IN BREAKING NEWS: RP Data is unreliable??

The caption of this post probably says it all. Today,I’m pretty sure every student, class mate, lecturers came into this presentation having thought the software RP Data, was one of the most reliable and useful resource tool in the property industry. In fact, at one point I even thought of the comparison ‘RP data is for real estates agents, what Facebook is for teenagers’.

This week’s guest speaker Allan Teale revealed the shocking cracks beneath the infamous web application RP Data. Surprisingly, he made it seem like RP data was not everything it made out to be. Having worked in the property industry for close to ten years now, as a real estate agent, my Dad himself admits he heavily relies on RP Data. I succumbed to ask him, what is it about RP Data that he particularly worshipped?

‘RP Data is like the Holy Grail behind property information. It has everything I need, within a simple click of a mouse’, he replied.

I was luckily enough to explore the RP Data website for an assignment on valuation, early this year. It really is simple as it sounds, with an account and an address, real estate agents can view loads of data and information on your property in a click of a button. I guess my dad did make a valuable point (did you see what I did there). RP Data proposes a more realistic value and offer on a property, as it allows us to view information on property history, comparable sales and generally info you wouldn’t usually get on your everyday webpage. Check out the YouTube video below on ‘How leading Real Estate agents can use RP Data’, posted from RP Data’s official YouTube page.

Allan wasted no time, getting down to the nitty gritty flaws of RP Data. He mentioned that although the application is a widely used source, it does not have the accuracy to be the best market indicator. This was clear in the example of a free-standing house in Alexandria (check pictures below), however according to RP Data, it was identified as a unit instead. OK, so there could’ve been a decent explanation behind this. Maybe a typo gone wrong or even just confusion with cross-reference information, surely one mistake does not account for the site’s entire reputation.

Although I was strongly opinionated, Allan had his own outlook on RP Data. He continued with another property domain called city scope, which focused more on the commercial property and strata units, side of real estate. Like RP Data, City Scope provides more detailed data and reliable information, however these applications were nothing compared to Pricefinder. It was obvious that Pricefinder was Allan’s bias among the three, as he boasted about the site’s simple format and accessibility.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I think we all have to take a moment and realise that without the tools and access to web applications like RP Data, real estate agents would not have the resources to do their job accurately and efficiently.

Until next time, bye fellow bloggers.

Property and Asset Management – IT TWO WAYS

Now picture yourself in 20 years in the future. It may be vastly different from today, however what really remains the same is the definition of ‘sustainability’. Whether it is ‘green and sustainable’ or simply those ‘typical buildings’ that only suffice basic needs, the ever-changing scene of the built environment is definitely a topic of debate. Moreover, the increasing awareness has caused the questioning of ‘are we really doing enough to maintain a balance of sustainability’?

Today’s lecture particularly reminded me of this question. In this week’s lecture ‘IT two ways’ Susan Feltaous and Carolyn Trickett, which of whom represented Jones lang Lasalle, spoke about the criteria of sustainability in the built environment. Susan started off by simply comparing a typical building and a high performance building. She mentioned the major differences in productivity that high performance buildings have over standard buildings and some of these features include lighting sensors and material selection.

Now what exactly makes a building ‘High Performing’, I hear you say? Just think of it as a healthy building, one that operates efficiently and productively. It must also be resilient in the context that buildings must be able to stand over time and sustainable along with driving requirements. Susan then went on to discuss NABERS, green star, and CBD which were all rating systems that measure the performance of a building. Now we’re back where we started with all those acronyms. Much to my confusion as to how we can actually ‘rate’ a building, I have to admit after the lecture i did whip up the good old Google search on ‘NABERS’. How it works, is that it provides a star rating system to your ‘building or tenancy that represents its actual operational performance’ according to NABERS NSW Office of Environment and Heritage website. The CBD and Green Star, generally follow the same idea as NABERs rating system.

To give us a better idea of what makes a High Performing Building, we looked at a case study of a building that has achieved a 6 Star Green Star and 5 Star NABERS energy rating, 161 Castlereagh St Sydney (pictured below). To me, it didn’t seem all that great at first, but I guess this is a perfect example of why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Finally, it was Carolyn’s turn to give us a brief run down on BMS (Building Management Systems) and what it generally involves. She began the presentation with a question, why do we build or buy property? Money. She described that in order to make a profit, we must look at ideas on how to reduce the maintenance and operation of buildings. This flow chart Carolyn used during the presentation, better describes how we can maximise project margins by integrating sustainable measures.

