Month: September 2022

SaleFish Commences Sales for its Third Australian Project

Posted on by Rick Haws

Imperial Square – Located in Australia’s Gold Coast

SaleFish technology allows real estate transactions to be processed anywhere, any time. SaleFish Australia, is partnering with one of the leading property developers in Australia, Azzura Investment. We are enabling them to manage the sales of the new mega project, Imperial Square, located in the heart of the Gold Coast. Imperial Square will be the city’s tallest building in the southern hemisphere and is set to revolutionize Southport CBD.

Built over three stages, Imperial Square will be a mixed-use residential and commercial space, consisting of three complexes with the tallest building in the southern hemisphere at a staggering 108-floors. The first building “The Regal Tower” with 18 storeys in a five-star Radisson hotel, is almost sold out. This project will be a grand precinct that will forever transform and elevate the bustling suburb of Southport. 

“We are leading the Australian marketplace to the next level, especially in capturing the remunerative tourism market, with this innovative new project,” says Roberto Badalotti, CEO of Azzura Investment. “We are immensely thankful to have SaleFish’s support with sales through their incredibly simplified, seamless, and efficient platform.”

One of the most important lessons over the last year and a half is that sales centres and face-to-face selling cannot be the only way to reach potential buyers. The real estate industry, like many others, recognized the importance of digital tools like SaleFish, and these tools will continue to be vital in reaching remote buyers and facilitating global sales. With the Imperial Square project attracting buyers from all over the world, this partnership is a true testament to SaleFish’s capabilities abroad.

In the process of making this partnership happen, SaleFish took a deliberate step to partner with Dentons, the largest real estate law firm in the world. This partnership has allowed us to complete due diligence and validate international transaction capabilities, ensuring we continue to meet or exceed all regional and global, privacy and security requirements. Furthermore, security experts in Australia have recognized SaleFish’s advanced security features as far ahead of other companies in the local market. 

As part of sales for Imperial Square, SaleFish has also partnered with a local 3D visual integration company. HomeLander allows potential buyers to digitally cruise around the project, giving purchasers a picture-perfect visualization experience using 3D interactivity, on desktop & all smart devices, for a unique VR experience. Directly connected with the SaleFish platform to transact, this provides a one-of-a-kind solution for off the plan sales, improving time to sale by 75%. In today’s industry, all assets can be shared via digital means in 1:1 appointments, remote from anywhere in the world. This is just one example of how SaleFish’s integrations make the entire sales management process a complete and easy journey. 

Imperial Square is the third developer engagement for SaleFish in the Australian market. This marks a stepping-stone for the company as it continues to scale-up in international markets around the world.

SaleFish Celebrates Launch of Inaugural Project in Istanbul

Posted on by Rick Haws

(From Left to Right: Rob Nicolucci, Partner and Co Founder, SaleFish; Murat Kalsin, Chairman, SaleFish Turkey; Mark Kuess, Partner/Head International Business Development, SaleFish)

Following the announcement in 2020 to partner with GMK Group and open offices in Turkey, SaleFish Software is primed to grow rapidly across Istanbul. With incredible support from the Consulate General of Canada in Istanbul and Dentons, SaleFish is launching their first project with Fuzul Group, applying its innovative suite of solutions and leading PropTech software to one of the most exciting, active and dynamic real estate markets in the world. 

With a commanding presence in the construction, finance, and capital markets of the Turkish real estate market, Fuzul Group’s partnership with SaleFish, presents a strong opportunity for SaleFish to fuel growth within Turkey, the Middle East and the Gulf region. Nevita, a subsidiary of Fuzul Group on sales and marketing of real estate projects, will utilize SaleFish’s customizable, seamless and secure software to transact sales for the Basaksehir Avrasya project, owned by Emlak Konut REIT and developed by Fuzul Group. This is part of a new and upcoming district – a campus of hospitals surrounded by twenty 20-storey condos. This initiative will develop new communities, build hundreds of new homes and contribute to the district’s overall growth. 

