ATHENS NEWS NEWSPAPER FEATURED GEORGE STROUMBOULIS IN ARTICLE ON INVESTMENT FROM OUTSIDE GREECE
George Stroumboulis was featured in Greece’s oldest English-language newspaper, Athens News, in an article titled “The Real (Estate) Deal”.
Athens News (athensnews.gr) reporter, Kathy Tzilivakis, interviewed GPE founder, Georgios Stroumboulis for the article. The article outlined why GreekPropertyExchange.com was created and how it serves international property seekers looking for real estate in Greece.
The full page article was featured in the March 18th, 2011 issue of Athens News – available nationally on newsstands and online. The release of this article also coincided with the Property 2011 Real Estate Tradeshow at the HelExpo in Athens. To read the full article, see below.
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The real (estate) deal
by Kathy Tzilivakis
IT STARTED two years ago when Greek Canadian George Stroumboulis arrived in the southwest Peloponnesian town of Kalamata in hopes of buying his dream summer home. He returned to Canada empty-handed and deeply discouraged. “The whole process seemed so confusing,” Stroumboulis, a seasoned marketing manager, says. “I was being pulled around. I didn’t know where to start my search.”
That’s when he hit on the idea of a new Greek real estate website. Stroumboulis, the founder of BouliBrand - a boutique marketing and branding firm in New York - put all his work experience into the creation of greekpropertyexchange.com.
“I had seen a couple of competitive sites and I really wanted to create an easy platform for Greeks living around the world - not just Greeks but foreigners too.”
Welcome back Its launch coincided with last year’s real estate trade show in Athens. Stroumboulis will be back for this year’s event, scheduled to take place on March 18-20.
“I had seen a couple of competitive sites and I really wanted to create an easy platform for Greeks living around the world - not just Greeks but foreigners too,” he says.
“I came back in September really motivated. I started mapping everything out. I launched the website a year ago. Since then it’s been me and my developers. I was just contacting agents and developers in Greece and telling them about my passion I have to help. They are all very motivating and they’ve given me a lot of feedback.”
According to Stroumboulis, his approach is trying to focus on areas that are not being marketed on the big websites for Greece which “are more geared towards the British,” he notes. “But what about people in Vancouver or Washington? There’s really no platform for a lot of Greeks or people who love Greece. That’s what I’m doing.”
The number of daily hits on his site is on the rise, with about 2,600 properties currently listed. “It’s very encouraging,” he admits. “In the mornings I make my frappe and go online to check the site. Every day I see more properties being uploaded and more agents. There are over 700 agents already.”
On March 18, Stroumboulis will host a special gathering of all the agents. The meeting will be on the sidelines of the Athens expo. “What I’m trying to do is to bring all the agents together,” he explains. “I want to bring them all in one room, shake some hands and see the people behind the computer screen.”
“What I’m trying to do is to bring all the agents together. I want to bring them all in one room, shake some hands and see the people behind the computer screen.”
And the economy? Stroumboulis knows the Greek economy is in dire straits. “Absolutely, but here’s the thing,” he points out. “If I were to listen to my relatives living in Greece, they are all saying I’m wasting my time because Greeks are doomed here. For me that’s a challenge. I know I can do something better, drawing on my marketing background.”
On the upside, it’s a buyer’s market - a good time for foreign investors. According to analysts, Greeks are starting to lose their properties (residential, commercial and land) due to unmanageable debts, foreclosures and refinancing restrictions. “It’s a time when people losing their properties are trying to get quick money,” Stroumboulis adds. “This means it’s a perfect time to better market their property. So this is like a great introduction for this website - to help people easily market it.”
Requirements to post a property are fairly simple, he says. “Basically, all a seller needs is two photos of the property and some basic computer skills. No cash or credit cards are necessary.”
So far, people from 104 countries around the world regularly visit the site. “It’s wonderful to see Australians, Americans, South Africans, Germans and a lot of Russians” checking the site regularly, Stroumboulis adds.
What makes your site unique? It’s the way we present the properties and the fact we are so user friendly. That’s what differentiates us from the competition. We take a sniper approach as opposed to a shotgun approach. We make sure we target markets where we know there are a lot of Greeks and lovers of Greece.
Brief bio GEORGE Stroumboulis is a Greek Canadian living in New York where he runs his own marketing firm. The greekpropertyexchange.com website he started two years ago is a self-funded project. “My mother is from Kalamata and my dad is from Evia,” he says. “I was born in Canada. Every summer I used to visit Greece. When I got older, I started going to the islands with friends. As a Greek, no matter where, you always have a connection with Greece,” he adds. Summing up his dream, Stroumboulis says, “I live in New York now but I’ve always wanted to do something to help Greece. That’s the passion I’ve been talking about.”
