Real Estate and technology initiatives – OM Property Solutions (M. Schirning)

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BURN R120 MILLION OF R10 NOTES?

> Yowzer! A US internet real estate company, Goldman Sachs funded-Zethus,

> recently filed for banckruptcy after reportedly burning through $15

> million in less than a year and a half. That's more than R120 million!

>

> A recent report from Banc of America Securities called 'Real Estate and

> Technology' indicates that Goldman has lots of company. The report lists

> 84 real estate dot-com companies (both commercial and residential) that

> are out of business or almost out of business. And collectively these

> companies must have run through hundreds of millions dollars. The report

> is particularly skeptical of transaction-related companies - '....many of

> these transaction-related companies are having a hard time convincing

> users to log on and conduct business online, especially for large

> transactions.' For sure.

>

> Suddenly I'm not so sad that SA is a bit behind the times when it comes to

> property and the internet! Hopefully we'll take to heart the lessons

> learned (expensively!) in the States.