Visitors to the IOLProperty website can now search classified and print advertisements for the home of their dreams at the same time as they search online listings.

After almost four months of research and development, IOLProperty has launched the groundbreaking "single search" facility, which uses character recognition software to integrate print property adverts with the site's huge database of web listings.

"Our new print publication database contains more than 1 600 print pages from 10 weekly publications," says IOLProperty GM Grant Leigh. 

"This gives us 5 000 new listings a week to add to our massive database of online listings, which has more than 270 000 entries on any given day."

"This guarantees the people visiting our website instant access to South Africa's most comprehensive collection of properties for sale or to let."

The publications from which the print listings are sourced cover Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. They are the Saturday Star Property Guide, Property Trader Eastern Johannesburg, Property Trader East Rand, Property Trader Pretoria East & Centurion, Property Trader Pretoria North, Moot & Central, the Sunday Tribune Property Guide, the Homeguide, Property Trader Northern Suburbs & Western Seaboard, Property Trader Garden Route & Karoo and the Property Seller.

"These publications are uploaded to the website just after they are released on the street," says Leigh, "so their latest contents can always be accessed electronically on IOLProperty.

"However, home seekers no longer have to page through them sequentially. You just conduct a normal property search on IOLProperty and a tab appears in the search results that allows you to see print adverts for listings in the suburbs you were searching - a 'single search'. We believe that this is a world first for a property website," Leigh said.

Dave Asher, Sales Manager at Independent Newspapers KZN, is ecstatic about this most recent development from IOLProperty. 

"Independent Newspapers had been tasked by our property advertisers a long time ago to come up with the best possible online solution both for property advertisers and consumers, and I believe that with this website we have achieved just that," said Asher. 

"A single search facility using only one property website is the easiest way to find properties available for sale or rent online. It takes away the need to search several different property websites every time you want to look at what is available on the market. Now all one needs to do is run one single search on iolproperty.co-DOT-za and you are guaranteed that the results are accurate, up to date and a true representation of what is available in the area of your choice." 

For more information, contact: grant.leigh-AT-iolproperty.co.za

Sunday Tribune