WO2008064433A1

WO2008064433A1 - A system and method to facilitate the marketing and purchase of a property

Info

Publication number: WO2008064433A1
Application number: PCT/AU2007/001860
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Kenneth Langford
Original assignee: Lanper Holdings Pty Limited
Priority date: 2006-12-01
Filing date: 2007-12-03
Publication date: 2008-06-05

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method to facilitate the marketing and purchase of a property. The invention provides a system and method comprising a database arranged to contain property information related to properties for sale and a communications link arranged to provide the property information to a mobile communications device associated with a purchaser. The property information is provided according to a set of requirements provided by the purchaser. A method for facilitating the purchase of a property via a computing system, comprising the steps of receiving information regarding a potential purchaser of a property, determining whether the potential purchaser provides a suitable risk profile, and if so, generating a guarantee document that guarantees the payment of a deposit payable unde a contract of sale to secure the property.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD TO FACILITATE THE MARKETING AND PURCHASE OF A PROPERTY

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and system that facilitates the marketing and purchase of a property.

Background of the Invention

The sale or purchase of property is generally the largest single monetary transaction engaged in by most consumers. The sale of a property generally involves at least three parties, namely the property owner (vendor), the agent (e.g. a real estate agent) and the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) . In many cases, other professional intermediaries are also involved.

Property owners will generally list and sell their property through a licensed real estate agent. The role of the real estate agent is to advertise the property, show prospective purchasers the property, convey purchaser offers for consideration by the vendor, and if necessary or appropriate hold the Contract of Sale deposit in a Trust account and in many cases, take responsibility for the administrative aspects surrounding the financial and legal aspects of the transaction once the property is sold. In return for their time and financial outlay (advertising costs, overheads associated with taking enquiries, showing the property to prospective purchasers, etc.), the agent will generally receive a commission payment which is proportional to the sale price of the property.

Much time and effort has been expended in determining the best and most efficient manner in which to advertise a property. Real estate agents generally advertise in their "shop window", through newspapers (both local and national) and more recently, through websites on the Internet .

Moreover, agents will generally advertise indirectly through their recommendation of properties to "walk in" clients. That is, a potential purchaser may ask the real estate agent for advice on which property best suits their needs .

All these traditional methods have their limitations. There is much conjecture about the value of advertising on the Internet or in newspapers, particularly where any single advertisement may be lost among hundreds or even thousands of similar advertisements. Moreover, traditional forms of advertising, such as through word of mouth communication, can only reach a limited audience and require prospective purchasers to be proactive and approach the real estate agent at first instance. Moreover, when the time comes to purchase a property, the purchase generally involves at least three parties, namely the property owner (vendor), the agent (e.g. a real estate agent) and the purchaser (buyer) . In many cases, other professional intermediaries are also involved.

As the real estate agent (as the name implies) is acting as an agent for the vendor, they must take special steps to ensure that they always act in the best interests of the vendor, particularly in financial matters. The most important of these special steps is the setup and maintenance of a trust account .

A trust account is governed by particular rules which forbid the agent from removing money from said account, except for particular reasons, and with specific authority (such as the purchaser's authorisation prior to the end of any cooling off period, and by joint authorisation of the vendor and purchaser thereafter) . Due to the rules and regulations which surround the holding of a trust account, trust account maintenance is costly and problematic. Agents are required to:

Keep records with regards to the receipt of funds ;

Comply with legislation in respect of trust functions;

Under specific legal instructions account to a property owner on settlement of a sales transaction;

Reconcile the trust ledger;

Preserve an audit trail should any enquiries be made; and

Engage an independent auditor to provide reports.

Moreover, if an employee of a real estate agent accidentally or fraudulently releases funds from the trust account, there may be legal consequences, or at the very least, time and resources expended in tracking and eventually retrieving the released funds.

In addition to the inherent problems with holding an operating a trust account, there is also the secondary problem of recovering costs from a defaulting purchaser.

The purchase of a property is a major investment for most potential purchasers. For this reason, many jurisdictions have laws which allow a purchaser to rescind a promise to purchase a property, so long as the promise is rescinded within a defined "cooling off" period.

To prevent potential purchasers from abusing the cooling off period (and thereby potentially placing the property owner at a disadvantage) , the law also requires the purchaser to provide a deposit, a portion of which may be kept by the property owner if the purchaser subsequently decides not to purchase the property. A purchaser may agree to pay a deposit, causing the property owner to remove the property from sale . At a later time, the purchaser may change their mind or may not be able to secure the finance required to pay for the property. The purchaser may attempt to renege on the promise . In the case where a property transaction is not successfully completed, the property owner and the real estate agent can incur a substantial loss. The property owner has not sold their property and moreover, is not compensated for the time that their property has been off the market (i.e. for the opportunity forgone in not allowing other interested buyers to purchase the property) .

The real estate agent, similarly, does not receive their commission and also cannot recoup all of the costs incurred on advertising and promotion of the property, legal costs, and other miscellaneous costs associated with listing and selling the property.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a system for marketing a property to a purchaser, comprising, a database arranged to contain property information related to properties for sale, a communications link arranged to provide the information to a mobile communications device associated with a purchaser, wherein the property information is provided according to a set of requirements provided by the purchaser. The communications link may further provide information to a vendor.

The system may also include a location module arranged to receive location information from the mobile communications device and utilise the location information to provide the property information to the purchaser. The property information may be provided at regular time intervals, and/or in response to a new property being uploaded into the database .

The location information may also be utilised to determine whether a purchaser has visited a property and the derived visitation information may be provided to the vendor.

