Irish prop-tech firm reaches €1m in weekly transactions despite COVID crisis
An Irish property technology company this week secured nearly €1m in property transactions, as it allowed estate agents to carry on business throughout the ongoing crisis.
Artis, a start-up estate agent founded by Richard O'Neill, sold a €400,000 property in Dublin 18 on Friday, using the Offr service. Contracts were signed online, and the deposit was paid online, as the agent, the buyer, the seller, the buyer's solicitor and the seller's solicitor all worked from home.
The combined results of Sherry Fitzgerald's online auction in Waterford for €580,000 on Tuesday, and Artis' online auction in Dublin 18 for €400,000 on Friday combines a total of €980,000 in sales.
Offr CEO Robert Hoban said, “Every sector is currently working through this difficult environment and Offr is no different. There are no property deals being signed anywhere in Ireland at the moment as all solicitors and agents are working from home.
"We are delighted to be able to assist in these two purchases. These are very likely the world's first fully remote, fully online property transactions, where all parties to the transaction were working from home. I think the current climate will change the way we think about buying property in the future.”
The Offr service was developed to facilitate the online buying and selling of property, and allow for further transparency in the process.
The company's technology is available on estate agents’ websites, and while property sales have been disrupted with fewer bids being made, the service has allowed estate agents and other stakeholders to continue working from home, across a range of devices.
The auctioneers conducted the auctions from home without needing to have a physical auction room, while bidders registered and bid on their home devices.
The legal pack was then uploaded by the seller's solicitor and downloaded by the bidders' solicitors, and any queries were raised all from their homes.
Contracts were signed remotely and digitally using DocuSign, and delivered digitally to solicitors, while the deposit was paid digitally using Stripe.
