MOGUL.sg has introduced another incentive to make selling your home through their property portal worth your while: you don’t have to pay a single cent for sales commissions. Instead, MOGUL.sg will charge you a modest $150 administrative fee.
This is the latest selling point of the new online platform by the tech-driven property portal, which was founded on the premise of democratising property transactions by offering its users unprecedented access to information.
Prospective sellers can study and understand their situation better. | Screencap: MOGUL.sg
Prof Ong Seow Eng, from the Department of Real Estate at NUS Business School, believes from his research that access to key information related to the housing market can lead to a more efficient price discovery process.
“Many users in the real estate value chain face the challenge of accessibility to data and their accuracy. Important data such as transaction records and trends are often locked behind paywalls.
By democratising data and visualising them in a way that is easy to understand, everyone is able to access data and draw their own insights regarding property values vis-à-vis the environment and other factors, leading to better-informed decision-making,” he explains.
How it works
Information from past transactions is always a good way to start. | Screencap: MOGUL.sg
Within minutes of asking, MOGUL.sg’s property concierge service helps connect the customer with a real estate agent (from a partnered agency) who will provide a full range of personalised selling services to the homeowner, which is included in the administrative fee.
MOGUL.sg says that its data tools and insights reduce the steps and processes involved in putting a property up for sale, which helps in making it possible to charge the homeowner nothing for sales commission fees.
“Home sellers and buyers have been constantly looking to lower their transaction costs and we are here to make it happen,” said CEO and founder Gerald Sim.
A one-stop shop for hard numbers
The DataSuite GraphView visually illustrates pricing trends. | Screencap: MOGUL.sg
So how does it work? At its core, MOGUL.sg is a one-stop shop where users can buy and sell properties. The platform is set up to be an experience: you can locate your property on an advanced 3D real estate map, complete with visualised data.
On top of the usual features to expect like detailed maps, you can also view analyses of the latest property transactions in the area, nearest amenities, environment data like the amount of sunlight a unit receives at any time in the day, and more.
But the meat and the potatoes here are the advanced data-slicing tools previously available only on financial trading portals. These features empower agents and more importantly, users, with access to accurate data to enable better-informed decision-making when it comes to buying and selling property. In short, homeowners are no longer beholden to what real estate agents tell them as the gospel truth.
Key features
DataSuite MapView can illustrate the distribution of flat types. | Screencap: MOGUL.sg
Some of these tools include DataSuite, a one-stop, universal search solution powered by geospatial data that aggregates past property transactions to provide in-depth search results. It’s equipped with tools like interactive filters and dynamic data visualisation, which makes it easier for users to draw insights.
Another tool is “M Value”, an Automated Valuation Model that uses hedonic regression mathematics to analyse multiple property values, historical transactions and environmental factors. The model will then provide a pricing estimate known as ‘M Value’ (MOGUL Value), which helps users make a more informed valuation.
MOGUL.sg says that its tools are designed to be accessible, user-focused and free to use. Effectively, the information benefits agents as well as potential buyers and sellers. It’s particularly useful to the latter two because you need a lot of time–not to mention the know-how–to hunt down the data and collate them in an equally meaningful way.
