REAL ESTATE WEB SITES ANALYSIS

Abstract

The Internet has grown at a remarkable pace over the last several years. Even for those who work in the information technology industry, the attempt to keep up with new developments is overwhelming. This study seeks to discover the most effective and efficient type of real estate web sites that exist in the market today. Since Singapore is relatively new to the hosting of Internet web sites for commercial purposes, it would be ideal for the local real estate firms to learn and model after such web sites instead of starting from scratch. Besides, this could play a part in helping Singapore to achieve the goal of becoming an intelligent island by Year 2000. In addition, the feasibility of virtual buying in Singapore would also be looked into briefly. After acquiring the skills of creating an effective and efficient web site, virtual buying of real estate might just be viable in the near future. It is found that the North American and United Kingdom sites tend to be more effective and efficient than the East Asian sites. Generally, they fall under the static and interactive categories. They usually offer more value-added information and services than the East Asian sites. Hence, the author recommends that Singapore real estate firms could learn from the American and Canadian sites since they tend to possess more useful features. From an examination of the real and virtual buying processes, the author discovers that they are actually very similar. However, due to several reasons like security and privacy concerns, many still prefer the conventional way of purchasing a property.