Lamudi makes house hunting convenient
Hunting for apartments or plots for purchase or rent has become a daunting task for today's busy urbanites. Lamudi, an online marketplace for real estate in Bangladesh, is here to solve just that.
It launched a new mobile phone service yesterday to ease the search for apartments and houses for customers.
The local branch of the German-based global property portal rolled out 'Dial for Home', a dedicated a mobile phone number to enable customers to search for suitable properties with little hassle.
Prospective buyers or renters will have to place a call at 01777777187 and tell the receiver his or her requirements.
"Lamudi will find property matches and will send the caller details on a return SMS in less than 10 seconds," Rajesh Grover, managing director of Lamudi Bangladesh, told reporters at Dhaka Reporters Unity in Dhaka.
The message will contain the names and mobile phone numbers of the developers, real estate companies and individual houses and apartment owners. The prospective renters or buyers will have to call the given numbers for further details.
"After we send the SMS to the caller, our association with the process will finish; it will then be between the caller and the companies," said Grover.
A text message will also be sent to the landlords or developers who have properties matching the caller's requirements. This text message will include the house seeker's contact details, so that the broker can directly get in touch with potential clients.
This one-of-a-kind service will bring property buyers, renters and sellers closer than ever before, Grover added.
There are about 700 developers and 30,000 property listings in Bangladesh, making it tough for customers to find suitable houses and apartments for purchase and rent, he added.
"We will do the hard-work. It is totally free. Our new service will help customers save time and money, without hassles."
Soon after the launch of Lamudi services in Bangladesh in October last year, the website soon became the market leader in striking a match between developers, agents, landlords and buyers.
It now operates in Dhaka and Chittagong and plans to expand to other major cities.
At present, Lamudi Bangladesh is working with more than 400 developers. Information on 2,000 properties is available on lamudi.com.bd for sale or rent.
On the site, individual home or apartment owners can place free ads, but developers are charged for ads.
On average, the site receives 15,000 to 20,000 hits a month, said Grover.
He could not reveal any information on how many deals have been successful through its site.
"We can't give you the data, as we don't take any commission. We are a marketplace that offers an opportunity to buyers and sellers to meet."
"But we take feedback from developers, and they are happy with our service," he told The Daily Star, adding that the site is updated regularly.
Headquartered in Germany, Lamudi is part of the Rocket Internet family, an online venture builder across the globe that has created over 100 market leading companies in more than 50 countries.
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