Information may be provided to either the vendor or the purchaser by one of a Short Messaging Service message, a Multimedia Messaging Service Message, an electronic file or a pre-recorded audio message.

The vendor may receive market information at regular intervals, which may include the number of potential purchasers that have inspected the vendor's property and/or the sale price of properties with at least a similar location or similar amenities.

The mobile communications device may be provided to at least one of the vendor and the purchaser by an operator of the system.

There may also be provided a module arranged to deliver a graphical user interface to one of the mobile communications device or another device.

The user interface may further comprise at least two portions, the first portion providing information regarding a plurality of real estate agents, and the second portion providing information regarding a plurality of properties for sale.

The user interface may further comprise a display arrangement wherein the first and second portions form respective borders around a grid-style central portion, the central portion containing a plurality of property prices associated with at least one element in the first and second portions.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a system for providing real estate information to a user, comprising a database arranged to contain information pertaining to property sales, a database - 6 -

application arranged to select records from the database, and provide a report, the report containing information regarding property sales .

In a third aspect, the present invention provides a method for facilitating the purchase of a property via a computing system, comprising the steps of receiving information regarding a potential purchaser of a property, determining whether the potential purchaser provides a suitable risk profile, and if so, generating a guarantee document that guarantees the payment of a deposit payable under a contract of sale to secure the property.

The step of determining the risk profile of the purchaser may include the further step of accessing a bank account associated with the purchaser to determine whether the purchaser has adequate funds to pay the deposit.

The step of determining the risk profile of the purchaser may include the further step of accessing a remote database containing credit information.

The method includes the further step of billing the purchaser a fee.

On default of a promise to pay a deposit, the property owner is provided with a monetary deposit that is at least a portion of the monetary value of the deposit promised by the purchaser. On default of a promise to pay a deposit, the method preferably provides a real estate agent with a monetary reimbursement to cover at least part of pre-sale expenses incurred by the real estate agent .

The method may include the further step of billing the real estate agent a portion of the fee payable for the purchase of the deposit guarantee.

The information may be provided by a software application residing on a computing system under the operative control of a real estate agent. The step of determining the risk profile of a purchaser may include the further step of forwarding the information to a server arranged to apply at least one rule or rule set, to determine the risk profile of the purchaser .

In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a method for marketing a property to a purchaser, comprising the steps of, providing a database arranged to contain property information related to properties for sale, the database being in communication via a communications link arranged to provide the property information to a mobile communications device associated with a purchaser, and providing the property information according to a set of requirements provided by the purchaser.

In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a system for facilitating the purchase of a property, comprising a computing system capable of receiving information regarding a potential purchaser of a property, processing means arranged to determine whether the potential purchaser provides a suitable risk profile and reporting means arranged to provide a guarantee to cover a deposit payable under a contact of sale to secure the property.

In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a computing program, arranged to, when executed on a computing system, perform the method steps in accordance with the first aspect or the fourth aspect of the invention.

In a seventh aspect, the present invention provides a computer readable medium incorporating a computer program in accordance with a sixth aspect of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Drawings

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagram depicting a computing system suitable for operation of a software application in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a flowchart depicting a software application in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a network environment suitable for operation of a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a diagram depicting a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a diagram depicting the method steps of a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a diagram depicting a series of multimedia messages sent by a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 is a screenshot depicting an example screen of a software application in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figures 8 and 9 are excerpts from a screenshot depicting an example of the type of information displayed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figures 10 to 16 are example screenshots of a graphical user interface presented to a user, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 17 to 24 are examples of a report presented to a user, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description of a Specific Embodiment At Figure 1 there is shown a schematic diagram of a computing system 100 suitable for use with an embodiment of the present invention. The computing system 100 may be used to execute applications and/or system services such as a rental property management system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The computing system 100 preferably comprises a processor 102, read only memory (ROM) 104, random access memory (RAM) 106, and input/output devices such as disk drives 108, keyboard 110, mouse 112, display 114, printer 116, and communications link 118. The computer includes programs that may be stored in RAM 106, ROM 104, or disk drives 108 and may be executed by the processor 102. The communications link 118 connects to a computer network such as the Internet but may be connected to a telephone line, an antenna, a gateway or any other type of communications link. Disk drives 108 may include any suitable storage media, such as, for example, floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, CD ROM drives or magnetic tape drives. The computing system 100 may use a single disk drive 108 or multiple disk drives. The computing system 100 may use any suitable operating systems, such as Windows™ or Unix™.

It will be understood that the computing system described in the preceding paragraphs is illustrative only, and that an embodiment of the present invention may be executed on any suitable computing system, with any suitable hardware and/or software .

In one embodiment, the present invention is implemented as a software application 120 which interacts with a database 122, arranged to be executable on the computing system 100.

YourChoice™ Overview A specific embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for assisting in the purchase of a property.

In particular, the system allows a purchaser and a real estate agent to provide a deposit guarantee which secures the interests of both the property owner and the real estate agent .

This is achieved through a software application which, in the present embodiment, is dubbed "YourChoice™". YourChoice™ provides a guarantee (analogous to an insurance policy) which protects the property owner and the real estate agent from a default by the purchaser.

The YourChoice deposit guarantee methodology operates in the following manner: 1. When a potential purchaser makes a promise to purchase a property, the vendor's solicitor generates a contract of sale which includes a deposit guarantee provision.

2. An agreement, guaranteeing that a deposit will be paid, (the deposit value also incorporating all legal and/or out of pocket expenses, should the purchaser default) is also generated, using a software application. All four parties, namely the vendor, purchaser, real estate agent, and the Underwriter are parties to the agreement .

