a positive light, the auctions have stood up as they show the true state of the market. People appreciate honesty, even if they don’t like what
Property shows have had their day. With a few exceptions it’s more showcasing now than a place for people to commit to buy. They’re expensive to hold.
you are saying or showing, and this has returned many loyal customers to us. The Trevor MacDonald [ITV1] one
3 years ago gave us a lot of coverage and most responders were sellers. However, last year the Spain: Paradise Lost [ITV1] one was incredible. Both programmes were seen by many in a negative light, but for us it was a turning point. During the programme I had emails coming in the commercial breaks. Over 3 days we received over 400 emails and 70-80 phone calls. I couldn’t handle it all and ended up sending auto responders apologizing as I was 2 or 3 days behind replying. And approximately 98% were from buyers. The replays also bring in a fl ood of responses, but not as many as the fi rst show. And yes we did get some sales from it; 3 sales were directly from viewers of the programme.
Auctions have been an important route to market for developers and banks with distressed property, particularly in Spain. How has Direct Auctions benefi ted?
Not in any way. In Spain banks or developers with distressed properties
What have been the biggest barriers to Below Market Value (BMV) sales at auction over the last year?
The biggest barriers are the fact that people over-leveraged when buying in the fi rst place, and we have had many times where both parties are frustrated as the buyer cannot buy for his bid as the seller just isn’t in a position where he can pay the remaining amount to the bank to clear the mortgage. It isn’t changing as the owners cannot or will not meet the diff erence, although in a few cases we are hearing the banks in Spain are taking action against assets held in the UK and this may generate owners to raise loans in the UK to clear the debt diff erence.
Do you plan to change the format or your approach to marketing for the new markets you are entering?
The format at the moment will stay the same, unless we see we have to change. There are always minute changes that go on as we adapt to the changing pulses in the property market. Our marketing will increase but keeping internet based globally and media based locally. As we enter new markets we assess ways we can be most eff ective for our clients.
What are your hopes for Direct Auctions in 2010?
My hopes are to expand into several new countries and to off er a chance for buyers and sellers to trade property around the world. .”
| 65
Finance for Secondporch
Secondporch.com has reportedly closed a US$1 million round of Series-A investment fi nancing, led by the Oregon Angel Fund.se.ia. The social media-based site allows
property owners to list their homes on Facebook for free and is now set to step up its competition with established holiday rental sites.
Launched in public beta in Sept 09,
Secondporch says its new funds will be used to continue its expansion into the vacation home rental and home exchange markets. CEO of Secondporch Brent Hieggelke
reportedly says he welcomed recent Hitwise fi gures, which show Facebook had surpassed Google to become the most visited website for one week in March.
Trade body website surge
The Portuguese Real Estate Brokers As- sociation (APEMIP), which runs property portal casayes.pt, says fi gures show it is receiving around 140,000 new visitors per month. The portal competes with market leader casa.sapo.pt, which was set up in June 2008. Casayes.pt now lists nearly 450,000 properties from over 1,500 agents associated with the APEMIP. The portal also says that page views
have increased by around 560 percent compared to 2009 with a daily average of 4,500 visitors.
Three deals for search engine
Property search engine Nestoria has established three white-label partner- ships in Spain, Germany and the UK. In the UK, nestoria.co.uk has part-
nered with Buyers Edge, which helps match prospective buyers with qualifi ed buying agents. Buyers Edge users can now search
the nestoria.co.uk database in a co- branded environment. Its Spanish branch nestoria.es has
teamed up with El Correo Gallego, a regional media group based in Galicia, northern Spain, to provide their prop- erty search. This is the fi rst partnership for nesto-
ria.es, reports Property Portal Watch.
In Germany, nestoria.de has teamed
up with gutefrage.net, a new social network focused on asking and answer- ing questions. Nestoria says gutefrage. net is one of the top 20 German lan- guage websites in terms of users. Property Portal Watch says these new deals mirror similar partnerships with The Independent and Channel 4. Others include Financial Times Deutschland.
INDUSTRY
PEOPLE
DESTINATION
BUSINESS
DEVELOPER
MARKETING
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68