All in all, this presentation sparked my imagination of sustainability and society’s future. It really does make you question ‘where do we go from here?’.

So let me ask you, where DO we go from here? Comment on some of your thoughts down below.

Alex Moffatt Estate Master- Valuation and Fesability

It’s my second blog post, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole blog posting thing. How am I doing so far?

Following up from my previous post, we now venture into the timeless world of property developers and real estate valuers, metaphorically speaking of course. In my imagination, property developers and real estate valuers have got it easy. Why? Well my initial thought was because of the large available resources that many people involved in the property industry have access to, allowing for better valuation.

Here to back me up this week is Alex Moffatt of Estate Master, who talked about the innovative software that has significantly impacted the property industry. It was not the first time I’ve seen the word Estate Master. I initially stumbled upon the software on a YouTube video, when I was distracted by the ad displayed on the bottom. But for those who have no clue what Estate Master is, it’s a property development software that assists property professional with all aspects of property valuation. It includes five main product suites and they are:

• Development Feasibility
• Development Management
• Corporate Consolidation
• Investment Appraisal
• Hotel Feasibility

If you take a look on YouTube, there are a number of Estate Master demo videos you can view. Here is one of the few many I found;

Although this is a lot to take in, I better understood Estate Master as simply a software aimed to help and assist property professionals in making better decisions, minimising risks and errors, and more importantly managing the entire building development process. I think the software is limited in comparison to other generic software’s such as BIM, however one of the functions Estate Master does offer is that it allows you to evaluate and compare the feasibility of projects. This option allows professionals to determine the value and development of the site, along with the highest and best use.

The software is restricted to property development and management, mainly targeting large investment companies. However, Alex mentioned that there was a DF Lite version available, offered to smaller firms and companies. What’s also interesting about this property software is that it uses familiar spreadsheet format and functions to the Microsoft Excel. We all know about Microsoft and to this advantage, makes the software easier and flexible to use across a variety of people. (Props to the man behind the desk)

I think it’s clear how the impact of Estate Master software, contributes to the property industry and in particular property individuals. It really goes to show how IT can be innovatively used to improve the control of projects, from valuation stage through to the risk management.

Geographic Information Systems Oh My!

If you didn’t catch the classic Wizard of Oz tagline in the title. Oh well.

Although I am no computer whiz and a first time blogger, fellow bloggers don’t judge harshly. Here is my take on today’s lecture.

Well I could say on behalf of the students in my class, that nobody enjoys attending a lecture on an early Tuesday morning. But luckily enough for me, I was able to grab my daily dosage of Toby Estate’s coffee which kicked in at a no more than perfect timing. We were introduced to guest speaker Borce Dimenski, a spatial analyst from the Urban Research Centre. He introduced a Information Technology System in planning called Geographic Information System, more commonly referred to as GIS. As sophisticated as it sounds, he described this system as a ‘computer based storage, maintenance, query and analysis of geographical data’.

To put it simply, GIS is an integration of five components:

• People
• Data
• Analysis
• Hardware
• Software

Now whoever thought a three letter acronym couldn’t be any less confusing and i’m not talking about the word HSC either. I quickly realised exactly what Borce meant with the impact of innovative technology that had on our daily lives. But how would most probably wonder, how could GIS technology possibly impact on our daily lives? Or more importantly for us, how is GIS used within the property and construction industry?

Without even knowing, we use GIS technology everywhere and everyday. As we all are most familiar with the iPhone, this device is an interesting example of how we use GIS to locate destinations and routes using a GPS system. Similarly, Google map offers a similar format, in which you could view locations on a broader and more global scale. However in more integral terms, GIS is generally used to illustrate what features look like in the world, and to give a demographic analysis for further research.

In light of this, Borce continued to break down the components of GIS.

1. What are the applications involved with GIS?
2. GIS in relation to the property/construction industry?

Virtually, GIS can be applicable to many stages from planning perspective through to cost management. Other applications of GIS include property, design, and construction and project management. These applications help identify demographic analysis, site selection, potential environmental factors and finance. One example of the way in which GIS can be applied to the cost management stage, is that it can allow more

 efficient and shortest paths or distance to be discovered and thus providing better service.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for GIS technology when it is used as an app on our iPhone or Google Earth, but it really all comes down to how GIS impacts the construction and property sectors? I think it’s interesting the way we use GIS as a tool that we can receive many benefits and advantages from. It allows us to go beyond the boundaries, interpreting data in ways traditional methods cannot.