Proptech start-up Mogul.sg has devised a new service that speeds up the search process for home seekers, it announced yesterday.
Its search portal - also called Mogul.sg - has a database of around 5,000 custom keywords that describe the characteristics of the property so a user can zero in on a relevant home much faster.
This is a departure from the standard approach, which lets users filter a search by selecting from a small number of parameters like location, price and type of property.
But that can mean being swamped by hundreds or even thousands of potential homes.
The Mogul.sg portal allows searches to be more focused. If a user keys in "near North-South line", all listings within half a kilometre from an MRT station along the red line will be shown.
Adding a second key phrase, "near supermarket", lets the system filter out homes that are more than 300m away from a supermarket.
The ad-free search system makes use of the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) OneMap geospatial data. OneMap provides information on multiple building types and amenities like hawker centres, schools and expressway exits.
Mogul.sg is one of the pioneer start-ups housed at the SLA's GeoWorks industry centre, which connects and supports geospatial businesses, entrepreneurs and users.
Mogul.sg chief executive and founder Gerald Sim said: "The proliferation of property portals over the last decade offers consumers more choices, but the search process has become too complex and unwieldy.
"Mogul.sg aims to use artificial intelligence to simplify these processes and make the matching between property owners and home seekers easier and more transparent."
Mr Sim said the firm charges agents for listing properties on its platform. Membership fees are split into basic and premium tiers.
The first year on the basic membership is free, with an annual fee of $365 from the second year. Agents are charged $200 in their first year as premium members and $500 a year from the second. Each tier allows agents to have unlimited photo uploads. The basic tier allows for 18 concurrent listings while the premium tier allows for video uploads and 38 concurrent listings.
Mr Sim said: "Additionally, Mogul.sg is working to build a small property concierge team selected from best-of-breed agents from the industry.
"They will help to match home seekers with home owners on Mogul.sg. Eventually, Mogul.sg will charge the property concierge a subscription fee, but we are still working out the numbers."
