一家上海本地的网络公司目前推出了一项全新的网上房产服务。

　　买房者只需键入www.fangcool.com，然后再点击他们感兴趣的房子，就立刻能在这套房子里进行一次虚拟“看房”，跟实际到现场看房差别不大。

　　E-YOUNG Information Tech Co Ltd, a local dot.com company, hopes to share profits with housing agents by offering virtual reality real estate information through the Internet in an unusual way to sell properties.

　　In September e-Young started its Website (www.fangcool.com), which enables surfers to take a visual tour of apartments they are interested in. The company is the first to offer the technology in China's real estate business.“The service could save clients much time in looking for an apartment,”said Liu Li, general manager of e-Young Information Tech Co Ltd.“We are targeting a 20 percent share of Shanghai's second-hand apartment market.”

　　E-Young sent cameramen to take videos and photos of the more than 300 apartments that are listed for sale on its Website. The firm is able to provide not only text but also picture information of the properties.

　　“Traditional agents can only offer brief introduction of their properties in their office, so home seekers often have to pay frequent visits to different homes,”said Huang Jie, who is selling his apartment in Minghang District.“A lot of time and effort is wasted when buyers are not satisfied with most of the apartments they viewed.

　　“The new business model will allow potential buyers to see the apartments they are keen on first,”Huang said.

　　The charge for putting the apartment information on the Website is not prohibitive. E-Young charges 280 yuan (US.80) from the house owners for the service, and there's no commission to pay to the agent.

　　Property agents normally require a combined 1 percent of the property price as commission from the buyers and sellers. That means for a 1-million-yuan apartment, the agent's commission will amount to a combined 10,000 yuan from the buyer and seller.

　　In the first half of this year, about 130,000 second-hand apartments were traded in Shanghai, representing a potential market for Liu.

　　But traditional real estate firms like Shanghai Stanford Residential Property Services said it will wait and see whether the virtual reality method is effective before following suit.

　　“There are not many options on the company's Website yet, so I think most clients will still come to traditional agents before the Website can catch up with us,”said Yu Jing, an executive of Shanghai Stanford, adding that it takes a lot of money and time to prepare the information on the Website.

　　Underground Tutor

　　词汇快车

　　dot.com company网络公司

　　virtual虚拟的

　　second-hand apartment二手房

　　real estate房地产

　　enable使能够

　　cameraman摄影师

　　frequent频繁的

　　prohibitive禁止

　　commission代理费，佣金option选择(权)