TECHNOLOGY plays an important role in the property sector nowadays, especially when the industry is enjoying a good time. With a company like Hoppler, people engaged in the industry can be faster and more efficient in searching, buying, selling, renting, managing and brokering properties.
Ramon Ballesca Jr., chief operating officer of Hoppler, said the company maximizes the role of the Internet in helping their partners and clients conduct their transactions faster. “Hoppler is a tool for getting groups together, namely, property owners and brokers, who we refer to as our partner-agents. We want to help our partners grow, so we can grow with them,” Ballesca said in a recent interview.
Being a user-friendly web site, Ballesca said a searcher just needs to enter the area, city or building that he is interested in. For instance, if a searcher is looking for a house in Makati City, he initially needs to go to the search panel and type in the city of his choice. After choosing the city, he needs to enter what kind of house he or she is looking for, such as a condominium or house and lot. To make it easier, Hoppler has included three criteria—price, floor size and number of bedrooms.
Further, Ballesca said Hoppler gives more options by including in the search other information, such as presence of maid’s room, garden and swimming pool, among others. He stressed that Hoppler’s search engine is so powerful that it enables a user to choose more options than any site in the Philippines. It also shows landmarks, such as the nearest restaurants, cinemas and hospitals, just to name a few. In case it is a Philippine Economic Zone Authority-accredited property, there is a flag indicating it as such.
Ballesca said Hoppler’s infrastructure was designed precisely to make searching and loading results happen faster than any site in the country. Moreover, he said, Hoppler can easily be accessed and viewed on mobile phones. “We plan to launch an app for mobile phones this year,” he added.
Before admitting a broker, Ballesca said Hoppler reviews the application and evaluates his or her performance in the industry. He said they will also check the agent’s choice of assignment if it’s already saturated by existing Hoppler partners.
If an applicant is qualified and accepted, Hoppler will assign a Hoppler services team representative or an account manager to work with, mentor the agent for the long run, and help close deals in the most efficient and effective way possible. “We also don’t encourage our partner-agent to leave his current brokerage firm,” Ballesca said.
The company charges a commission on the gross amount of the rental or sale price of the home, just like all other brokerage companies in the Philippines.
Hoppler features properties in the Greater Metro Manila Area in the Philippines, including Makati City, Bonifacio Global City, Alabang, Ortigas, Quezon City, etc. “We are planning to expand to other regions in the Philippines in 2015,” he said.
Hoppler, which went live in April of 2014, formerly HousingInteractive, the country’s largest online real-estate brokerage firm established in 2004 by its CEO, John Riad. Further, it received a P30-million investment from friends based in Silicon Valley and the ELRO Corporation in the Philippines.
It has the most comprehensive database of choice properties, a long list of top buyers and sellers, and the largest network of the finest brokers in the country. It has more than 500 brokers as partners.