aussiehome.com made their name with their online, award-winning, interactive mapping technology used in conjunction with real estate for sale. They took real estate web portals to the extreme by pioneering interactive web-based mapping technology in this manner.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, they've taken the whole concept even further creating a feature laden website with just about everything you could possibly want from a real estate portal.

In essence, aussiehome.com have created a virtual neighbourhood. An example of just some of the value-added features include:

• Interactive, web based mapping technology detailing properties for sale and rent as well as other landmarks (eg. schools, shops, golf courses, sports centres and so on).
• Virtual walk-through tours
• Mortgage calculator and access to home loan services
• Ability to purchase property evidence data in your suburb of choice
• Beach "viewcam" cameras to check out the surf!
• Detailed information on many independent schools
• Home opens
• Auctions
• And the list goes on.

The whole concept came about when Charlie Gunningham and Nick Streuli met whilst completing an MBA at UWA. They got talking about 'what a hassle it was to buy real estate' and from there, the idea snowballed. It's now three years since their initial idea and first attempt and they're moving along in leaps and bounds.

Mr Gunningham said, "Our customer is the real estate agent. They pay a monthly subscription and anyone can browse the site for free."

And when asked about the success rate he said, "All our agents have sold and/or rented their properties directly off our site. Often, the buyer uses the site to do all their preliminary research on a property and then they sign the deal after going through a home open once. But we do get a lot of rental or investment customers who are happy to buy directly from what they've seen on the website."

Traffic to the website is incredible. They are getting 2000 unique visitors a day with over 20,000 pages being displayed.

Mr Gunningham tells a great little story passed on to him by Jeremy Shellabear of Shellabears in Nedlands. Mr Shellabear was doing a 'home open' and in walked a fellow with a camera taking a video. So he asked "Excuse me sir - what are you doing?!" The potential buyer replied, "I'm recording a video for my wife who can't attend in person. She's currently in Hong Kong." Quick off the mark, Mr Shellabear replied that there was a virtual tour of the property on the Web. The potential buyer rang his wife immediately, told her to connect to the Internet and load up the virtual tour and they were both able to 'walk through' the property at the same time discussing various elements. He was in Perth and she was in Hong Kong. This is a great example of how technology brought together for the right reasons, can really work.

Taking that last point a bit further, Mr Gunningham says that for the real estate agent, it's not just sales in which they are interested. The key to any agent's success is getting new listings - particularly in a market where there is strong demand. The aussiehome.com's website, with its feature richness, is becoming a talking point generally with homebuyers across WA. This combined with aussiehome.com's fortnightly magazine "the life" means that buyers are likely to visit their site not just when buying, but also when selling. Who do they select as an agent then? One who is using aussiehome.com in a manner in which they want their property sold.

To get a feel for a website which really knows how to keep their potential customers returning, visit aussiehome.com.

Source:Ecommerce Centre case study, Dept of Industry & Resources