Property.com.ng trains 160 in online estate agency

Managers of Nigeria’s busiest property website, property. com.ng, last Thursday taught 160 agents how to run online real estate agency.

The nine-year-old company said it is set to revolutionise the property sector in Nigeria.

The proprietor of the company, Mr Oluwafemi Taiwo, opened the workshop in an address saying global advertising trends show the use of word of mouth to search for property is outdated stressing that internet users grew by 26.6 percent, pushing it ahead of television, radio, newspapers and other platforms.

He urged estate agents to develop themselves and take advantage of the social media like facebook, twitter and others to market their products.

According to him, many expatriates who want to live and do business in Nigeria are interested in property in Nigeria and they rely on the internet as their source of information.

Mr Damola Awosika who spoke on Building Your Real Estate Brand Online revealed that 50 percent of Nigerians are internet users.

He described facebook as very useful tool because big companies like Coca-cola use it to create online presence.

Another speaker, Mark Coetzee who is Chief Sales Officer of Private Property SA, the South African leading property portal said Nigeria has 11,200 facebook users as opposed to South Africa’s 9,800.

He said Nigeria has 114 million active mobile phone users with over 48 million internet users.

Coetzee stressed that Nigeria’s rebased GDP has exposed the country to global investors, noting that Nigeria is number economy in Africa.

He said overseas remittances have hit $21 billion. Considering all this, he urged Nigerians to use technology to connect with Nigerians abroad.

The enthusiastic manner participants asked questions after presentations showed they immensely benefited from the workshop. Those who spoke with Daily Trust said they they networked and shared knowledge and experiences.

To some of them, workshop exposed them to facts about internet use in Nigeria.

According

to

the MD of property.com.ng, they (participants) don’t understand facts behind the numbers in Nigeria - the number of internet users, the number of smartphones in use, the number visitors to property websites. They have taken a lot of statistics that are not in the public domain.

He said people no longer ask for property in town. They go online and search. Word of mouth will no longer be the first point of information search.

Property dot.com.ng has over 30 properties on its website.

At the close of the oneday workshop, the company honoured five real estate companies for being its loyal clients over the years.

They include: Knight Frank, Peter Okolo & Company, Process Property Consult, Rot Ultimate Properties and Midel Properties.

All participants left with certificates of attendance.