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Every day, the properties listing on OLX Kenya seems to be growing as it is currently listing over 73,000 commercial and residential properties for sale and rent.
This truly is having an impact in the real estate market as it allows future tenants or home owners to access a variety of options to look through in search for the right house in their budget.
Changing Times
In the past, landlords used to go to real estate agents to list their properties but it seems OLX is changing this as it has created a platform where the “middlemen” are being removed by allowing the tenants or buyers to contact the landlord (seller) directly.
This will probably have an impact on the price of properties as you can now be able to negotiate directly with the landlord.
Competition
There is a number of dedicated real estate websites that will provide stiff competition if OLX is to establish itself as a dominant player in the market.
Traditional advertisement platform such as radio, television and newspaper has always been used by Real Estate Agents but it’s not effective since it is not in front of potential customers all the time.
If a buyer wants to look for a cheap house to rent next week at a specific location, they are not going to turn on their television or radio to wait for the advertisement to come on so they can find that house. They are more likely to go online and search for any property listing that fits that description.
At the moment, OLX has investing on mobile application that has enable sellers to upload available properties for rent or sale instantly by using minimal data bundle on the mobile network. This has given them a competitive edge as buyers are able to view daily uploads of new property listings.
Way Forward
As the listings continue to increase, OLX has a morale responsibility to inform or educate its users on the procedures involved in acquiring of property or renting a house including the need for due diligence and exercising caution.
Understandably, OLX may be limited in meeting this responsibility by the fact that there is no national body offering informational and enforcing standards on rental issues, purchase of properties or transfer of lands to say the least.
If OLX do want to dominate the online Real Estate arena, they will have to improve the quality of content on some of the property listings as I have noticed that some properties have poor pictures and insufficient description.
OLX will need to ensure high quality information on all property listing by also educating sellers and monitoring what has been posted on the website.
