VBO Makelaar

Data solutions for the real estate market

Interview with Hans van der Ploeg about data solutions for the real estate market.

Challenge

When we ask Hans why VBO started working with us, he explains that they were looking for data and expertise. “As an industry association for brokers and appraisers, we collect a lot of data about objects and visitor behavior on our website. We wanted to use that data to develop products that would benefit our members. But because our primary job is advocacy and education, we lacked a lot of expertise in the field of data and technology. We have a lot of raw data, but that is only useful if you unleash technical computing power on it. So you need mathematicians and econometricians for this, which we don’t have. The collaboration with Matrixian enabled us to develop a powerful tool that allows our members to assign reliable model values to almost every residential property in the Netherlands. These model values have a high reliability percentage. Very useful.”

We ask Hans what a model value is. He explains it with the help of an example. “Suppose you live in postal code 1234 AB, house number 1. Then I can tell you immediately what your house is worth. Quite accurate even. We call this home valuation that is based on data and home characteristics, a model value. It is a tool of course, because I still think that the appraiser is the only one who can determine the real value, but with this system he can do his job even better.”

Approach

When we ask Hans about the Matrixian approach, he responds positive. “You understand me. I have been an entrepreneur since I was seventeen and appreciate speed and dynamism. You think the same and are able to think ‘out of the box’. With these skills you are able to realize fast results. Besides, you also serve customers in related industries, such as the energy sector. Of course they also have a lot of data in house that can be relevant for us, and vice versa. It is therefore very interesting to see which data can be combined, so that we can make products together that will make everyone happy. I think these days are about sharing and giving. You can put fences around your own data, but that will block progress.”

Results

“Ten years ago, data was not so important in our organization. We did collect it, but in a very unstructured way. It was such a mess that we threw everything away and started again with Matrixian. That is definitely our biggest gain in recent years. We started to see how much value data has and what you can do with it. Especially if you enrich it. I think that is a great outcome that has emerged from the collaboration.”

In addition, Hans explains that various products have been created as a result of the collaboration. “Data and knowledge sharing produces all kinds of alternative products. In addition to the model values, we have also developed, for example, a wonderful assessment system for WOZ values, with which our members can advise their customers via a simple test whether it makes sense to object to a WOZ value. If you first send an appraiser to have a report written, you will lose a few hundred euros, without knowing whether you will yield even a cent. With a WOZ value assessment, based on our model values, our members can estimate your chances in advance. These are developments that really benefit consumers, and therefore our members.”

Finally we ask Hans if the collaboration cost a lot of money. Hans: “yes, a collaboration costs money. But tell me something useful that is for free. You have to look at what it brings you. We have jointly enriched, sharpened and improved our data in order to build beautiful products that benefit our members. It is an investment of great success.”

Related products