In August 2003, a group of estate agents, builders and developers in the Lagos area embarked on the first step of a national collaborative venture. The scheme is designed to stimulate and efficiently integrate the Portuguese real estate market on an operational level. It is expected to be beneficial for all parties involved in the real estate market, be they estate agents, builders, developers, prospective buyers or sellers.
The project aims firstly to present clients with as comprehensive a regional property portfolio as possible. This will be closely followed by a campaign, designed to make the public aware of the advantages of buying and listing through participating agencies. A further but later objective will be to generate leads and promote the Portuguese real estate market internationally.
The scheme, involving estate agents, builders and developers licensed under Portuguese law, is identified as TheLink-Portugal. It is an improvement on a concept that has been successful in many countries. The concept, which is new to Portugal, is relatively simple. In principle, it amounts to sharing a common database of listed properties. This computerised co-operative venture aims, through intra-net technology, to optimise the consumer dynamics of the market. Through this shared database, TheLink affiliated agents can offer buyers the most comprehensive range of properties available in the region. Buyers will no longer need to visit many estate agencies in order to get a good overview of what is on offer in the area. This has already been shown to be the case in Lagos. It is estimated that TheLink agents, collectively, have at least four times more properties on offer in the Lagos area than even the larger high-profile agencies!
This large portfolio, coupled with the detailed search facility that agents have access to, is calculated to significantly increase the agent’s potential to meet a prospective buyer’s needs. Viewing of properties will be reduced to those that very closely match a client’s needs. Much time is saved and the likelihood is that those that are viewed will closely match a client’s needs and the likelihood of sales is increased.
Sellers visiting one TheLink agent in the area will immediately be listed by all other Link agents in the area – and elsewhere. By assisting agents to accurately match a property’s specifications with a buyer’s needs, TheLink helps match sellers with buyers who are likely to be truly interested in purchasing their property. For further information, contact John Moir on 967 926 778, or Erwin Höhn on 936 969 338.
