We were all wrong about property, may be just late. Launched in April 2011 NigeriaPropertyCentre.com says its Nigeria’s number one property website and may be soon, Kenya’s one stop centre for property too.
Not that there are no property sites in the region but the way Nigeria Property Centre is doing is way too good to ignore, they are not estate agents, own no property and not biased in their listings.
The team says they are making it convenient and for property anyone searching for property to find it, anytime anywhere.
TechMoran caught up with the founder, Nnamdi Chineme and this is what he told us.
What is Nigeria Property Centre?
Nigeria Property Centre is a real estate and property website in Nigeria with property listings for sale, rent and lease. We offer Nigerian property seekers an easy way to find details of property in Nigeria like homes, houses, lands, shops, office spaces and other commercial properties to buy or rent.
We have created a significantly more convenient and effective way for property hunters to find their next property: up-to-date property information, available for free, accessible 24 hours a day to anyone with internet access and far more complete in terms of number of properties and depth of detail on each property than through other traditional advertising media.
When was it launched and where?
Nigeria Property Centre launched in April 2011.
Who are its founders?
Nnamdi Chineme
What problem do you solve?
Prior to the launch of Nigeria Property Centre, searching for property online in Nigeria wasn’t an option either because property websites had too little property listings or websites that were not user friendly. In advanced countries, the primary means of searching for property in online because it’s easy and efficient. Our goal was to make this possible in Nigeria and we believe we have almost achieved that. Nigeria Property Centre holds a large database of property for sale and rent in Nigeria which is presented in a manner that makes it easy for people to find what they are looking for quickly.
How does it work? + Take us through your features
Nigeria Property Centre operates a free-to-list model which allows estate agents in Nigeria to list their property for sale and rent for free. People searching for property are then able to browse through the large database of properties and contact the agents for properties they are interested in via phone numbers which are displayed on the property listings or via email using a contact form on property pages.
Nigeria Property Centre also provides monthly reports that allows people make important decisions about buying or renting property. For example, our report on the average price of 3 bedroom flats for rent around Lagos can help people identify areas they should focus their search on based on their budget. Also, our report on the prices of property in a particular locality can help people identify price trends which is potentially important for making decisions on whether to invest in an area or not.
Other features on NPC include the ability to sign up to alerts for newly listed property in particular areas. Property seekers are also allowed to post property requests which allows agents who can meet their needs get in touch with them. Nigeria Property Centre also provides free business websites for estate agents in Nigeria which comes as part of agent accounts on the site. These websites can be set up in as little as 5 minutes. Nigeria Property Centre now powers over 500 business websites for estate agents in Nigeria.
I have seen the Kenyan portal too. Do you have a team already on ground there, when did you launch the Kenyan version?
Kenya Property Centre officially launched in December 2012. We’re working to see if we can add the same value we have added to the real estate industry in Nigeria.
Is there a difference between this markets or it is too soon to say so?
It’s probably a bit to early to say, however we have noticed that estate agents in Nigeria seem to use the internet for business more than those in Kenya.
What are your future plans? Do you want to launch across Africa?
Africa wide? That’s a good dream. We’ll see.
What else have done that is successful?
I am a founding member of Parkway Projects Limited a leading software development & systems integration company specializing in electronic banking & electronic payment products and solutions in Nigeria and most recently other parts of Africa. Parkway’s clients include the likes of Ecobank, United Bank of Africa, FCMB, First Bank and Zenith Bank.
Milcah Lukhanyu covers daily news briefs at TechMoran. She is the person who will probably read your press release and get the story out of it or totally trash it.
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