Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Real Estate-Housing (Explicit space, Implicit time)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Estate
Real Estate housing sells explicit space (square feet) and implicit time. The purchasing price differs according to the size, ambience, location, and quality of the space. Once the house or building (permanently affixed to the land) is purchased, it is up to the buyer how lond he/she will hold on to the property. The buyer can sell it after a year or keep it forever. It is relatively hard for the real estate company to control time.

1. realtor.com
http://www.realtor.com/
Although people are paying according to the size of the space, space division also affects customers' decision of purchase. For example even though the size of the space is same, one could look for 1 bedroom with a bathroom and a large living room, whereas another might look for 2 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms and a relatively smaller living room. Realtor.com asks customers their desired space division and ease the selection process.


2. apartments.com
http://www.apartments.com/
Other than size and division of the space, there are many factors that affect customer purchase. For example, types of housing, apartment amenities, and community amenities could be important factors for customer decision. apartment.com offers various characteristics of housing for easier housing selection. Although it is hard to control time they are differentiating from competitors by providing more accurate space selection.


3. Century21.com
http://www.century21.com/
Here is another example which give various choice of factors that might affect customers decision. Factors includes proximity, price range, size range, space division, type & style and other features. The customers not only pay for the space but also for their selection.


4. Craigslist.com
http://www.forrent.com/
Unlike house purchasing, house rental sell explicit space and explicit time. It specifies certain amount of space and the duration for rent. University housing is a good example. The duration contract of housing rent is normally a year. As space gets larger and duration gets longer the price goes up. A better way to manage rental space could be sublets. If a customer already paid full rent for the months but won't use the space for two weeks, he can sub-lease the space to another person so that he can better manage his cost.

1 comment:

  1. Housing and apartment rentals have some incredible opportunities for RM. As I mentioned in class, two of our alums (Rich Hughes (MMH 01) and Dan Skodol (MMH 04) are both involved in RM for apartments.

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