Frequently Asked Questions

Sales Data FAQ's

• Where is the sales data currently available?
  
• How do I find the sale price for a particular property?
  
• A house that sold recently isn't showing up on your site.  When will the updates be displayed?
  
• How can I narrow my search criteria with regards to timeframe, e.g. properties sold within the last twelve months?

REX FAQ's

• What is the REX (Real Estate Exchange) Service?
• What are Median Values?
• What is the Property Price Index?
  

Real Estate Agent FAQ's

• Why should I list with onthehouse.com.au?
• How will an agent receive an enquiry on a listing?
• I upload my data to the major portals through an outsourced service provider or 'portal pusher/multi-loader'.  Will I be able to have my data also sent to onthehouse.com.au via this service?
• I don't outsource my data uploads, how do I list directly with onthehouse.com.au.
• Are any of your shareholders part of a real estate franchise system (i.e. my competition)?
• Your site looks good at the moment but will it be bombarded with distracting advertisements in the future?
• What other services will you offer to agents?
• What sort of technology does onthehouse.com.au use?

General FAQ's

• I have forgotten my username.
• I have forgotten my password.
• How do I sign up for email alerts?
• Will my contact details remain private?

Sales Data FAQ's

Where is the sales data currently available?

We currently source our property sales data from the Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory Government departments. We are currently pursuing the data from other states, but if you would like to be notified when your state is online, please register your interest here. If you would like to know more, please email us at info@onthehouse.com.au.

 

How do I find the sale price for a particular property?

To find out the last sale information for a property, you can access the reports section of the website and perform a street or property sale report.

Alternatively, to find a sale price on the map:

1. Go to the home page - www.onthehouse.com.au
2. Click on the tab “Buy & Sold”
3. Type in the suburb you are looking for in the search box, select the number of bedrooms you are after and click the search button
4. You now have two options:
• You can scroll through all the suburb sales and listings results using the list on the left hand side of the page
• Alternatively, you can use the map on the right to zoom in to the particular properties you are interested in and click on the icon to get more information on the property. To have a better view you can also expand the map

 

A house that sold recently isn't showing up on your site.  When will the updates be displayed?

We load weekly updates to the sales data, however the lag time for updates differ for each state, as we get the data directly from the relevant Government authority.  These authorities take time to collate and release this data and in some cases a sale may take up to 3 months to display in a report.

How can I narrow my search criteria with regards to timeframe, e.g. properties sold within the last twelve months?

When searching for properties on the map/list view, only the last sale price for the properties is displayed.

However, by joining as an onthehouse.com.au member you are able to access our reports and search full sale histories for any particular property, suburb or street, as well as limit the search to sold houses within a certain period of time. This service provides you with many more options and more defined results.

To find out more about our reports, or to join, please go to: http://www.onthehouse.com.au/sold_info/

 

Real Estate Exchange FAQ's

 What is the REX (Real Estate Exchange) Service?

 The Australian public has been unable to freely obtain information about property values.  Home owners are worried about the value of their home.  At the same time, property hunters are not able to monitor value movement by region.  Unlike shares which can be monitored on the ASX, consumers do not have access to a tool which allows them to freely benchmark and monitor their most important asset, their home.  The REX service is designed to service this need.  Onthehouse.com.au provides the actual sold data from properties sales on an individual property, street or suburb basis.  Now, the REX services analyses the property values movements by region, whilst also allowing consumers to “drill down” to the actual underlying sales data (licensed from State & Territory Government).

 

What are Median values?

The median value displayed by region in the REX service is the value of the middle sale in that region of the target period.  For example, if there were 15 sales in a suburb arranged from lowest to highest sales price, the price of the 8th property will be the median value.  Median values are commonly used by the real estate profession as a guide on value movements in a region of time.  Whilst a useful guide, assessment of the value of a particular property should be considered against comparative properties sold and preferably for sale to assess current value of a particular property. The median price is a “big picture” snapshot of sales and often ignores micro-markets within suburbs and cities. No suburb is homogenous and prices can vary significantly within small geographical areas or even between streets.  The onthehouse sold data may be used for this purpose and is freely available on the site.