SaleFish celebrated the launch of the new project on October 7th through a joint press conference in Istanbul with about 100 local developers from across the Middle East in attendance. Welcome remarks were made by key partners, including Murat Kalsin, Chairman of SaleFish Turkey and GMK Group, Brahim Achtoutal, Consul General of Canada in Istanbul, Ömer Faruk Akbal, Chairman of Nevita, and Rob Nicolucci, Co-Founder of SaleFish. 

“This is an exciting time for SaleFish. We are so grateful to our partners for their support and are fully committed to listening and learning in order to best serve our partners’ needs in this marketplace,” said Nicolucci. 

“There is great opportunity in Turkey for growth in residential real estate and I am pleased to represent SaleFish in this region,” added Kalsin. 

“The potential that Turkey offers for Canadian businesses is tremendous. We only need to make sure we find the right partners, and I think with SaleFish we have achieved that,” said Achtoutal. “This is a perfect example of the success we can achieve in a market like Turkey.”

“From the moment we first met with the SaleFish Turkey team and tested the software, it was clear that this was the right partnership both in terms of strengthening the Turkish real estate sector and contributing to our growth in both domestic and international markets,” said Akbal. 

SaleFish is continuing to increase its international footprint. In 2020, the company also opened offices in Australia. As an industry leader, its robust software is revolutionizing real estate transaction efficiency and constantly generating new revenue opportunities for markets around the world.


(From Left to Right: Cigdem Donmez, Trade Commissioner at Consulate General of Canada in Istanbul; Rob Nicolucci, Partner and Co Founder, SaleFish; Murat Kalsin, Chairman, SaleFish Turkey; Brahim Achtoutal, Consul General of Canada in Istanbul, Turkey; Mark Kuess, Partner/Head International Business Development, SaleFish; Naomi Gilker, Vice Consul and Trade Commissioner at Consulate General of Canada in Istanbul; Ismail Ozcan, Managing Director, SaleFish Turkey)

Are presentation centres worried about the latest COVID-19 restrictions? Not really, it seems

Posted on by Rick Haws

A little over a week ago, COVID-19 restrictions returned to Ontario in response to record-high cases of the virus, sending the province into a modified Step Two of the Roadmap to Reopen. In addition to restricting social gathering limits to five people indoors, the latest round of measures also closed indoor meeting and event spaces.

For developers launching new construction projects this quarter, Ontario’s newly-imposed restrictions throw a wrench in any plans to keep presentation centres running as normal. But two years and five waves into this pandemic, are brick-and-mortar presentation centres surprised by the latest changes and the return to digital alternatives?

“Every launch that is happening, there is a component of digital tools and a digital way of selling and presenting. It’s a must-have now,” said Tim Ng, principal of ADHOC STUDIO, a digital product service for urban developments.

“For example, some of the launches that I’m seeing in Q1 this year — whether the lockdown was announced last week or whether there wasn’t a lockdown — it wouldn’t really change up the strategy too much since they already had, in their back pocket, [for] part of their marketing mix or sales strategy, they’re already using, for example, our platform to launch,” he told Livabl.

Developers have pivoted to technology alternatives

Ng explains that when the first wave of COVID-19 hit back in March 2020, people were unsure of what to do at first. Adoption of ADHOC’s Blackline app, a web-based sales and marketing platform that allows sales teams to remotely present and transact real estate, surged. Fast forward two years, and developers have taken advantage of digital and cloud-based tools that cover tasks which would have normally occurred in a sales centre, said Ng.

For the latest phase of restrictions implemented this month, some developers closed the doors to their sales centres for the foreseeable future.

Brian Brown, principal of Lifetime Developments, told Livabl in a statement that the company has changed course as a result of the most recent round of COVID-19 guidelines. In early January, the developer launched sales for its XO2 Condos project in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood with Pinedale Properties, Ltd. With a freshly-renovated sales office ready to open its doors, Lifetime Developments closed the centre with the exception of private appointments for small groups. The launch was scheduled over Zoom.

