PropTech: Property Technology
PropTech is the abbreviation and combination of Property and Technology that refers to the digital transformation in the real estate market.
PropTech has started basically with the websites, mobile communication, apps, and social media and forced real estate companies to adapt especially during this Covid-19 pandemic process. As having the “innovation” among our 5 core values, we are proud to be one of the first participants of this digital transformation and to say that Tekce Overseas Gayrimenkul AŞ. is a PropTech company.
Digital Transformation of Our Company and Our PropTech Practices
In 2004, Tekce Overseas Gayrimenkul AŞ. (formerly known as Antalya Homes ®) took a step to the digital transformation by launching its first website antalyahomes.com that has become the most visited real estate website in Turkey in a short time thanks to its user-friendly and innovative design.
In that period, to have a property in the company’s portfolio, it was enough just to hang a show card on it. Also, real estate ads were announced in the regional annexes of newspapers. In these announcement pages, since the ads were listed in alphabetical order, writing "ABARTA ABARTA" (which means "by exaggerating" in Turkish and comes alphabetically in first-order) at the beginning of the advertisement to be on top of the REAL ESTATE SELLERS page was considered an optimization in the current sense.
In 2006, we started investing in digital marketing and became the customer of Google Ads (formerly Adwords) when they first started their operations in Turkey. We are still one of the first implementers of many innovations in digital marketing.
In 2008, we were now able to handle all purchasing processes on online platforms without the need for physical presence. Our first sale was carried out entirely only through phone calls and video recordings.
In 2014, with the full implementation of CRM infrastructure, we have moved all our workflow to the CRM platform. With this transformation, we can follow up with our customers throughout the whole process from the moment they contact us and ensure their 100% happiness. Also, we can evaluate our team's effective performance, and display transparent management.
Then, the Istanbul Homes brand was born out of our guiding values of 100% customer happiness principle and high-quality service approach. We have launched our istanbulhomes.com webpage. We continue to expand fast with the combination of technology, innovation, and market knowledge in the real estate market.
In 2017, our mobile application was launched in the App Store and Google Play Store in 9 languages with its user-friendly design and easy-to-use service. Although all our websites are optimized for mobile web browsing, our application improves our customers’ property purchase experiences thanks to its faster loading times and search optimizations.
In 2018, we have become the pioneer in the cryptocurrency field with Bitcoin by adding it among our payment methods. 12 properties are sold with Bitcoin in a year, and in May 2020, we have performed the highest valued property sale paid by Bitcoin.
In 2020, the Covid-19 was declared as a global pandemic at the end of the first quarter, and this global crisis accelerates the digital transformation in the real estate sector for the continuation of the business. Thanks to our digital infrastructure, we have integrated our remote property buying service that we are implementing since 2008, under our registered brand name TeleProperty.
In 2021, in addition to TeleProperty, we offer the TeleMortgage system for our customers. TeleMortgage removes the need for you to be there in person for the mortgage application process. By choosing the property you want before sending the necessary documents, you will get the results of your application in 24 hours. Finally, you will only have to sign KYC documents when you come to Turkey. Istanbul Homes follows the whole process on behalf of you.
By taking the required precautions, we continue to give a smooth and transparent property purchase process with TeleProperty service for customers by ensuring their 100% happiness.
We are delighted to see that all our efforts are appreciated by industry experts as well as our customers:
"Well done agent. Using entirely digital tools to prove you can transact this way. Lastly, I was interested purely because I was working with Antalya Homes about 10 years ago in a past life, promoting developments around the world. They were always forward-thinking so it’s good to see them continuing to push boundaries."
James Dearsley.
