A new ‘tinder’ style property app that aims to match prospective buyers with sellers based on their search criteria could save sellers thousands in real estate commissions, its Kiwi developer says.
Yelsa is being sold as an alternative to mainstream real estate search engines in that it purports to "match-make" buyers and sellers based on specific search criteria.
This allows sellers to “like” prospective buyers, based on appealing characteristics, such as being pre-qualified.
Yelsa chief executive Mike Harvey said the app also allowed prospective sellers to sidestep agency commissions – a major plus at any time but particularly given the market uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
With about 115,000 property transfers in New Zealand last year, the average commission of $38,000 had netted real estate agents and brokers an estimated $4.3 billion in commissions.
The Nelson-based property broker said that, after being launched two weeks ago, Yelsa had already attracted 300 buyers, with almost 60 selling profiles, at a registration cost of $495 a pop.
Early access
Sellers were also able to use a property broker if they wished to do the paperwork, though that would add a one percent commission on top. Otherwise the only other transaction fees would be for legal work.
Harvey said that, given about 30 percent of all homes sold even before being marketed, the advantage of the app was it would give buyers early access to properties.
It also solved the “public nature” of property sales, which can cause issues for sellers, he said.
“There are many scenarios where a seller does not want to let the public know their house is on the market including a landlord marketing rental properties.”
He said he expected the model to be popular with some agents as well, as the pre-prospecting aspect to the role “can be time-intensive and in many cases is not profitable.”
Constantly evolving
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand chief executive Bindi Norwell said technology was an important part of the “constantly evolving” nature of the industry.
For those sellers who were looking to sell their house “off book” due to personal circumstances, this sort of app could work well.
She noted, however, that market research had shown that those sellers who did use an agent could achieve about 10 percent more for their property – even taking commission into account.
“Our advice is for people to do their due diligence and work out the best method of selling their property that works for them and their family.”
