Development of a regional real estate portal exhibiting an extended customer value proposition

A pilot hybrid vertical/horizontal-portal for regionally-based real estate agents (RREAs) in Australia, denoted as ProjectLink (PL) is designed and developed. Duplication across multiple regions of Australia as a 'low-cost' , value-added solution is proposed. Furthermore an e-business medium is developed whereby even very small RREAs, or sole operators, can efficiently operate within the region, in conjunction/competition with major national e-business real estate portals. The three-tier architecture for this on-line real estate solution includes the: • 'Client Tier', or front-office customer interface; • 'Middle Tier', or business intelligence and knowledge management systems, • 'Data Tier', or data repository of all relevant value chain information. Additional relevant information regarding the totality of the real estate decision includes legal and architecture services, surveying, government regulations and policies applicable to the region. A drill-down within the database driven portal illustrates how the value proposition for the customer is extended beyond the physical real estate realm.