“Of course, this is not exactly how we had hoped to showcase this project including our finishes and our Freemotion Fitness partnership,” he said. “Fortunately, our industry has really adapted over the last year and everyone has really embraced social media, Zoom meetings and digital signings. It’s not ideal and I do miss the face-to-face interaction with our clients and their agents.”

Although the newest restrictions have “taken some of the excitement away,” Brown said that this does not concern him — 2022 will be a busy year regardless of whether business is conducted remotely or in person.

“Our industry has shown resiliency and tremendous adaptability. It was not easy at first and new policy and even legal processes had to be put in place to make sure everything was being managed appropriately,” he said. “From a sales and marketing standpoint, we have all found new ways to follow social distancing rules while still remaining present and effective.”

Some crave in-person meetings again, some don’t

Sales centres aren’t immune to the debate over whether working remotely versus working in an office is better.

Rick Haws, president and co-founder of SaleFish — a global software solutions firm for residential real estate developers and builders — agrees that companies had already adapted their strategies ahead of the latest round of restrictions. Consumers have also adjusted to the new way of buying pre-construction homes, with the majority of purchasers now preferring digital options to the sales centre, even when presentation offices are open.

After restrictions were lifted the first time around, 75 per cent of purchasers opted for online appointments versus in-person options when given the choice, according to SaleFish. Prior to the pandemic, Haws explains that lineups outside of sales offices were huge. With the use of technology, purchasers now have a better opportunity to buy a unit without leaving the comfort and safety of home.

Photo: Adam / Adobe Stock

“[I] think even moving forward, once we get back to being able to have people in sales offices more regularly, now that the tools are in place and that people are so used to using them, I think it’s going to be something that is going to be used more regularly just as usual, as opposed to it being as a necessity, because it’s convenient for people,” said Haws.

On the flip side, Haws anticipates that once sales teams have the opportunity to go back to one-on-one meetings again, they will gravitate towards this option as they are most comfortable with this scenario. However, Haws says that the customer will ultimately determine what the interaction between sales and consumers will be, whether that’s a one-on-one experience or a hybrid of in-person and virtual meetings.

“Salespeople are going to want to build those relationships with those people. Real estate is not a commodity. It’s not like you just go out and buy it and you’re done with it. Purchasing real estate is an experience. It’s a transaction that takes up to two years sometimes,” said Haws.

“And so building that relationship between the salesperson and the purchaser is important because that’s not something that just comes and goes,” he added.

Smaller, temporary spaces potentially the future of sales centres

With sales software and virtual meetings the norm for new construction projects now, it calls into question the future of sales centres.

While developers may still prefer to use and create a physical space to meet clients in person, these environments have been scaled down compared to pre-pandemic, million-dollar presentation centres. Ng notes that some developers have been opting for smaller, pop-up-style sales offices, like the one CentreCourt ran inside Yorkdale Mall for WestLine Condos. Before COVID-19, developers would use the full completion of their sales office to initiate a project launch, said Ng, but this process is also changing.

“Developers are being less reliant on having a physical sales office to sell or to launch,” said Ng. “When we’re ready to go to launch, whether we have a sales office built or it’s finished, we can still sell and get to a fair amount of sales before we open the sales office.”

Ng explains once presentation centres are open again, a handful of purchasers in the later phases of the sales cycle will want to visit the office, perhaps as a final signing destination for contracts or to view unit finishes. However, in the discovery and inquiry stages of researching a new project, digital tools will continue to have an important role to play.

“Collectively we can all agree it’s hard to recreate those tangible moments of face-to-face interaction virtually, like being able to go into a sales centre to see, touch and feel everything,” said Brown. “At the end of the day though, I look forward to shaking people’s hands once again and the odd hug here and there too.”

