Name of your website?Propertastic! – International Property & Real Estate Resource
Your name?
Nick Pendrell
Your Location (city, etc)
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Propertastic! provides independent and unbiased coverage of developments in the emerging property markets of Eastern Europe and the developing Mediterranean, including Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Poland, Morocco, Egypt, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania & Serbia.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I was looking to invest in real estate in an emerging market that offers good short-term prospects for growth. I tried to find a site that would allow me to compare markets like Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Montenegro side-by-side to see which had the most potential. However, I could find nothing like this. So I decided to create such a site because it filled a very important need.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
In 2001. It sold ebooks. Unfortunately the timing was wrong (immediately post 9/11) and it didn't take off.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Propertastic! came about because we wanted to show that the site had a personality and wasn't as dry and dull as most real estate sites. It portrays excitement and rolls off the tongue nicely. Being a very general name, it has the ability to become a brand that can be used in any arena (i.e book, magazine publishing, exhibitions, seminars, etc.)
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
There are no other sites that offers all of the resources of Propertastic! in one place. I asked myself the question "what information would I need to buy a property from start to finish?" It therefore starts off by giving key statistics from each of the market, an overview about potential, a buyer's guide, breaking new from each market, resources such as agents, lawyers, notaries, etc. and the ability to ask questions of other users.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The ultimate goal is that the Propertastic! website will be the foundation of a brand that will cover other areas related to international property and real estate that covers book and magazine publishing, radio and TV programmes, seminars and exhibitions, etc.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Propertastic! only launched three weeks ago and is just at the start of its life. So currently it has been a very big investment in time and money for very little return! But I am patient - the results will come in time.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Propertastic! is constantly in a state of development. New facilities are being added to the site constantly in order to make it more and more of a useful resource for visitors.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Our business plan is based upon getting really big, really quickly and so we have plans in place for when this happens.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Propertastic! was alway an ambitious project. The development of it took six months instead of the planned three months to get online.
What has been your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge is going to be for the site to get seen in a very crowded marketplace.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We are in the early stages of promoting the site. To date issuing press releases on market developments has achieved the best results.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It is proving to be harder than we expected in order to attract visitors to the site.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The site has only been live for three weeks and so it is early days. Creating it has taken a great deal of investment in terms of time and money. I'm very stubborn and know that there is an almost infinite amount of ways of promoting the site and so will continue until I am completely out of ideas for bringing new visitors to the site.
Which countries are covered by your site?
Propertastic! covers property and real estate in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Montenegro, Egypt, Morocco, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Serbia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
What is your website address?
Propertastic! – International Property & Real Estate Resource
