Modeling and simulating a smart information-based real estate online platform

We propose and study a novel O2O business model for real-estate purchases, called Information-based Real-Estate Platform (iREP in short). The new model leverages the power of Internet and mobile Apps for connecting directly the customers via a federation of human expert agents which work in a loosely coupled relation and on-demand basis. The unique features of this O2O model include: the use of mobile Apps in engaging customers together with selected agents, better resource sharing and allocation of the human agents, and relatively higher-speed of transactions by liberating the restrictions of agents. Unlike the traditional sales models where agents were dedicated to specific property agency companies, this one-stop model enables wider range of products to be marketed to all the potential buyers, leading to better matching between demands and supplies. iREP is modeled using BPR modeling tool for illustrating its model structure and the values that flow within the federation framework among the parties involved. Then the value model is subject to business process re-engineering simulation, for demonstrating how the dynamic processed are streamlined, thereby creating net values for both the developers and the end-consumers.