BAHAMAS REALTY WEBSITE

March 1999 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

BAHAMAS REALTY WEBSITE A HIT
by Diane Phillips

Less than a decade ago, it seemed like something out of a science fiction thriller, but today searching the Internet to find everything from houses to husbands is the reality of doing business, often big business. And as mid-size companies discover its potential, some are reaping rewards beyond their own expectations - like Bahamas Realty whose newly revised and expanded website packed with facts about The Bahamas is attracting a global audience tapping not only into information about dream houses but information about the country for investment.

In December 1998, the last month for which figures were available, the website www.bahamasrealty.bs drew 9,600 hits. "And that was before we expanded it," said Larry Roberts, a senior partner of the real estate firm with offices in Nassau and Long Island as well as Abaco. Most of our viewers were from the US, but between 30th November and 31st December, we also had viewers from Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy. We even had a few requests from as far away as Australia." They also had 355 local viewers.

"The response was unbelievable and with the new site up and crammed with more general information about The Bahamas, the figures this month will probably be significantly higher," Mr Roberts said. "That would indicate that not only are people interested in second homes or commercial property, they are interested in doing business and investing in The Bahamas."

Bahamas Realty has, of course, a real estate specific feature on the new site which contains an up to the minute listing of their available properties. With advanced software in-house, they are able to post properties to their website the same day they sign the listing. "At this point, we probably have about 100 properties on our website," Roberts said. "And we now have a feature where you can go in and ask for exactly what you are looking for. Say you were looking for a residence on Abaco, you can go in and search 3-bedroom homes on Abaco. You cab search acreage, resorts, whatever you want."

More improvements are scheduled in the next few weeks, including a Spanish language version designed to appeal especially to Latin and South American residents. The Abaco office will also have a separate section as will commercial property, available office space, retails and resorts.

The most exciting feature, says Roberts, is the 3-D virtual reality photos that will be displayed on their website in the near future. "Virtual reality photos allow you to move around in a room," he said. "It's incredible. You're actually in one spot, but you move the cursor around and not only can you look at certain features in the room, you can zoom in on them. It could be something as insignificant as a bookcase, but you zoom in and feel like you could pull a book off the shelf. If a property has a panoramic view of the ocean, for example, we are able to display an interactive virtual reality photo of the view in its entirety so you can pan the horizon just as if you were there. Imagine How that would appeal to someone sitting in a frozen climate or with the grey light of an afternoon outside and they hook up to the Internet, click on Bahamas Realty, choose an oceanfront home and with the movement of the cursor they have spread before them a scene of brilliant blue-green water, the sun beating down, the view of the deck on a bright afternoon. I can also e-mail that photo to anyone in the world. All they do is click on it and it's like a personal tour."

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