Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa November 2014 | Page 64

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Private Property’s new Android app
Private Property has launched an Android app for an
enhanced property search experience. The App offers
customers all the features on the website including
searching for sales and rentals. You can browse the vast
collection of listings via a simple and visually-engaging
interface; subscribe to emails and SMS alerts; message
agents, home owners and landlords; and add your
favourite properties to a personal wish list.
Virtually view prospective properties
TheRoomLink.co.za, an online portal dedicated to
matching young professionals with safe and secure
accommodation, has introduced a video application for
viewing properties in the digital space. Virtual viewing
allows potential tenants and landlords to ‘meet’ and
‘see’ a property for rent without even being in the same
city. This is done using video calls from a tablet, laptop
or Smartphone utilising Skype or an equivalent such
as Tango which is available for PC, iOS and Android
devices, Google Hangout, Facetime, or Blackberry 10.
Properties can be viewed either in real-time (akin to a
Skype video call), allowing a conversation between the
landlord and potential tenant or are pre-recorded.
Simple, secure rentals
Launched in July 2014, Ekaya’s flagship product
Ekaya.com makes it easy for landlords to find great
tenants and for tenants to find great properties. Ekaya
has been quietly testing its services in a private, inviteonly BETA in Cape Town, but it is now available for
free to everyone in the Cape Town area. Landlords are
invited to list their rentals with a simple, secure and
mobile-friendly service to access a pool of quality
tenants. Ekaya’s list-once technology means that
landlords can simply reactivate their listing when the
current lease expires. Tenants can browse a growing
range of more than a 1,000 quality listings available
on any given day and use the enhanced search and
discovery tools to find properties meeting their most
important needs. The company plans to expand to
Johannesburg and Durban in the coming months.
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November 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

TPN launches industry first Wiki with AskTPN
AskTPN is a unique tool which provides detailed
explanations of all the respective clauses in each
of TPN’s branded Residential LeasePack and
Commercial LeasePack documents. These documents
include standard lease agreements, mandates, disclosure
documents, application forms, resolution, inspection
documents, notice of expiry, power of attorney, notice
to cancel and admission of liability and more. With
ongoing legislative changes, these documents need to
be updated on a regular basis – something which can
cost landlords or rental agents a great deal of money
if they were forced to visit an attorney each time the
documents needed to be updated. TPN’s specialist
lawyers continuously update these documents as
legislation is amended and TPN LeasePack members
simply download the latest version to these updates.
Off-plan buying innovation
Property developers, Blok, have brought innovation
to off-plan property buying. Together with their
interactive design agency, they have pioneered a oneof-a-kind app that takes 2D floor plans into a 3D
interactive space. The app was designed exclusively for
Blok and conceptualised out of a need identified by
Blok to make buying off-plan easier.
Few people who haven’t studied architecture can’t
clearly read building plans, and as such it’s hard to
commit to buying a property which cannot be seen or
explored in bricks and mortar. The Blok app allows a
potential buyer to virtually tour the apartment they’re
interested in, months before it’s built, and to explore
all aspects of the development, from a 3D view of the
neighbourhood, information on area highlights, to
the building and all of its features. The user-friendly
interface allows prospective buyers to view each
apartment, where it is positioned in the building and
then view it in an isometric 3D model. But the real
jewel is the interactive virtual walk-through of every
apartment in 3D, including a representation of views
from each of the windows.
www.reimag.co.za