Ideas for a Real Estate Site

[pxd]

Hi,

I am up to creating a real estate website for London, and would like to hear some points of view, as that might help in taking decisions. I want to bring estate agencies to sell / rent their properties and offer their related services through my webstie.

Ok, I've done some research on this, and got stuck at some point. The software I've got allows me to organize things into Companies and Agents.

And I'm not sure about the exact way I should look at this. You see, when somebody talks about a real estate agent, he refers to a person, a realtor, right? Others, and it might be the way it is in London for instance, when people say "estate agent", they are thinking of the actual company, rather than a particular individual / negociator at that company. There's so many companies doing this in London that the term agent kills the individual and stands for the company. In other words, when I think of renting a property, it's Century21 that comes to my mind, and not Mr. Nick that is a negociator at this company. Saying that, Century21 = Agent, and not too many are actually using the term company for this. My concerns would be directed to: should I still consider presenting individuals next to the company(=agent) they work for? When someone comes to a website looking for a property, are the company contact details enough for him to get in touch with the property managers or is he looking for a straight forward contact with the person to negociate with?

And if it came to organizing things, I would think of the following terminology and structure:

Example:
Centyry21 ( agent )
- Holborn Office ( = local agent )
- negociator 1
- negociator 2
- Walthamstow Office ( = local agent )
- negociator 1
- negociator 2

Rather than this:

Company
- Agent 1
- Agent 2
- Agent 3

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, as well as ideas of a best way to use the terminology to structure things on a real estate website.

Thanks in advance.
Alex

[Toly]

You see, when somebody talks about a real estate agent, he refers to a person, a realtor, right? Others, and it might be the way it is in London for instance, when people say "estate agent", they are thinking of the actual company, rather than a particular individual / negociator at that company.

It is a little bit confusing, but more times than not, when someone talks about a real estate agent, they are referring to a company. A lot of real estate directories list companies' websites for each respective region as real estate agents. But if a person is selling a property on his/her own, they would also be referred as real estate agents or sometimes brokers.

should I still consider presenting individuals next to the company(=agent) they work for?

It depends on what services each company will offer through your website. If you want a company to advertise several properties they are selling/renting, and if for each property they have a different sales person assigned to it, then yes, you should definitely offer the individual or sales person information.

On the other hand, if a certain company will only offer their general services, then there is really no need to present individuals, but only the company's contact info.

When someone comes to a website looking for a property, are the company contact details enough for him to get in touch with the property managers or is he looking for a straight forward contact with the person to negociate with?

From my own experience, the company contact details is enough, but the property needs to have an ID number of some sort so the potential buyer can use it as reference.

And if it came to organizing things, I would think of the following terminology and structure:

Example:
Centyry21 ( agent )
- Holborn Office ( = local agent )
- negociator 1
- negociator 2
- Walthamstow Office ( = local agent )
- negociator 1
- negociator 2

I think it looks very good.

[pxd]

Thanks, Toly, for your time to comment my post.

It really helps in taking decisions when others say what they think about it. I really appreciate your interest.

Cheers,
Alex

[Toly]

No problem.

[Japan]

I'm becoming quite curious about your site. Especially because it's my area of interest. Please let me know if you have something to see!

Japan