Real estate auction is not a new concept; it has been around for a very long time. It is one of the many methods one can take advantage of to buy or sell a property. However, the increase in the use of technology has also had a significant impact on the real estate industry. Real estate businesses are also opting for digital transformation, and this also includes the ability to conduct auctions for real estate property.
An online auction website, as one would imagine, can be developed to conduct an online auction. The main advantage of this is that homeowners and buyers can find remote locations for the auction. Technological advancements have made it possible to get a perfect picture of the property prior to purchase and use the appropriate method to make the purchase. An auction platform can be a website, mobile app, or both with features like a countdown to the final bid. A professional IT firm can help with real estate auction platform development for your real estate business.
There are several types of auction platforms like increment, reserve price, automatic, minimum bid, and absolute. In an increment auction, one can raise the price by a predefined value. Reserve price auctions involve allowing property owners to set the maximum price for their property.
Buyers are allowed to set the maximum price they are willing to pay for the property and automate the bidding process. In a minimum bid auction, the seller can set a minimum reserve price on a property; the buyers are then allowed to bid from the reserve. An absolute auction is where the property is sold to the highest bidder.
Similar to an offline auction, an online auction has a moderator. There are three main users: a moderator, a seller, and a buyer. Each user has a unique set of roles and permissions.
The role of the moderator involves handling transactions, managing sales & purchases, managing & moderating the users as well and consulting investors. A seller, too, has a major role to play on an auction platform like this. They can add & modify auctions, set the type of auction, check the bidding, receive notifications, and manage transactions & order history. As a buyer, one can search for sellers, rate them, and set their base price. They can also track bidding history, perform bidding activities in real-time and customize their dashboard. Buyers also have the ability to track property status and bid details.
Both sellers and buyers can benefit from using an online auction platform. But the sale of a property is not suitable for all types of properties. Listed here are the types of properties it is most suitable for:
Normal residential houses.
Properties with problems like legal issues, ones with enforcement notices, or tenant issues.
Commercial properties.
Commercial Land.
Properties that have damage due to fire, flood, or bad weather (roof issues) can also be auctioned.
There are several options when attempting to develop an auction portal for real estate. This can either be implemented by designing it from the ground up or by using a ready-made template or theme of some kind. It is advisable to consider developing a custom auction portal to ensure it has the features of your choice. At Acquaint Softtech, we have a skilled team of professionals for auction property portal development. Our team keeps abreast with recent technologies, and we have a great deal of experience in the real estate industry as well.
The first step is usually to select the features and tech stack for the project. There are several technologies suitable for developing such software; however, the tech stack depends a great deal on the type of solution necessary. Laravel is most suited to develop a website; however, with a high number of people using mobile devices it also makes sense to develop a mobile solution. Listed here are some of the features your online auction solution should have:
User account: The auction site will allow buyers and sellers to register their profiles and provide them with a dashboard to manage their account and website features.
Home auctions: Buyers registered on the platform can register for the auctions available after searching for a property of their interest. The platform should ideally have payment integration to enable online payments.
Property listing management: Users will be able to list properties on auction, and the sellers will have the ability to add a property along with all its details as well. This includes information like the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, amenities, images, and much more.
Auction bidding system: The seller should be allowed to select the type of auction they desire for their property and manage the bidding system.
Auction calendar: It will work in your favor to develop a special calendar to showcase the upcoming auctions and those in progress.
Auction timer: An auction timer is a must that counts down to the auction date and time and one that also indicates the bidding time remaining during an auction.
Search and navigation: A robust search feature with filters and advanced search options to find properties based on specific criteria. The website should ideally have ease of navigation as well.
Moderation: The website administrator or moderator will have the ability to manage the users as well as the bidding system.
Social sharing: Users can share their property listed for sale via social media, and buyers can also share information regarding their purchase.
Messaging: An internal messaging system to streamline the communication process.
More people are using mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and PCs than ever before. The number of cyber-attacks is also on the rise, making it vital that such auction systems are developed with security in mind. There are several ways a system like this can be made a bit more secure, as listed here:
The registration process should include the verification of the official ID of the users. It should also register and verify the credit card information prior to allowing the potential buyers to place a bid.
