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'LinkedIn' for property launches in Singapore: meet the app that's building the world's first free online property network

Soho
2017-10-23 10:22 6411

SINGAPORE, Oct. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Soho, a property discovery and management app that is building the world's first online property network, has launched today in Singapore, offering home owners, buyers, renters and property agents a new way to buy, sell and manage properties.

Positioned as the 'LinkedIn for Property,' Soho aims to overcome the limitations of the traditional property market by providing a network to bring more properties online to be searched and discovered at any time by potential buyers and renters.

Using the app, owners and agents can create and manage their property profiles, along with everything related to their property (financials, bills, statements and investment performance). There's even a live chat function, allowing users to talk in real-time to prospective buyers, estate agents, owners or tenants.

Soho was founded by successful Australian serial entrepreneur Jonathan Lui, who had the idea when he and his wife were selling their home in Sydney after deciding to relocate to Singapore.

"The whole process of buying and selling a property in Singapore is still very traditional and restricted," said Mr Lui.

"Today, if you want to buy a property, you'd have to wait for it to come onto the market, or go and knock on the door and get in touch with the owner. In fact, buyers today can only buy from what they see, and what happens to be on the market that point in time, rather than buying the dream home they actually want."

The Singapore residential property market is worth approximately $900B but these assets are essentially offline/uncontactable until they go through all the hurdles to become 'on-the-market.'

Soho solves this problem by bringing more properties online and allowing interested parties to make a 'digital door knock' to start a conversation at any time.

Users can also manage their properties privately or publicly, with the latter being like LinkedIn's approach of hosting your professional CV online to reach potential employers, while also being able to advertise properties as 'For Sale/Auction' or 'For Rent' for free on Soho's marketplace.

Mr Lui brings a wealth of experience to Soho, having co-founded one of Australia's biggest startup success stories Airtasker.com in 2012, a revolutionary peer to peer marketplace for outsourcing everyday tasks, which raised over $60M in funding and is generating over $80M annual transactions with a 1.5M+ user base.

With its headquarters in Singapore, and Mr Lui at the helm, Soho has already raised $1M capital in May 2017 from investors, including the Hub Ventures Fund, an early-stage investment company launched by Impact Hub Singapore.

The company plans to focus on real estate markets in Singapore and Australia, with expansion into other markets planned for 2018.

"Our short-term goal is to get as many properties onto the network as possible, moving away from dated classifieds business models, to build a more robust property ecosystem to benefit agents, owners, tenants and buyers," said Mr Lui.  

Soho is available on Android and iOS and can be downloaded at sohoapp.com.

Notes to editors

Soho links

About Soho?

  • Soho is the LinkedIn for property where owners create and manage online profiles for their properties in our network. By creating these online profiles we're unlocking greater opportunities for transactions to occur by allowing any property to be discovered and receive offers from potential buyers/renters at any time. 
  • Soho goes well beyond the transaction, as everything related to the property can now be managed within the app, such as financials, cloud storage of all bills & statements and real-time chat with your tenant and property manager/real estate agent.
  • Soho keeps you on top of your #1 investment whether you are an owner managing your own properties or an agent managing your clients' portfolios.

Who benefits the most from Soho?

1.    Homeowners/ investors: can manage their home/investment properties via the management tools in Soho, which allows them to keep track of important documents and basic investment metrics such as capital gains, yields, strata fees and much more.

2.    Buyers can search through the entire network of properties and find the exact home they're looking for -- and not just the ones available on major property listing websites.

3.    Renters can chat and apply online, and will soon be able to track their applications in real-time or pay for rental bonds and rental payments online.

4.    Agents will now have access to a whole new suite of tools to help them sell and rent homes, such as broadening out the property networks to allow for passive interest, growing their network of buyers, sellers and tenants, and managing buyer and renter interest with instant chat and more.

Singapore property survey

    • Soho conducted a nationwide survey of over 1,000 home owners with Survey Sampling Inc Singapore, which revealed the following:
      • 82% of owners surveyed lived in their property
        • 71% would use a platform to showcase their property if it was free
        • 52% would genuinely consider an unsolicited offer on their property
        • 86% would use an app to manage their property online

 

Source: Soho
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