Realestate.com.au has rolled out its New Zealand Portal, allrealestate which is a stripped down version of realestate.com.au. The site is clean and crisp and minus (at this stage) all of the advertising of its Australian sister.
The site already boasts over 8000 properties and its success will lie in not only getting more listings but also attracting returning visitors.
It is a good start and if it can keep agents on board (many do not want to pay fees until they start seeing results)it will no doubt be a success.
That is going to be the hard part, keeping agents interested in the short term. M belief is that they will extend trials to keep agents interested and then begin charging them.
It is a smart move because the major real estate portal in New Zealand is www.realenz.co.nz and to be honest it is a shocker! The system is useless, navigation terrible and the site looks like it was developed by my nephew (he is 7).
I will keep a close eye on proceedings.