Moderators should be able to track the auction in real-time to keep tabs on how the buyers are placing their bids and monitor all other processes.
Introduce a rating system for both the buyers and sellers.
The registration system should also include a bidder agreement system with a set of pre-defined rules & regulations.
There are many benefits of performing an online auction. This has become more than evident, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the main advantages of opting to build an online auction include that it eliminates the need for buyers to travel great distances just to attend an auction. It often happens that the auction is not at a suitable time; in this case, the buyer may even miss it. However, this is less likely to occur when the auction is held on an online platform. This type of auction is not limited to the local area and helps break boundaries by making it available to any buyer willing to register and make a purchase.
It is a more convenient method of bidding for a property, and it is simpler for the sellers to manage the sales of their property. Developing an online auction system can be viewed as developing a robust portal where the goals of both the buyers and sellers are accomplished.
Hiring an expert team of developers to build a state-of-the-art platform is the first step. The second step is to make some effort to attract buyers and sellers to register on your portal. However, once this effort is fruitful, there are many ways of monetizing it. Setting a buyer premium like a common fee ranging between 5% to 10% of the final price is a good start. This can be a fee charged by the auctioneer, which the buyer is entitled to pay after placing the winning bid.
Introduce a fee for the property owners to use your online auction platform and other services. This is a very profitable method, as is a fee for the transfer of property title to the new owner. Introducing other features like offering a loan to the buyers will also attract more users to your portal.
It is vital to hire a professorial IT team to help you develop the best online auction portal as per your requirements. Listed here are a few tips:
Ensure the development firm is well-versed in popular programming languages and technologies like Laravel, PHP, WordPress, Java, Android, Flutter, iOS, Swift, IoT, AR/VR, AI/ML, etc.
Good knowledge of database systems and security.
Cost to build an auction platform may vary; do not base your decisions solely one this.
It is vital you have a brief look at the company portfolio prior to selecting them since this says a lot about their way of working and quality of work.
Some of the other essentials include excellent communication and a proven development methodology.
Look for client reviews and testimonials as well; get in touch with the previous client if necessary.
When you hire Acquaint Softtech, you get all this and more. We are a real-time auction portal app development company. Our expertise in various back-end and front-end technologies will work to your advantage. Besides this, we also have a dedicated mobile app development team. Both our teams have extensive experience in the real estate industry, making Acquaint Softtech the ideal online auction platform development firm to hire. Get in touch with us to create an auction portal that stands out from the rest.
We have just the team for your project, which we can put together at a moment's notice!
An online auction portal has several benefits over an offline one and is beneficial for your real estate business. The working of such systems is similar to that of an offline one. It is a place where both buyers and sellers can register, and there is a moderator to manage the processes. One of the main advantages is that the entire process can take place remotely. However, it is vital one hires a highly experienced website development firm for this purpose exotically due to the rise in cybercrimes. Acquaint Softtech can help with the development of a highly secure, efficient, and cost-effective platform for your business
Properties available for auction often sell for a lesser amount than their market value (70% of market value); however, at times, they also sell for a price greater than their market value, up to almost 10% over.
An online auction is similar to a local one held on the premises. However, the difference is; an online auction requires one registration to create an account either using their mobile app or website. One can browse through the properties available and use the advanced tool to shortlist the ones they like. The auction date and time will be provided, at which time one can log in to their account and bid for the property. The highest bidder wins the auction.
Many different types of properties are available on an online auction platform, like normal residential houses, commercial properties & land, properties with legal issues, enforcement notices, tenant issues, as well as properties that have been damaged due to fire, flood, bad weather, etc.
The main risk of buying a property from an online auction is that you might end up overpaying for it.
With an online auction, the seller can save money on renovations and beautification. This process will mean there is no inspection or appraisal, or any type of marketing necessary. It is a faster process that takes less effort and can fetch you a fair price.
The other options like using a real estate agent or selling it yourself with your ads. This is a long process that involves having to devote a lot of time and effort. Besides this, it is also a slower process. However, you dictate the price of the property and whom you sell it to
I love to make a difference. Thus, I started Acquaint Softtech with the vision of making developers easily accessible and affordable to all. Me and my beloved team have been fulfilling this vision for over 15 years now and will continue to get even bigger and better.
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