3. The purchaser's details, which form part of the application, are then subjected to a due diligence investigation. This investigation may require the purchaser to show that the deposit is available (say, for example, by providing the agent or the underwriter with the right to view the amount in a bank account, or by receiving some other indication that the money is available) . The due diligence may also extend beyond a simple check of a bank account, to include a review of the past credit history of the purchaser. This may be useful to assess the level of risk associated with the purchaser. The due diligence process is explained in more detail later.

4. Once the due diligence is successfully completed, the deposit guarantee comes into effect. That is, on exchanging contracts, the vendor and real estate agent receive a bond document guaranteeing the deposit on settlement .

5. On settlement, if the total purchase price is paid by the purchaser to the vendor, then the guarantee expires, as is expected. 6. If, however, the total purchase price is not paid, then the purchaser is in default, and the deposit guarantee is activated. The deposit guarantee provides the vendor with the full value of their deposit, and also provides the real estate agent with a payment which is equal to their out of pocket expenses (or a "fixed" payment to cover out of pocket expenses, depending on the policy conditions) . The underwriter then becomes responsible for taking legal action against the purchaser to recover the deposit, plus any out of pocket expenses, including court costs, etc.

Due Diligence

The real estate agent will correspond with an insurance underwriter to determine whether the potential purchaser may purchase the deposit guarantee. This will generally be done via an appropriate software application (shown in Figure 2 below) . The underwriter may have access to databases which contain private or sensitive information, and may also include appropriate heuristics or rule sets to assess the relative risk of the purchaser defaulting. For example, the mere presence of a suitable deposit in a bank account may not be strong enough evidence (alone) that the deposit will be available at the time of settlement . The purchaser may also be required to provide evidence of the source of the deposit. The credibility of the source of the deposit may be assessed and a risk level assigned accordingly. For example, the source may be a gift from a friend or relative, funds from a divorce settlement, a deposit in the form of some other asset, such as shares or bonds, a superannuation payout, a worker's compensation payout, money saved over a period of time, money earned as a bonus, or money that are the proceeds of a sale (e.g. the proceeds from the sale of another property) .

The source of the money may have an impact on the relative security of the deposit. For example, money recently deposited in a bank account, for no clear reason, may not be as secure as money which has been deposited as a result of a property sale.

Moreover, the underwriter may also use the collected information to assess other related legal and financial risks, such as checking that the transaction does not contravene anti-money laundering legislation.

In one embodiment, the underwriter may provide the agent with reports which provide a summary of the relative risk posed by a purchaser, including information regarding the possible criminality of a transaction. The agent may then be in a position to alert authorities, should any major irregularities be present in an application. This level of reporting may also help the real estate agent maintain their financial and legal responsibilities. Software Application

It will be understood that the process described above generally at steps 1-6 is implemented in a software application capable of operating on a computing system shown with reference to Figure 1. The process carried out by an appropriate software application 200 is shown in Figure 2.

A real estate agent 202, through the software application 200, provides a purchaser 204 with an appropriate policy brochure and application form 206. The application form may be an electronic form, such as a web page.

The purchaser (with the assistance of the real estate agent) may fill in the appropriate details in the form. The form is then processed by the software application 200, which carries out a due diligence function 208.

The due diligence function 208 may require the software application to connect with a local or remote database to ascertain more information about the purchaser. The due diligence function 208 may also employ a set of heuristic (or other) rules to determine whether the purchaser represents an acceptable risk. In one embodiment, the information is transmitted to a server under the control of an insurance underwriter, the server performing the due diligence function and delivering an appropriate response to the software application 200.

In one embodiment , where certain criteria are met , the approval may be almost instantaneous (i.e. approval may take a few seconds or a few minutes) . In other cases, where more information is needed, or where electronic information is not available or accessible, or where there is an anomaly noted, the information may be referred to an employee of the underwriter for manual checking and/or confirmation. In such a case, approval may be delayed for 24 hours, or for some other suitable time period.

If the due diligence is completed satisfactorily, a policy is issued 210. The policy may be issued in either an electronic format, or in a paper format. Appropriate copies are provided to the real estate agent, the vendor and the purchaser, and a copy may also be provided to a remote database such as a credit agency, an insurance company, or a database 212 held by the real estate agent. The software application also contemporaneously has a billing function 214 which charges the purchaser and the real estate agent. In the embodiment described herein, the cost of the deposit guarantee is split between the purchaser and the real estate agent. However, in other embodiments, the cost may be split in any manner suitable to all parties involved in the transaction.

Once the policy has issued and an appropriate payment has been made, a deposit guarantee certificate 216 is issued to each of the parties, namely the real estate agent, the purchaser, the vendor and the insurance underwriter, for their records.

The embodiment, as described, provides a number of advantages. Firstly, as the deposit is guaranteed and underwritten by an insurance policy, the vendor can feel confident that they will receive their full deposit. Secondly, as the real estate agent is a party to the deposit guarantee, the agent will also feel comfortable that they will receive at least partial payment for out of pocket expenses and for time expended in administering the sale of the property.

Moreover, the need for an agent to maintain a trust account is eliminated, which further reduces the agent's costs, as well as reducing the agent's liability and legal duties relating to the trust account . in other words, both the vendor and the real estate agent are covered by the policy. Similarly, the purchaser also receives advantages from the policy. In a traditional property transaction, the purchaser must place the deposit for the property in a trust account held by the real estate agent . This prevents the purchaser from accessing the deposit money, and therefore, from using it for other appropriate purposes, such as short term investment, emergencies, or other legitimate uses .

