HOUSE-HUNTING WITH YOUR FINGERS THROUGH OH MY HOME
Launched in Malaysia in July 2019 as part of the booming developments in the Southeast Asia Region, OhMyHome is the first cross-border, one-stop property solution that has tech-enabled offerings serving thousands of clients in Singapore and now, in the Philippines
Home has been at the heart of this pandemic — mostly because people are now spending more time to work, play and cope with COVID-19 in their dwelling places. In the same vein, standards have also changed in the quest for dream abodes. Mobility and social distancing are now the biggest considerations not just for the property or unit to be purchased but also during the process of house-hunting itself.
As time is of the essence for those who’ve been meaning to invest in properties way before the pandemic happened — and are still keeping their money because of halted operations in the real estate sector — many new digital approaches have come up to accommodate clients.
Apps and virtual visits, the new norm can be listed under proptech (property technology), which just generally means technological innovations meant to hasten the way transactions are done in the property industry.
DIY platform
Now in the Philippines, too, is OhMyHome, which started in Singapore and operates on a DIY platform. This digital platform has been praised by users because of its simplicity, efficiency, affordability and its flexible range of services that goes beyond its top-tier agent services. It also includes mortgage advisory, conveyancing and more.
The platform has thousands of listings with various price points to choose from and homeowners and searchers are connected at no cost.
Spirited leaders
Behind this innovative platform are sisters and co-founders Rhonda and Race Wong. Rhonda, 35, is OhMyHome’s CEO. Responsible for the overall management and growth of the company, she says, “We started OhMyHome with the vision to help property dwellers simplify their home transaction process and enjoy savings. We want to empower our clients to take control of their own homes, starting with the buying, selling, and renting processes.”
Rhonda started consulting for developers in 2013. Before that, she was a salesperson in Savills, where she was promoted to sales director within a year and was recognized as ‘best newcomer.’ Rhonda’s journey into Savills was spurred by her personal real estate investments.
At 29, Rhonda was already an accomplished businesswoman, having worked in various retail business and even became a consultant for children’s education in Suzhou, China. She established her real estate agency Anthill Realtors in 2014. Headquartered in Singapore, Anthill Realtors specialized in sourcing investment grade properties from within and abroad, with a one-of-a-kind concierge service
A sought-after thought leader and philanthropist, Rhonda has received various prestigious awards such as Women of the Future in SEA 2020 for Property, Infrastructure and Construction, Founder of the Year at the 2019 Singapore Rice Bowl Startup Awards and Women Icon at the Inaugural Women Icons Summit and Awards in 2017.
Her sister and co-founder, Race Wong, is OhMyHome’s Chief Product Officer. As the other half of this venture, Race is responsible for managing the daily activities of the company, including customer relations, product-related activities, and technology development.
Race started conceptualizing OhMyHome in 2015 when she came across the challenges of house-hunters in buying, selling, and renting living spaces. This moved her to develop the platform and partner with her sister. According to Race, “We wanted to make property transactions faster, convenient, and more efficient,” she explains.
Race developed her marketing expertise at Maybank in Hong Kong and eventually gained more expertise at Anthill Corporation where she led its marketing and communications team to come up with engaging campaigns both for potential and existing clients.
For her efforts in conceptualizing Singapore’s First One-Stop Property Solution,
Race was bestowed the Glamour Award for Outstanding Woman in the Entrepreneur Category in 2019. Her popularity goes beyond business as Race is also a multi-awarded Cantopop artist in Hong Kong, with several music albums, TV dramas, and feature films to her name.
She is also recognized as a social influencer, with more than 300,000 followers on Facebook and around 27,000 followers on Instagram.
With such accomplishments and experiences under their name, Race and Rhonda have truly launched OhMyHome as a potential industry key driver in the Philippines and in the Southeast Asian region as well.
One-stop virtual shop
Tremendous time — not an exaggeration — looking for “the one,” energy, and money in housing transactions are the core things addressed by Rhonda and Race’s team.
As much as possible, OhMyHome ensures all the queries of buyers and searchers are answered right at the get-go. Besides the diversity of offering in its property listings, there are also unique features like “ShoutOut” and “Open House” to enhance the customer’s buying journey. And because a house also entails making thorough decisions and permanence, users are assured that they don’t only chat with bots, but Rhonda and Race have a well-trained team of realtors, agents, and other professionals from the industry.
OhMyHome has 175,000 active users. More than 5,300 homes have been transacted through OhMyHome, which represents a combined value of over US$1 billion.
According to Race, “Our edge is our easy-to-use DIY platform and seamless end-to-end services, which has worked in Singapore and Malaysia. From the search to closing deals, even for design consultations, renovations to legal services, OhMyHome makes full use of this Do-It-Yourself platform as we have full-time professional agents available for you.”
OhMyHome’s DIY platform, listings have an average days-on-market duration of 60 days, and the shortest time it has taken to find a buyer or tenant is one day. Meanwhile, OhMyHome’s agents can find a buyer or tenant at twice the speed of the industry average.
Ready to look for your dream home? Visit OhMyHome’s website: