Maria Seder Neda and Catalin Zafiu: 2010 looks “black” but online Real Estate business will grow
It was February when I had the first press conference of the year. Except the journalists that day, I had also invited some experts on online Real Estate business, plus some bloggers on this field. Finally the ones who honored my invitation were Mrs Maria Seder Neda, Chief Editor of the very well known www.imopedia.ro and author of a blog (some of her… plenty activities), Mr Catalin Zafiu, Executive Director of http://realestate.doingbusiness.ro/en/ and author of a blog and Ionut Budoi, General Secretary of UNAI and author of a blog .
Our discussion was very interesting, it lasted over 2 hours. I didn't publish it immediately back then, because I didn't want to "burn' it, after some problems that had occurred. But it did not lose its value, nothing occurredmeanwhile. So, I return to this subject today, in order to share with you some very interesting information we discussed.
"The market is expected to remain "black" until the end of the year"
This was a common opinion we all shared. None of us considers that there is something unique, a factor we didn't evaluate yet, something that can move the market upwards. No major deals or a "wave" of investors are expected this year.
"We have to work so as to increase the level of our professionalism"
There is a problem of professionalism indeed. It is very visible in the market today, clients are upset about it and for the moment there are just few signs that things can change. "I can not count how many agencies disappeared, but definitely there were plenty of them. This will continue, as the market will be more and more filtered" commented Mr Budoi
"Romanians are rather disappointed, confused and upset"
"What do you understand about your Romanian readers? How do they perceive this new situation?" was a question I addressed to them. Mrs Maria Seder Neda spoke and the gentlemen agreed: "People are rather upset and disappointed. They hear so many different things, sometimes even contradicting ones. So they get confused, not knowing which direction they should follow. And many of them end up upset. This anger is expressed online, via comments, posts and other ways".
Too many people still expect the prices to return to the levels of 2008
"Have they realized that the party of 2008 is over?" "Not really", everyone agreed. "Too many people expect the prices to return where they were and some owners consider that it is a matter of few more months for this to happen". Mr Budoi stressed: "In the same time, there are too many people who expect the prices to collapse and to buy with half or a quarter of today's levels. This will not happen either, we need to reach equilibrium and I hope this to happen during 2010".
"People's interest for online information rises, despite problems"
Mrs Seder Neda was positive: "Despite the crisis, we see the number of visitors increasing week by week, month by month. Especially when there is news about "Prima Casa" or whatever else is important for Romanians to know. Mr Zafiu confirmed: "The interest constantly rises and this trend is visible throughout 2009 and the beginning of 2010 too". They both agreed: "While some players vanish, many others enter. Also several companies choose to collaborate with sites like ours. Serious online marketing is one of the most effective promotional tools for the Real Estate professionals.
New ideas and projects, better content and more readers
Imopedia and IBP (Mr Zafiu's company) are among the top online content providers, with accurate information about Real Estate and the approval – recognition of hundreds of companies, coming from all sorts of domains. When the discussion was about "tomorrow", both Mrs Seder Neda and Mr Zafiu confirmed that they don't sit and wait. "Many new projects, sections and ideas are continuously implemented. We try new things, in order to provide our readers everything they would search for".
Overall conclusion: While the market will continue to be frozen, some serious companies think, create strategies, invest and implement their plans, gaining market shares today and preparing for a brighter tomorrow. www.imopedia.ro and http://realestate.doingbusiness.ro/en/ are just two examples of these companies. There are plenty of others, which I hope I will present to you in the near future. They show to us that Real Estate and online promotion are "bounded" for the years to come, especially in Romania, one of the European leaders in this segment. If you see someone rejecting this truth, you will probably see someone who will lose opportunities as well.