Igglo combines large amounts of real estate information into a customer friendly package that could alter how the housing market operates, by letting potential buyers 'pre-order' houses that aren't yet for sale.
The Finnish company has photographed every building in Helsinki, with more towns to follow, and combines these photographs with satellite images and maps. Every property is listed, not just those that are currently on the market. (Their tagline is: "Your house is already on Igglo.")
Potential buyers can earmark a building, street or neighbourhood they're interested in, and post offers online. This lets potential sellers find out how desirable their property is, even if they weren't actively considering selling. Buyers also receive an alert when a property in their earmarked building or area comes up for sale.
If demand and supply meet, Igglo handles the transaction for a lower fee than is charged by regular real estate agents (less than 2%). Lower fees are made possible by the fact the Igglo agents don't get involved until buyers and sellers have found each other. The company is looking to expand the service to other big cities.
Interesting way of turning the real estate market upside down, letting demand nudge supply in the right direction, and moving the market from push to pull. One to watch!
Website: http://www.igglo.fi
Contact: asiakaspalvelu@igglo.fi
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fabulous - if only I could speak/read Finnish!! is there an english version anywhere?
Check out Zillow.com, a US-based company. Interesting similarities.
Is it legal. Can the owner not object treating as unsolicited indulgence? Would be interesting to hear from a knowlegeable person
An interesting idea however I worry about the legalities of this idea. People would see it as an unnecessary/unwelcome intrusion into their lives. A very grey area indeed which has some potential legal issues further down the track.
Viena maza biznesa idejina!!! Man liekas ka ir apspriesanas verta. Ja nu vienigi tev ir laiks.
Andris
At Yacht Seekers International www.yacht-seekers.com we do similar by speculatively approaching owners of luxury yachts on behalf of our clients to establish if they are interested in selling.
Interesting, but whats to stop buyer and seller once having found each other to cut out Igglo and do a private sale?
Igglo is planning on opening businesses like this first in small cities in Finland and then maybe Paris, London etc.
Well, we can just try to buy the historical monuments in our town :) Very cool business idea indeed. Just like pre order a website address when available in networksolutions.com
You might also want to check out Redfin's First to Know service and the BuyerHunt Reverse MLS websites...
I would like to buy a appartment in helsinki,because I like the finnish people very well after visiting Finland since 1975
I would like to see the answers to the questions that have been asked above. Is it possible to get them?
Sounds like Eventful.com's Demand for performers.... but in Real Estate.
The world's a-changing!
grrreat idea , come to new zealand!
I also would like to see the answers to the questions that have been asked, if possible please.
also how did you go about photographing every building?
I love the concept.Quite Similar to zillow.com
Hello,
I am kevin luke,We specialize in purchase of Propertys for our customers here in Europe and across the globle, we get paid in commission,once payment is confirmed and cleared by you,after which we will arrange for the pick up of the property.As of present we have a customer interested in purchasing your property.please get back to me if is still available for sale and please indicate your best price for the Property and also give me a comprehensive detail about the present condition of the Property.As soon as this is done we will arrange for the payment and pick up.please,don't fail to indicate the price of the Property .
I look forward to your prompt reply.
Thanks,
Office Address.Tower 44,Level 35 25
Old Broad Street London EC2N 1HQ DX:
557 London/City United Kingdom
Love this idea. I am going to tell my CEO to implement this into our business model!
After all the hype Igglos business model didn't work out very well. They've already closed down operations and sold the website concept to a more traditional real estate portal Oikotie.fi of Sanoma.
Shame, since the concept was nice!
Citing from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igglo):
"Igglo claimed to be the the third largest real estate broker in the Helsinki metropolitan area and it employed over seventy people in Finland. The company expanded to Oslo, Norway in April 2007. It failed to gain ground and declared bankruptcy in February 2008.
On September 8, 2008 the company informed that it is ceasing brokering business and is selling the Finnish Internet functions to Sanoma Oy."
amazing! amazon A9 should do this in the States.
Damon | June 16, 2006 10:17 AM