INTERVIEW: Ronnie Sang Jr., CEO at LoopImoveis.com

For the third consecutive year, Miami Beach was the backdrop to yet another successful Global Online Marketplaces Summit. 

Over 230 attendees from around the world took part in three information and networking-packed days, among them Ronnie Sang Jr., Co-founder, and CEO at LoopImoveis.com who was kind enough to grant us an interview.

Founded in 2016, Loopimóveis.com is an online real estate marketplace connecting buyers, sellers, and renters with properties in Brazil. The company states that it is the very first real estate portal in Brazil to offer pre-qualified leads to the local market.

ONLINE MARKETPLACES: What do you see as your biggest challenge(s) in the emerging race to the transaction model?
RONNIE SANG JR: I believe that there are two big challenges. One is not to irritate your current customer as they might see you as a competitor and you might lose some revenue. The other is the fact that selling a property and mortgages are a totally different business, have to deal with a lot of people and people can complicate growth. 

OM: What new, or innovative products, methods or processes are you or your company implementing?
RSJ: We have purchased several real estate agencies and we are getting on the transaction now. We are using our lead qualification and lead management intelligence from the portal to feed hot leads to our brokers through a matchmaking app. In other words, we generate the lead and talk to them on the qualification process, so we have a very good understanding of the buyer wants. So once that buyer is ready to buy, we match he/she with a broker that is specialized in the specific region of the city that the buyer is interested. By doing the matchmaking we are able to offer a better experience for the buyer. 

OM: What do you see as the biggest, or most pressing issue in the property portal world now?
RSJ: Portals are definitely looking for more sources of income. Lots of conversation on getting to the transaction, selling secondary services like mortgages and insurances. It will be interesting to see in the next few years how creative portals will get in order to generate other revenue streams. 

OM: Is there anything that your company is doing now, or has done, which you believe sets you apart from other property portals or competitors in your market?
RSJ: Yes, we are now and end to end solution. We have a product for end-users to search for properties. We have a real estate agency with a large volume of brokers and we pay the highest commission in the local market. By paying the highest incentive in the market we have ceased the risk of the broker getting our lead and selling a property behind our backs. By avoiding that risk we have a high incentive to train our brokers because we know they will stay with us for a long time. And we believe that trained brokers offer a better experience for the buyer. 

OM: What is the one thing that you would have done differently when you started in your role at your company, knowing what you know now? 
RSJ: I would definitely have adopted a different marketing strategy and would have pivoted to the transaction model sooner. 

OM: What other portals, besides your own, or people, or companies, do you see as innovators/leaders in their field, and why?
RSJ: In Brazil, we have Quinto Andar that is reinvented rental market, I like what they are doing and we wish to do something similar in the for sale industry in Brazil. 

OM: If you had to pick two things, what would be your two takeaways from the conference?
RSJ: Portals are definitely pushing toward the transaction but it is very unclear on how they are going to do that. Data privacy was another issue that was important. 

Join us November 12-15 for the Property Portal Watch Conference Madrid 2019.