Real Estate
Going, going, gone abroad
Annie Reid

Copyright 2007 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
THE seller was in Germany, the buyer in Perth and the house in Melbourne.
Welcome to real estate, super-highway-style.
For the first time in Victoria, the property market was brought a little closer this month with buyers able
to jump online and watch the real-time auction of a two-bedroom Victorian house in Frederick St,
Brunswick.
Hundreds of viewers Australia-wide logged in and watched auctioneer Steve Earl, from Harrington Earl,
sell the property for well over the reserve for $526,000.
With a wireless microphone attached, Earl conducted the auction for about 12 minutes, using cameras
from fixed points to capture the action.
It's the brainchild of Alex Hill, IT guru and director of Webtron Online Auction, whose mother, Carol, was
the vendor in Germany and the catalyst for the venture.
``Essentially, anyone in the world can participate. All you will need is a broadband connection and a
computer. People in Melbourne love the live dynamic and they love technology and they love events,
and so the feedback has been excellent,'' he said.
While Carol watched live from Germany, buyer's advocate Melissa Opie acted for the Perth buyer and
was physically present at the auction.
Opie, recently awarded the REIV's Buyers'
Agent of the Year, said the online component was made
clear by the agent from the beginning of her interest in the property.
``It's really good and a great initiative. It's also a bit of memorabilia for the client. If the vendor can't be
there, it gives them a sense of ease that they can watch it in real time,'' she said.
Unlike an eBay model, where buyers sit in one room and auction many properties at once, Hill's
approach is all about ease of accessibility. While there was no online bidding allowed, a web depository
was created to include sale documents, plans and photos.
Enzo Raimondo, REIV CEO, said that the current laws don't properly allow for bids to be made online.
``The question of if real online auctions develop in the future will depend on the law changing to allow for
it.'' he said.
Hill has just announced plans to create virtual tours of listed houses, but the big question is when the
company will take online bids.
``This is just a step now, but it will become the future,'' he said.

To Learn more visit www.WebtronOnlineAuction.com