By utilising a deposit guarantee, the purchaser does not need to "tie up" a portion of their funds.

Correspondingly, if a purchaser cannot easily establish a cash deposit, they do not need to establish bridging finance or borrow from a finance company at a high interest rate. Moreover, the need to establish finance for a deposit results in further time delays and extra expenses for a purchaser. By eliminating these inherent problems with the deposit system, the deposit guarantee simplifies the process of buying and selling property. OMETRAC Software Application The application described herein above may also form part of a larger application dubbed "OMETRAC™" . The OMETRAC system allows a vendor (through an agent) to ensure that their property is being appropriately marketed to the maximum number of interested potential purchasers. The OMETRAC system may be provided across a network environment, which may include a mixture of server computers, client computers, and/or mobile devices. A detailed example network is provided with reference to Figure 3. Figure 3 illustrates an example network environment 300, with a server computer 302 in communication with client computers 304a, 304b, 304c, etc., via a network (or a bus) 306, in which an embodiment of the present invention may be employed. In more detail, the server 302 may be a server including a database arranged to provide information to a number of client machines 304a, 304b, 304c, etc., via the communications network 306, which may be a local or wide area network, such as an intranet, the Internet, etc. It will be understood that the client computers need not be client machines, but may be a terminal, another server system, a portable communications device, such as a mobile telephone, or any other device capable of receiving information from the server.

The server 302, and the client devices 304a, 304b, 304c, etc., may communicate with each other over the communications network 306 by use of any suitable networking protocol, such as TCP/IP or any other suitable protocol for the exchange of information 308.

Referring to Figure 4 , the server system of Figure 3 (denoted by numeral 400 in Figure 4) is arranged to operate a software application 400 and associated database 402 allows for the marketing of a property owned by a vendor 404 to a purchaser 406.

The OMETRAC system may communicate with a vendor or a purchaser by interconnecting and delivering information to any one of a number of devices, including but not restricted to a user's computing system (through a web portal or web site accessible through a web browser or other communications program) , a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or any other suitable communications device.

The system allows a purchaser or agent to upload details regarding a property via the software application 400 into the database 402.

The details may include any suitable information, including the address of the property, the amenities of the property, the sale price of the property, images of the property, etc.

The database 402 also contains a list of interested potential purchasers 406, which are classified according to their requirements. For example, the requirements may include the price the purchaser is willing to pay for a property, the particular amenities the purchaser seeks in a property, the preferred location the purchaser wishes to purchase in, or any other information required to assist in the location of a suitable property. Information in the database 402 may be keyed in one of two ways. In one embodiment, the information is keyed by the vendor/purchaser, through a web based interface (an example of which is shown in Figure 13) . In another embodiment, shown in Figure 5, a semi-manual form of registration is contemplated. At step 500, the vendor/purchaser fills out appropriate forms. At step 502, the real estate agent keys the relevant information from the forms into the OMETRAC system. At step 504, a digitized photograph of the property is associated with the keyed information (if the registration is for a vendor) . Subsequently, the processed application is saved in a proprietary database (step 506) . The proprietary database interfaces with a smart card management system (at step 508) , and subsequently, a smart card is issued to the vendor/purchaser (step 510) . It will be understood that while the embodiment of Figure 5 refers to the use of a smart card, other data storage devices may be used in place of a smart card. One example is a RFID tag or chip. Another example is any persistent readable memory device, such as a ^XUSB drive' or a memory card. Any device capable of containing information may be used. The smart card acts primarily as an 'identifier', the purpose of which will be explained in more detail below.

In one embodiment, the vendor and purchaser also register their mobile telephone or other wireless communication device in the database 402. It will be understood that in some embodiments, the mobile telephone or other wireless communication device may also act as a surrogate smart card (i.e. ^xidentifier' ) . The real estate agent may provide the purchaser and/or the vendor with the mobile phone, free of charge, for the duration of their association with the agent. This may serve as an incentive for the purchaser and/or vendor to use the agent .

The software application 300 is arranged to communicate information to each of the purchasers and each of the vendors regarding properties in the database.

In the case of the potential purchaser, regular updates may be sent by the database to the purchaser, informing them of suitable properties that fit the requirements they have specified.

Similarly, the vendor is also provided with relevant information. For example, the vendor may be sent inspection data, sales data for similar properties in the area and offers to buy. In this manner, the vendor has greater control over the sale process and is given the information required to make an informed decision on whether the sale process is being handled properly.

For example, if the vendor finds that properties in the immediate area are selling at a much lower price than his required sale price, he may be more inclined to reduce his required price. Similarly, if the vendor finds that inspection numbers are very low, he can consider changing the advertising strategy to attract a larger number of potential purchasers. Examples of the types of updates that may be sent are shown in Figure 6.

At 600 (and also 604 and 608) , there is shown an example of an alert message that may be sent to a purchaser, advising the purchaser of a new listing within their specified parameters. The alert message at 600 further informs the purchaser of an open house inspection.

At 602 (and 606) , there is shown an example of an alert message that can be sent to either the vendor or the purchaser. The vendor receives a message such as the message shown at 602 so that they are aware that their property has sold. Other vendors may also receive either the message at 602 or 606 to give them crucial information regarding the market in general. That is, other vendors can adjust their expectations (or their advertising) once they are aware of movements in the market . Similarly, purchasers may wish to know that the status of a property has changed (e.g. the property has sold, the price has been reduced or the property has been removed from the market) . The provision of this information allows the purchaser to turn their attention to other available properties.