 

What is the Property Price Index?

The Property Price Index indices are calculated using the repeat sales method, which uses data on properties that have sold at least twice during a time frame.   The source of the data used for the indices is from the government.  The model measures the average growth in single-family home price for each quarter as an index value.  Onthehouse.com.au also calculates the values of every property sold back in the base period and calculate the median value of those figures.  The base period is the earliest date of the repeat sales used.  The Index is then applied to the median value to create a better representation of the residential property market.

The repeat sales method was developed by Case-Schiller and is widely used and accepted. It is used by government statistical divisions including the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Standards & Poors in the USA.

 

Real Estate Agent FAQ's

Why should I list with onthehouse.com.au?

Our motto is "why not?".  onthehouse.com.au is a free service for agents which has sought to address many of the concerns real estate agents have with the industry as it currently stands.

 

How will an agent receive an enquiry on a listing?

Your logo and contact details will be displayed on every property listing (assuming you have provided your logo) so buyers will contact you using their preferred method, be it email or phone.

 

I upload my data to the major portals through an outsourced service provider or 'portal pusher/multi-loader'.  Will I be able to have my data also sent to onthehouse.com.au via this service?

Yes, onthehouse.com.au is currently listed with many of these service providers.  If your service provider does not push listings to onthehouse.com.au, just let us know and we will contact them to try and arrange something for you.

 

I don't outsource my data uploads, how do I list directly with onthehouse.com.au?

To set up an agent profile please contact us.  We can create an agent account with several logins for individual agents under that account.  From there you simply login to the site and create your own listings.

 

Are any of your shareholders part of a real estate franchise system (i.e. my competition)?

No, we are a privately owned company which is not in any way aligned with any real estate agencies/franchise systems.  We prefer to keep things at 'arm's length' which enables us to be unbiased with our operations and provide you with a top notch service.

 

Your site looks good at the moment but will it be bombarded with distracting advertisements in the future?

Our aim is to keep distracting advertisements to a minimum.  We will of course require some advertising as a means of offsetting the free listings we offer to you.

 

What other services will you offer to agents?

Apart from the free property sales data we currently offer, we are developing a much more extensive database of sales data which will be available to all users of the site.

We also offer agents free banner advertising throughout search results - also free of charge.  Our technology will examine the level of content posted by each agency in a region per month and generate an agent advertisement in each search results page relevant to the enquiry.  For instance, if a search of West End in Queensland generated 100 properties for sale, then each page of 20 property listings would contain an agent advertisement, selected and ranked by quantity of listings of the agents in that region.

Phase 2 of our development process (under construction as we speak) includes the creation of extensive reporting features.  We will collate and analyse data from the site and make it available to you as a valuable resource tool.

On completion of phase 2 of our development process, each agent's office location will be represented as an icon on the onthehouse.com.au mapping features.  Each icon will capture each agent's logo and contact details.  Of course, this only applies to agents who have listed properties with us.

onthehouse.com.au will listen to agent feedback and strive to provide agents with the services and features which are most important to them.

 

What sort of technology does onthehouse.com.au use?

onthehouse.com.au has strived to provide consumers with the latest in technology.  Our site features:

• Search results displayed on dynamic, interactive google maps.  As the contents of the map are changed by the user scrolling or zooming, the search criteria updates itself accordingly.
• Search results displayed by user preference (in a map, list, or both).
• User can browse by means of an interactive map, drilling down through states through to regions and sub regions.
• Javascript technologies such as AJAX utilised throughout so as to enhance the user experience.
• An interactive photo gallery, providing the user with a slideshow.

 

General FAQ's

I have forgotten my username.

Your username is your email address.

 

I have forgotten my password.

Click here to have your password emailed to you.

 

How do I sign up for email alerts?

You will first need to become a member of onthehouse.com.au by completing your details in the 'Join' tab.  You can then sign up for email alerts via the 'My Alerts' section in 'My Profile'.

 

Will my contact details remain private?

Yes, unless you submit an enquiry on a property or an enquiry is made on your property.  At that point, sellers and buyers details are exchanged and forwarded to both.  We take your privacy seriously, please see our Privacy Policy for further information.