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Rate my startup: 200 Square (100% online real estate agency in NZ)

19 points by nikz ↗ HN
Our new startup is called 200 Square, and we're trying to change the way real estate is sold in New Zealand.

200square.co.nz

Basically, we manage the whole process online - you list your house for sale, order marketing and even negotiate with potential buyers all online. The legal environment here means you can even digitally "sign" agreements using a credit card!

There's no human "agent" in the process - 200 Square manages it all, although you can get in touch with someone for help if you need it. We also charge a fixed "success fee" instead of the usual commission paid to an agent (2% - 4% of the sale price here, depending on a number of things).

I'm really interested in what you guys think of the concept, and the home/info pages - we are trying to explain a complicated process as concisely and simply as possible.

Appreciate anything you might suggest however!

16 comments

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fezzl
I think that the design works well. How's traction so far?
nikz
You can see we've got 13 properties listed publically - there are quite a few more in the pipeline, including deals with some building companies.

We've only been live a couple of weeks, and it's the main holiday time (summer) over here, so we'll see in the New Year.

People seem to either "get it" and love it, or dismiss it as "it'll never work". We take the polarization as a positive.

EDIT: oh, and thanks for the design comments - I'll pass those on (I'm the tech guy)

sushrutbidwai
Design is very good. But one suggestion is to include at least glimpse of some properties available for buying. Right now homepage has lot of literature, but for a new site its important to show that you have some traction and gain further clicks from user.
nikz
Hmmm - we had kept it like that to be focused on the seller - there's more buyer info under the "buy" tab. We hadn't considered the "traction" angle. I'll bring it up with the others - thanks!
fingerprinter
One thing that would be important, and I'll admit I didn't register for an account to see if this is possible, but I don't believe anyone will buy a home sight unseen or without and inspection. Is there a facility to book a viewing or book an inspection?
nikz
You generally get in touch with a buyer directly to book inspections.

We might develop something to make that a little easier though, so thanks for the suggestion.

We definitely don't expect anyone to buy a house without seeing it!

dfens
I recently bought my first house in the greater Wellington area, so have spent the last four or so months dealing with real estate agents. I think anything to reduce their influence is probably going to be popular. The fixed commission is probably a good move as it makes you look more neutral, unlike agents who wants the highest sale price possible.

From a buyer's point of view the biggest problem with the site is the low number of listings, but I imagine that will grow with time. Best of luck.

nikz
Thanks - here's hoping they'll accelerate in the new year!
ngsayjoe
Would anyone buy a house without viewing it first? I know it definitely wouldn't work in my country in Malaysia.
nikz
You would definitely be able to see it first! You'd just organise a suitable viewing time with the owner (you can send messages back and forth using the system)
ngsayjoe
Then how you prevent transacton bypassing you? Since buyer /seller are able to meet?
morbandit
We can't really - that's one of the major concerns with our model. We've already encountered a few occurrences of this and are working through it carefully (don't want to piss off our early users!)
mounir
Really, really, nice design. Clear, clean, effective. I hope you started a trend and million of people will copy your style.

idea 1 : Now, concerning the UX, Key traction user is the seller.

When you go to "seller", it directly ask for my adress. At beginning, I didn't want to give it. not now. but I have no other choice. SO I did it. and then, you did a great job with the house finder and market price.

But I think there might be some defects at that step. You should track and or test this step. Maybe you could say more at the beginning : "We're happy to offer you a free estimate of your property, please locate it and directly see a price estimate".

Idea 2 : Seller might not search for an online real estate at beginning but for sure, they want to know more about the market. Your site should give more at beginning and transform them after.

There is a French startup very successfull : http://www.meilleursagents.com/

, who has a business like this : They have the best tool ever to estimate your property for free (very big traction of qualified prospects), and then they transform them as seller and connect them to local real estate agency.

When you type a Parisian adress in google.fr, they are on the first results with the average estate price in the area.

nikz
That's really interesting, thanks.

We've talked about adding more information about the market in general, and that's the intent of the blog (blog.200square.co.nz), but it's not very prominent at the moment.

Thanks!