At 610, there is shown an example of an alert message that is sent to a vendor. All property inspections are captured automatically and reported to the vendor in a systematic yet automated manner, to ensure that the vendor is fully aware of the interest in their property. The vendor can use this information to make informed decisions as to whether their property is being correctly marketed.

The updates may be sent in any suitable manner, such as by Short Messaging Service (SMS) , Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), or any suitable electronic file format. Moreover, for users who do not have mobile phones with sophisticated messaging capabilities, the update may be sent as a pre-recorded voice message or may be delivered using a text-to-speech conversion software, which allows the relevant information to be delivered to the purchaser in an aural manner, thereby bypassing the need for the purchaser to have a particular type of messaging ability on their mobile device.

Referring to Figure 7, updates are also contemporaneously saved in a database which is accessible through a web interface. Figure 7 is one example of the type of webpage that may be displayed when a purchaser logs into the database through a web browser (or other database access device) . Listings 700, 702 and 704 provide further information regarding the properties reported to the vendor via the mobile or other portable communications device. By utilising the web interface, the purchaser can review the properties at their leisure, and also utilise further functionality not easily accessible through a mobile telephone interface. For example, referring to Figures 8 and 9, there are shown example screens of additional functionality associated with a purchaser's account. The purchaser's account may include purchasing cost calculators (Figure 7) and home loan calculations reports (Figure 9) . Such tools provide the purchaser with the ability to determine whether a property is affordable and within the financial means of the purchaser .

Updates may be sent either on a time basis or on a location basis. Firstly, the updates may be sent as and when new properties are loaded into the database.

Secondly, with reference to Figure 10, properties may be sent to the purchaser when they are physically located in the area where a property is available. For example, a purchaser may be ^xhouse hunting' at a particular time, in a particular area. The mobile phone (or other wireless communications device) they are carrying is arranged to relay information to the software application regarding the current location of the purchaser. This may be achieved through the use of a GPS service, or alternatively, through the use of triangulation using conventional GSM (or other mobile telecommunications) technology. Once the location of the purchaser is received by the software application, the application checks the database to determine whether the user is located within a predetermined distance of a suitable property (for example, within 500 metres of the property) . If the purchaser is in a suitable location, then the application is arranged to send the user information regarding the property, so that the user is alerted to the proximity of a suitable property. As the purchaser is physically located near the property, they will be more likely to inspect the property.

When the purchaser visits the property the aforementioned smart card or RFID device may be arranged to be read by a reader located on the property. In this manner, the potential purchaser's visit is captured and can be logged in the database by the software application.

Upon the purchaser's visit being logged by the software application the full property information brochure is downloaded to the purchaser's phone. This feature may only occur if the purchaser has a phone which enables the download of multimedia content, such as a Blackberry™, or a 3^rd-Generation GSM mobile (cell) phone. It will be understood that the purchaser may be able to disable the location feature at any given time, for privacy or other reasons. However, it may be a condition of entry to the property that the purchaser provides identifying information, for the security of the vendor. In such a case, the phone or RFID tag may not be disabled. The device may include security measures arranged to make it difficult for the average person to tamper with the device. For example, the RFID tag may be permanently secured to the mobile device, or embedded into the device, such that it cannot be separated from the device. The RFID tag may also include encrypted information, to prevent tampering.

As the location and the requirements of the purchaser are known, the software application and database is able to provide targeted and relevant information regarding the properties available for sale.

Moreover, both the purchaser and the vendor may use the mobile phone to arrange appointments or otherwise communicate with the agent. The software application 300 is arranged to act as an end-to-end communication system between the agent and the vendor/purchaser. For example, the software application is arranged to filter appointment requests and place them into an appropriate diary- application, such as Microsoft Outlook™.

Several benefits accrue for the agent. The system removes many of the administrative aspects associated with selling a property. Much of the information, normally conveyed by an agent to both a purchaser and a vendor in a face to face meeting or over the telephone, is now transmitted electronically. This in turn frees the agent to engage in more productive work, such as arranging open inspections of properties, negotiating (i.e. acting as an agent) and handling a larger volume of vendors and purchasers .

The software application also allows the agent to extract marketing data from the system, such as a history for a particular property, a history for a given area, or any other suitable marketing information.

Moreover, the agent may also be able to review the information provided and perform statistical analysis on the properties sold over a defined period of time. This may allow the agent to spot trends, to objectively rate the performance of staff, or to review the performance of the agency as a whole.

The information provided to an agent may also be provided, in a modified form, to an end user (i.e. a vendor or a purchaser) .

Referring to Figure 10, there is shown another example interface 1000 or 'homepage' which may be viewed by a user of the system. The interface 1000 includes a number of tabs 1002, which allow the user to switch between different screens. The ^λhome' tag 1004 provides the user with a listing of the properties that meet their search criteria. The interface 1000 displays the search results in an intuitive manner which allows a large amount of information to be displayed on a relatively small screen. Along one portion of the screen 1006 there is provided a synopsis of the address of each property found in the search (in the example of Figure 10, the suburb is displayed) . A unique property identification number (ID) 1008 is also displayed. Along another portion of the screen 1010, there are displayed a series of real estate agents 1012 that operate in the area. The layout of the screen thereby forms a grid or a matrix, where the property displayed at portion 1006 can be immediately associated with the real estate agent displayed along portion 1012. The intersection of these two portions is used to display the sell price of the property 1014a, 1014b, etc. Property prices highlighted by a colour (such as property price 1014a) indicate that the property price is within the price range of the user. By clicking on a property price (such as 1014c) , the user is presented with a small 'snapshot' (such as image 1016) of the property, so that the user may immediately gain more information about the property. In this manner, the user can view a large amount of information in an intuitive, structured yet condensed manner. The graphical user interface 1000 is easier to use and understand than a conventional ^λ listing' of properties.

