How Just Property professionals, from Cape Town to Kimberley, are leveraging data to maximise their own and their clients’ returns.

Ruben Izgelov, a New York City residential and commercial real estate financier, included Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in his round-up of The Biggest Real Estate Tech Trends to Watch In 2022 (Forbes, 16 Feb 2022).

The benefits of emerging tech for owners, developers and investors should be obvious. Just think of the data that can be collected, analysed, and acted on when these technological advances are leveraged. Why you might wonder, aren’t real estate companies implementing DataOps to make sense of all the information that is now available for their clients?

As Izgelov notes, “historically, the real estate world has been very slow to adapt to the rapid advancements in technology”. It’s an industry built on “high touch” face-to-face interaction. The pandemic changed that. And while we’ve moved on from the “no-touch” days of lockdown, consumers have become used to property technology (proptech) tools like 3D virtual tours, smart contracts, and real estate portals.

Agents may be back in the office, but an element of “remote touch” is now standard.

The Competitive Edge

One property company that had focused on proptech rode the Covid waves and came out stronger than ever. When lockdown started, Just Property’s agents sat down at their home computers, opened the Just Property dashboard, and got on with selling and renting properties across South Africa.

So, it’s not surprising to hear that this company is successfully leveraging DataOps (data preparation, reporting, and the interconnected nature of the data analytics team and information technology operations). Just Property integrates the best datasets and analytics programs to efficiently provide staff and clients with a clear overview of the real estate landscape - and a strategic edge in the business. All around South Africa.

Take Cecile Burger’s recent triumph in Kimberley. Using Just Property’s proprietary tools, she was able to pull together data insights and analysis and sell every unit in a complex to a single investor who’d wanted to buy a completely different property.

What is even more surprising is that according to Ria Taljaard, the Just Property Kimberley franchisee, Cecile is a young and upcoming agent at the start of her career. 

“This specific buyer was initially interested in another property. Unfortunately, he was second in line, and the first offer got bond approval,” says Cecile.

“I wondered what other properties I could show my buyer that would draw his interest? My colleagues, Alta van Wyk and Jeanette Venter had just listed a complex for sale from our rental book. I had to plan how to sell him on this development so I did my homework and drafted a return on investment proposal with the help of our admin personnel, Hannes Botes, and the great technology we have at Just Property.

“And just like that, when he saw the returns he could make, my client signed his offer to purchase. Even more fantastic is that we have also retained these properties on our rental book and are now managing them for the new owner. It was a great team effort, from the listing agents to the admin and IT personnel.”

When asked what the key to her success is, Cecile doesn’t hesitate: “Knowledge is power, and the training and guidance we receive from Ria motivates us to perform and reach our full potential. My clients are very important to me, and with such a competitive market in Kimberley, you really have to walk the extra mile with potential buyers.”

Ria, who also runs the Kuruman and Kalahari branches, took over the Kimberley franchise last year. She has spent a lot of time training the personnel. “You need to deliver service built on knowledge,” she says. “Add to this a strong value system, loyalty, the latest technology and a ‘live-and-let-live’ attitude, and you have a successful recipe for success.”

In Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2022, PwC noted that when it comes to proptech and digital transformation, “The goal is for companies to combine people and the right technologies, apply an innovative mindset to help drive the right business outcomes and use data, automation and analytics … to gain a huge competitive advantage”.

Just Property has done just that. Their franchisees, agents and clients are reaping the benefits.

For more information on Just Property, please visit www.just.property  or call (087) 583 3333.