20 September 2015 - Joshua Miller, CEO of OKAY.com, was featured in Tech in Asia, commenting on OKAY.com’s ambition to fix the flawed real estate market system in Hong Kong – and in turn, China.
In the article, Joshua pointed to the lack of an accessible master database of available Hong Kong properties for creating misaligned agent incentives and making it a general nightmare to find and sell a home in the city. Many agents end up steering clients towards properties where they are able to secure a double commission, meaning clients are not always well represented and landlords are pushed to work with many different agents.
OKAY.com aims to address these problems through its comprehensive online database and proprietary technology system. By eliminating overheads associated with physical storefronts, the company is able to offer agents about double the industry average in terms of commissions, as well as unique incentives for sharing their listings internally.
OKAY.com agents end up having access to more listings and, as Joshua went on to elaborate, are able to make more money by closing more deals faster simply by providing clients with what they are actually looking for. This is backed by tech capabilities including a fully mobile platform that is updated in real-time, and has attracted agents from some of Hong Kong's leading property agencies. “They have been doing extremely well as professionals. They’re making more money with us,” said Joshua - a fact that is underscored by OKAY.com's 500% growth in 3.5 years.
The company is now preparing to meet with potential venture investors to expand into Mainland China and allocate more resources to its tech team. While there are many online real estate players in the market, most tend to follow a portal model, making OKAY.com’s strategy quite different in approach.
Interested to read more? View the full article here.