If the user requires detailed information on a particular property, they can click on any link in section 1006 (such as link 1018) and be taken to a detailed listing of the property (see Figure 11) .

In some cases, the user may not wish to search by using geographical criteria, but may, instead, wish to find a particular agent. The user may click on ^xMy

Criteria' 1020 and select to view all agents in an area. An example of the type of page provided is shown in Figure 12. The user may then click on a link (such as link 1200) , and be directed to a web page containing detailed information on the real estate agent (see Figure 13), such as their address, their staff, their contact details, etc. In order to access the detailed information described generally with reference to Figure 10, the user provides information in the form a profile. Referring to Figures 14 and 15, there is shown a webpage containing a plurality of drop down boxes and text boxes, where the user can input relevant information. The webpage shown at Figure 14 is a 'Buyer Registration Form' which is used by a purchaser wishing to search for a property according to certain predetermined criteria. The webpage shown at Figure 15 is a "Seller

Registration Form' , which is used by a vendor to input details regarding a property. It will be understood that the vendor enters information of their own volition, without the need for guidance or advice from an agent . Once the form is filled and posted to the website, a portion of the information may become publicly available for others to view. For example, an advertisement for the property may appear on a public section of the website. However, it will be understood that the vendor may wish to keep certain information private, or the website administrator may be required, by law, to prevent the disclosure of certain types of personal information.

Such considerations may be addressed in any suitable manner, such as by the provision of a number of permission levels, access controls, such as login and password protection, or other suitable software checks which prevent any user of the system from viewing information provided by any other user. Furthermore, data provided may be held in an encrypted format, to prevent unauthorised or inadvertent access to sensitive data.

Referring now to Figure 16, there is shown a 'front' or 'entry' page into the website which provides a graphical user interface for the system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The front page at Figure 16 provides numerous options to the user, including the ability to find and compare real estate agents 1600, the ability to register a home for sale 1602 or find homes for sales 1604, the ability to rent a home 1606 or find a rental property 1608, the ability to receive a valuation for a home 1610, to explore finance options 1612 and to learn about the legal process of buying or selling a home 1614.

The information gathered in the database may also be used to provide the vendor and purchaser with an objective and quantifiable assessment of various real estate agents, in addition to a sensible and realistic view of the worth of their property.

At Figures 17 to 24, there is shown a multi-page report which is compiled for a vendor, based on the information initially provided by the vendor and information already held in the database.

At Figure 17 there is shown a cover page for the report. The cover page provides basic information with regard to the person (or persons) requesting the report, and also basic information with regard to the property to which the report pertains.

At Figure 18, there is shown a page of information useful to a potential vendor, including information about the inherent limitations of the report, the information utilised in the report, as well as information on how a property is assessed and what information the report seeks to provide .

Figure 19 represents the first page of the report which provides quantitative analysis on various indicators relevant to property sales. For example, there is provided a short description of the local demographics of the area in which the property is located. The demographics may include some analysis on the price range of houses in the area (i.e. the "sale markets") 1900, the average growth of the area 1905, the list to sell ratio 1910 (i.e. how may homes are listed in the area compared to how many homes are sold in the area) , and the consumer confidence graph 1915 (i.e. a general reading regarding the particular feelings or beliefs of consumers in the area) .

The information provided generally at Figure 19 is intended to provide the vendor with an overview of the housing market in the area in which their property is located. In this manner, the vendor can make an informed decision regarding a realistic and achievable sale price for their property.

The vendor may also be provided with some 'raw' statistics, such as those shown in Figures 20 and 21. Figures 20 and 21 provide listings of sale prices for properties in the same area. For example, Figure 20, at 2000, provides a list of comparable properties in the area and a sales history list 2005 (i.e. a list of properties sold over the last year) .

Figure 21 also provides further 'raw' statistics, such as historic sales prices in the general neighbourhood 2100, and a breakdown of prices achieved as a percentage of the asking price 2105. The example raw statistics shown generally at

Figures 20 and 21 provide a vendor with an overview of the range of prices being paid for similar homes in the area. Whereas the information of Figure 19 is related to providing a ^Λbroad' or 'overall' view of the market, the information of Figures 20 and 21 allows the vendor to focus more particularly on similar properties with similar amenities .

Figures 22 and 23, in contrast, provide the vendor with information on the success (or otherwise) of local agents in selling properties in the area.

Figure 22 compares three agents (which, in the figure, is shown as Agent 1, Agent 2 and Agent 3, and is generally designated by numeral 2200) , and compares each to a list of predetermined criteria (shown generally at area 2205) . The predetermined criteria provide a list of questions which define the types of characteristics that are desirable in an agent. The questions may include questions related to the price of the agent, the performance of the agent, the willingness of the agent to meet special needs, the ability of the agent to make particular promises and deliver particular services, and any other information normally required to make an informed choice about the agent .

By providing such information in a table-like format, it is possible for the vendor to instantly identify which real estate agent best suits their needs.

Further information is provided at Figure 23, in the form of a breakdown of the number of sales achieved by each agent in a real estate firm. At Figure 23 there is shown a series of real estate agents 2300, each of which has an accompanying 'business history' 2305, which details the number of successful sales performed by the agent over a given time period (say, for example, a year) .

This information provides the vendor with instant feedback on the relative success (or otherwise) of a particular agent within a particular real estate agency.