Source: https://www.livabl.com/2022/01/presentation-centres-covid-19.html

ParQ Towns by Cachet Homes

Posted on by Rick Haws

Since 1981, the Cachet Group (Cachet) has earned an enviable reputation as the developer and builder of master-planned communities across southern Ontario. In early 2020, the company initiated a plan to launch ParQ, its first community of townhomes in Brantford, a city recognized as a hub in Canada for post-secondary schools. It was an ambitious project. Cachet hoped to build a modern, self-sustained community of 150 homes in an area that is under rapid growth and renewal. Even so, the company was confident that with the right design plan, marketing strategy, and sales technology, it would appeal to target investors and end-users. With the support of three Plus Group companies at the forefront of real estate innovation – RN Design, Coolaid Studios, and SaleFish Software – Cachet was able to open the gateway for this promising neighbourhood during its launch in October 2020. 

In ParQ’s early stages, Cachet leaned on its partner of over 25 years, RN Design, to begin putting visuals behind this distinct vision, while considering cost-effective materials in the process. RN Design successfully created the development’s floorplans, 2-D renderings, and elevation designs. These had a modern feel to attract a younger end-user, whether investing in a new home for post-secondary living or to raise a family. With the elegant simplicity of large windows and over-sized details, the end result was a marriage between contemporary and traditional design.  
 
From there, RN Design worked closely with Coolaid Studios, supplying these designs for effective marketing materials and 3-D renderings, which in turn fueled Cachet’s brokerage (Spectrum Realty)’s sales strategy. Planning for a launch during the height of a pandemic, the marketing agency knew they needed a creative idea to communicate with prospective purchasers. With this in mind, they built a digital brochure that would take potential buyers on an experiential journey as they scrolled through. Seamlessly bringing users from local attractions to ParQ features, amenities, interiors/finishes and townhome options, the digital brochure evoked an immediate sense of connection so users could envision their future in this new community. 

One key to piece this all together was SaleFish Software. As a global leader in real estate sales software, we prepared clickable site plans embedded into the brochure, allowing users to browse specific townhomes in more detail. Separately, SaleFish Software also powered an entire online sales platform prepared by Coolaid so come purchase time, broker agents could process transactions online with ease, security, and the utmost efficiency. The cloud-based solution allowed multiple agents to sell simultaneously and see in real time what sales were in que to speed up the process. SaleFish’s technology made this virtual launch possible. 

“Our Priority Preview Phase Release sellout was made simple, fast and precise with SaleFish Software,” says Stephanie Draga, Marketing Manager at Cachet Homes. “From live siting, architectural control, inventory management and pricing adjustments, SaleFish makes the admin process effortless. Generating our agreement in seconds makes it a seamless process from sale to signing. A must-have for any project.” 

Rob Nicolucci, CEO of Plus Group and President of RN Design, explains, “The pre-existing relationship between RN Design, Coolaid Studios, and SaleFish Software as companies under the same roof allowed for fluid communication behind-the-scenes without having to involve the client at every step. It gave Cachet confidence in our teams to seamlessly work together, but more importantly, it allowed for incredibly strong productivity.” 

 
The end result? One of the most successful launches in Cachet’s history and all without a sales centre! While navigating a global pandemic, the collaborative efforts of three Plus Group companies and Spectrum Realty allowed Cachet to sell out of all 150 ParQ townhomes in only four days. What’s more, Cachet surpassed its own expectations by selling 40% of units directly to end-users. It’s truly telling of what teamwork can accomplish when combining an industry’s most innovative resources. 

SaleFish 2 Launches As One Of The World’s Most Powerful Real Estate Sales Solutions

Posted on by Rick Haws

Building on SaleFish Software’s proven success with more than 1.5 million users completing 200,000+ transactions valued at over $100 billion USD in the last 15 years, the industry leader has released SaleFish 2, its latest innovation as a culmination of upgrades to streamline the real estate buying process like never before. The new release will feature the most up-to-date web standards and introduces a new, fluid design system named “Sail.” Simultaneously, SaleFish 2 will maintain competitive differentiators such as seamless integrations, smooth processes that make sales 75% more efficient, and he highest standards for cybersecurity, making this one of the world’s most powerful cloud-based real estate sales solutions.