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A new online portal is looking to reconstruct long-held real estate traditions in Australia, bringing optimism to one of the country’s most vulnerable buyer categories.
By redistributing the $10 billion spent on real estate commission and advertising each year, new property website ReValu8 is targeting first home buyers for a significant real estate leg-up – allowing them not only to rank and purchase properties online, but also to receive thousands of dollars in incentives for doing so.
The new platform will be a game-changer for first home buyers, according to ReValu8 COO Chris Wisbey.
“The new platform has the potential to get the majority of first home buyers, who have traditionally been forced to turn to family for assistance, into a home years earlier than previously was possible,” he said.
“In combination with the state-based first home owners grants and the buyer’s share of commission, the amount of deposit assistance available could be as high as $40,000 depending on which state they buy in,” Mr Wisbey said.
He said ReValu8 offers first home buyers ‘substantial and transparent’ assistance – including the buyer’s share of available commission and advertising fees and the available government grants and transfer duty exemptions.
Launched only last month, ReValu8’s listings already total almost $500 billion, and it has over $8 million in the share of advertising and agent commission available to buyers.
ReValu8 is a free member-based platform. Members have access to a wide range of relevant purchase information, including weekly after-tax costs, 10-year profit forecasts and price-to-valuation discrepancies.
Sellers wanting to list their homes are welcome too, and only pay to advertise on settlement of the sold property, at prices that they set and control.
Mr Wisbey said the platform puts power back into the hands of the buyer by combining a wide selection of properties for sale with a substantial market research capability.
The current real estate system does not provide enough focus on looking after first home buyers, he said. “Rather its primary attention is directed principally at owner-occupiers buying their second or third home to live in.”
[Related: First home buyer market 'collapsing': report]
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