This allows the vendor to make an informed choice of real estate agent based on quantifiable data and statistical information. The agent may also provide testimonials (denoted by 2310) or other information to bolster their reputation and/or experience, thereby making themselves more attractive to the vendor.

In other words, the report aims to provide the vendor with comprehensive information about the market and about real estate agents, so that the vendor can make an informed choice about the agent they will use, and the potential value of their property.

The report, in association with the system, works to demystify the process of selling a property and allows the vendor to make a decision based on quantifiable and factual information, rather than hearsay and unverifiable statements . It will be understood that the report may be easily modified to compare more than three agencies. It will also be understood that the types of information requested in forming the report, as well at the types of information provided in the report, are merely indicative, and not determinative, of the types of information that may be utilised in compiling or providing the report. Variations due to local laws and practice, user requirements, etc. are within the purview of a person skilled in the art . At Figure 24 there is shown an example screen which allows a vendor or a purchaser to contact a solicitor, who can prepare the contract of sale and also arrange for the necessary legal checks, such as establishing legal title over the property, checking council records, etc. This feature provides the vendor with an end-to-end solution for the sale of property. The vendor can access information to make an informed choice on how to best market and sell their property, while concurrently contacting all other third party service providers required to successfully complete the sale.

The embodiment described herein also finds particular use in situations where a purchaser is not local to the area (e.g. resides in another state or in another country) . The embodiment provides a so-called 'remote' purchaser (e.g. a foreign investor) with an unprecedented amount of information which is accurate, concise and meaningful.

In other words, the embodiment described herein provides a comprehensive service to both the vendor and the purchaser. In the past, agents, while supposedly working in the interests of the vendor, have in fact concentrated almost exclusively in ensuring that the purchaser is properly serviced. This may result in a situation where the vendor becomes frustrated, as they receive little or no ongoing communication from the agent, and therefore believe that they are not receiving adequate service from the agent .

Moreover, vendors have little quantifiable information in the marketplace on which to make an informed decision as to the efficiency and effectiveness of an agent or an agency. A large proportion of work received by agents is due to word of mouth and walk-in clients, since vendors generally have little knowledge of which agents are best suited to sell their property. The system, method and report described herein seek to achieve a greater level of transparency with regard to property transactions and with regard to agents who operate in the real estate business .

It will be understood that further services may be added to the embodiment described herein without departing from the broader invention which is disclosed herein. For example, the website may also provide facilities such as a Voice over IP (VOIP) system which allows a user to contact real estate agents directly. Such variations and modifications are within the purview of a person skilled in the art .

In the preceding embodiment, reference has been made to a software application. It will be understood that the software application may be written in any appropriate computer language, and arranged to execute on any suitable computing hardware, in any configuration. The software application may be a stand-alone software application arranged to operate on a personal computer, or a portable device such as laptop computer, or a wireless device, such as a tablet PC or a PDA (personal digital assistant) .

The software application may alternatively be an application arranged to operate on a central server or servers, and accessible through a public or private network, such as the Internet. Where the software application interfaces with another computing system or a database, the data may be communicated via any suitable communication network, including the Internet, a proprietary network (e.g. a private connection between different offices of an organisation), a wireless network, such as an 802.11 standard network, or a telecommunications network

(including but not limited to a telephone line, a GSM or CDMA mobile telephone network, or a microwave link) .

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiment without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

1. A system for marketing a property to a purchaser, comprising, a database arranged to contain property information related to properties for sale, a communications link arranged to provide the property information to a mobile communications device associated with a purchaser, wherein the property information is provided according to a set of requirements provided by the purchaser.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the communications link further provides information to a vendor .

3. A system in accordance with claim 2, further comprising a location module arranged to receive location information from the mobile communications device and utilise the location information to provide the property information to the purchaser.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the property information is provided at regular time intervals .

5. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the property information is provided in response to a new property being uploaded into the database.

6. A system in accordance with claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein the location information is utilised to generate visitation information when a purchaser visits a property.

7. A system in accordance with claim 6, wherein the . visitation information is provided to the vendor.

8. A system in accordance with claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the visitation information is generated when a hardware device becomes present in a predetermined area.

9. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the hardware device is a radio frequency identification element.

10. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the visitation information is extracted from a smart card.

11. A system in accordance with any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the predetermined area is a property.

12. A system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the information is provided by one of a Short Messaging Service message, a Multimedia

Messaging Service Message, an electronic file or a pre-recorded audio message.

13. A system in accordance with claim 12 , wherein a purchaser or a vendor receives market information at regular intervals.

14. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the market information includes the number of potential purchasers that have inspected the vendor's property.

15. A system in accordance with claim 13 or 14, wherein the market information includes the sale price of properties with at least a similar location or similar amenities .

16. A system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the mobile communications device is provided to at least one of the vendor and the purchaser by an operator of the system.

17. A system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a module arranged to deliver a graphical user interface to one of the mobile communications device or another device.

18. A system in accordance with claim 17, the user interface further comprising at least two portions, the first portion providing information regarding a plurality of real estate agents, and the second portion providing information regarding a plurality of properties for sale.

19.A system in accordance with claim 18, the user interface further comprising a display arrangement wherein the first and second portions form respective borders around a grid-style central portion, the central portion containing a plurality of property prices associated with at least one element in the first and second portions.

20. A method for marketing a property to a purchaser, comprising the steps of, providing a database arranged to contain property information related to properties for sale, the database being in communication via a communications link arranged to provide the property information to a mobile communications device associated with a purchaser, and providing the property information according to a set of requirements provided by the purchaser.

