Moving to a new, unfamiliar city poses many difficulties, but a new online resource called Navut uses a complex matchmaking algorithm to introduce movers to local real estate professionals and is being touted as a way for the latter to increase clientele.
Navut Inc. is a Montreal-based company that’s quickly spreading Canada wide. It’s now operational in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary, with launch plans in Guelph, Halifax and Red Deer by summer’s end.
Navut has users answer a prioritized list of questions to determine lifestyle factors – whether they want to live in a house, condo or apartment, what their commuting and amenity needs are, or the type of school they want their children to attend – and are then presented with five neighbourhoods that correspond to their preferences. Each neighbourhood is assigned three local sales reps.
Marcos Carvalho, co-founder and head of sales and marketing of Navut, says choosing the right neighbourhood is as important as choosing the right home. People often move to new cities only to realize that their neighbourhoods are not conducive to their lifestyles. Carvalho says Navut curtails that problem.
“Finding a home is the second thing you should do,” he says. “Navut reverses the process of finding a home by focusing on the location first. When people learn about the places they should move to and are confident about the places they’ve picked, they see properties that correspond to their needs and the best agents for them according to both of their profiles.”
Agents can post listings on Navut, but while the resource is free for buyers and renters, real estate professionals must purchase memberships.
Priced between $150 and $689, package benefits increase with price. Agents also pay Navut between $5 and $30 for each connection, depending on whether they’re buyers or renters. However, as Tristan Pungartnik of Royal LePage Heritage in Montreal says, the trade-off is worthwhile.
“I have no problem with paying an average of $20 a lead – I’ve already closed nine rentals and one sale with Navut,” says Pungartnik. “I do quantity because I do rentals and I do hundreds of them a year. I deal with a lot of HR companies and they have employees being transferred to Montreal all the time. These people scramble to find something they won’t like because they don’t have enough time, but Navut gives them a head start on that. These are good quality leads because these people need a place.”
Pungartnik says Navut’s matchmaking algorithm is especially advantageous to real estate agents because it emphasizes unique qualities, setting them apart from the fray.
“Other sites have good tools but I haven’t seen another one work as well as Navut,” he says. “If you’re a Realtor and you speak four languages, that’s an asset you can market yourself with, especially on Navut.”
Andrea Sitta, a Re/Max broker in Montreal’s Westmount borough, knows the city well. She’s been with Navut since its inception, helping build profiles for the city’s myriad neighbourhoods. She says investing her time and money in Navut has proven to be a fruitful endeavour.
“What I invested, I already got my money back and got a profit on it – even the one rental I did,” says Sitta. “It’s still a nice tool for clients because they’re not stuck on Kijiji and it’s good for us Realtors because we can give them more information.”
One advantage for sales reps using Navut, says Sitta, is how expeditiously deals close because of how much information is available on clients’ profiles alone.
“The clients already come with a lot of information,” she says. “It saves time for brokers. You know if the clients there are looking to buy or rent and what types of budgets they’re on. You know what the client is looking for. In some buildings, you are not allowed to have pets, for example.
“It increases business (because) you already have details about clients, so you lose less time figuring out their needs. The website quality is good and saves us a lot of time.”
Neil Sharma is a contributing writer for REM.
