OnShowThisWeek.com is a South African website where home buyers, property investors and tenants can search for on show properties from around the country, and listings are updated weekly.
High-speed internet and smartphone ownership in South Africa is laying the foundation for the new digital age. Since the introduction of the smartphone a decade ago, so much has changed.
In the real estate industry, for example, people are now able to search online and find millions of properties that are for sale or for rent. For the founders of On Show This Week, however, this is just the first step to the process, and viewing the actual properties you are interested in, is the next — which is why being able to find accurate and up to date show day information, is so important.
“OnShowThisWeek.com aims to alleviate some of the frustrations currently felt about show days by estate agents, sellers and buyers alike. Agents want to know that if they have a show day cancellation, their clients will be alerted in time. Buyers want to know that the show days they are attending are within their affordability bracket and that they are not wasting their time and petrol trying to find show boards,” says Natalie van Zyl, founder of On Show This Week.
It’s also a common misconception that show days are always on a Sunday afternoon, when in fact, they happen around the country, Monday to Sunday from 09h00 onwards and not just for residential sales, but for rentals, developments and auction properties too.
Thanks to the launch of this innovative, locally developed website with Google Maps integration, this is all about to become a thing of the past. The website also offers users the option to sign up for automated email notifications based on their previous search criteria, saving buyers and tenants hours of time having to searching.
Every show day that is listed on their site is individually loaded, and double checked on a weekly basis. This is to ensure that all dates, times and other information provided is as accurate as possible, seven days a week. The founders are hoping to grow the company to a national level with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and in doing so, hope to also create hundreds of new jobs for the South African job market.
“Optimised for viewing on a computer, tablet or mobile phone, we have ensured that users can access and view our show days from any and all devices. This is particularly important for house hunters who are often on the road and are searching for show days from their phone,” says Alex Kruchen, co-founder of On Show This Week.
On Show This Week has also taken advantage of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to drive more people to show days. The start-up has already built a following of nearly 15 000 Facebook followers, and this is growing at an accelerated rate.
Some of the agencies already taking advantage of their platform and cost effective packages include Jawitz, RE/MAX, Fine & Country, Property.CoZa and Balwin Developments to name a few. Many of them reporting that they have definitely seen an increase in the number of people attending their show days, more traffic to their website and more social media awareness.