21. A method in accordance with claim 20, comprising the further step of the communications link providing information to a vendor.

22. A method in accordance with claim 21, further comprising the step of a location module receiving location information from the mobile communications device and utilise the location information to provide the property information to the purchaser.

23. A method in accordance with claim 20, wherein the property information is provided at regular time intervals.

24. A method in accordance with claim 21, wherein the property information is provided in response to a new property being uploaded into the database.

25. A method in accordance with claim 22, 23 or 24, wherein the location information is utilised to generate visitation information when a purchaser visits a property.

26. A method in accordance with claim 25, wherein the visitation information is provided to the vendor.

27. A method in accordance with claim 25 or claim 26, wherein the visitation information is generated when a hardware device becomes present in a predetermined area.

28. A method in accordance with claim 27, wherein the hardware device is a radio frequency identification element .

29. A method in accordance with claim 28, wherein the visitation information is extracted from a smart card.

30. A method in accordance with any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein the predetermined area is a property.

31. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the information is provided by one of ^• a Short Messaging Service message, a Multimedia

Messaging Service Message, an electronic file or a pre-recorded audio message.

32. A system in accordance with claim 31, wherein a purchaser or a vendor receives market information at regular intervals.

33. A method in accordance with claim 32, wherein the market information includes the number of potential purchasers that have inspected the vendor's property.

34. A method in accordance with claim 32 or 33, wherein the market information includes the sale price of properties with at least a similar location or similar amenities.

35. A method in accordance with any one of claims 20 to

34, wherein the mobile communications device is provided to at least one of the vendor and the purchaser by an operator of the system.

36. A method in accordance with any one of claims 20 to

35, further comprising a module arranged to deliver a graphical user interface to one of the mobile communications device or another device.

37. A method in accordance with claim 36, the user interface further comprising at least two portions, the first portion providing information regarding a plurality of real estate agents, and the second portion providing information regarding a plurality of properties for sale.

38. A method in accordance with claim 37, the user interface further comprising a display arrangement wherein the first and second portions form respective borders around a grid-style central portion, the central portion containing a plurality of property prices associated with at least one element in the first and second portions.

39. A system for providing real estate information to a user, comprising a database arranged to contain information pertaining to property sales, a database application arranged to select records from the database, and a report module arranged to provide a report containing information regarding property sales.

40. A system in accordance with claim 39, the report module further including a sub-module arranged to provide information regarding sales achieved by real estate agents.

41. A method for facilitating the purchase of a property via a computing system, comprising the steps of receiving information regarding a potential purchaser of a property, determining whether the potential purchaser provides a suitable risk profile, and if so, generating a guarantee document that guarantees the payment of a deposit payable under a contract of sale to secure the property.

^'42. A method in accordance with Claim 41, further comprising the step of, whereby the step of determining the risk profile of the purchaser includes the further step of accessing a bank account associated with the purchaser to determine whether the purchaser has adequate funds to pay the deposit .

43. A method in accordance with Claim 42, whereby the step of determining the risk profile of the purchaser includes the further step of accessing a remote database containing credit information.

44. A method in accordance with any one of claims 41 to 43, comprising the further step of billing the purchaser a fee .

45. A method in accordance with any one of claims 41 to 44, comprising the further step of, on default of a promise to pay a deposit, providing the property owner with a monetary deposit equal to the deposit promised by the purchaser.

46. A method in accordance with any one of claims 41 to 45, comprising the further step of, on default of a promise to pay a deposit, providing a real estate agent with a monetary reimbursement to cover at least part of pre-sale expenses incurred by the real estate agent .

47. A method in accordance with Claim 46, comprising the further step of billing the real estate agent a portion of the fee payable for the purchase of the deposit guarantee.

48. A method in accordance with any one of claims 41 to 47, wherein the information is provided by a software application residing on a computing system under the operative control of a real estate agent.

49. A method in accordance with any one of claims 41 to 48, whereby the step of determining the risk profile of a purchaser includes the step of forwarding the information to a server arranged to apply at least one rule or rule set, to determine the risk profile of the purchaser.

50. A system for facilitating the purchase of a property, comprising a computing system capable of receiving information regarding a potential purchaser of a property, processing means arranged to determine whether the potential purchaser provides a suitable risk profile and reporting means arranged to provide a guarantee to cover a deposit payable under a contract of sale to secure the property.

51. A system in accordance with Claim 50, wherein the processing means accesses a database containing information pertaining to a purchaser's bank account to determine whether the purchaser has adequate funds to pay the deposit.

52. A system in accordance with Claim 51, wherein the processing means accesses a remote database to conduct a credit check on the potential purchaser.

53. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 50 to 52, further comprising billing means arranged to bill the purchaser a fee .

54. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 50 to

53, comprising payment means arranged to, on default of a promise to pay a deposit, provide the property owner with a monetary deposit as specified by the deposit guarantee.

55. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 50 to

54, comprising payment means arranged to, on default of a promise to pay a deposit, provide a real estate agent with a monetary reimbursement as specified by the deposit guarantee.

56. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 50 to

55, further comprising means arranged to provide a guarantee document .

57. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 31 to

56, wherein the information is inputted into a software application residing on a computing system under the operative control of a real estate agent .

58. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 50 to 57, wherein the processing means forwards the information to a remote server arranged to apply at least one rule or rule set to the information, to determine the risk profile of the purchaser.

59. A computing program, arranged to, when executed on a computing system, perform the method steps of any one of Claims 20 to 38 or claims 41 to 49.

60. A computer readable medium incorporating a computer program in accordance with Claim 59.