Robert Hoban Email & Phone Number

Dublin, Ie

I founded Offr with a clear and simple goal, to change the way property is bought and sold; to make it faster, more transparent and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Dublin, Ie

Offr is an innovative smart mobile technology, changing the way property is bought and sold in Ireland and UK by injecting transparency and speed into an infamously slow and opaque process. Using the Offr button on their sites, commercial and residential agents can now conduct property sales in a simple, fast, digital and transparent environment, instantly delivering a ground breaking new experience to buyers, sellers and solicitors.Over €15bn of commercial and residential property changes hands in Ireland every year. There is little transparency for agent, buyer, seller, solicitor or bank and the average sale takes over 6 months from start to finish. The stress and financial cost of this illiquidity to the consumer, to the investor, to small business and to the economy overall is considerable. Offr is set to change all that.

I have combined my depth of experience in the Irish residential and commercial property markets and my experiences & fascination with the development of technology to focus my energies on supporting viable opportunities within the burgeoning prop-tech space.

As senior director from its inception, I played a pivotal role in the establishment and management of what grew from start-up to become Ireland’s largest and most successful property auction house, selling 5,000 properties at a capital value of over €1bn. I subsequently oversaw the enterprise’s transition from traditional to online auctions and helped develop the pioneering proprietary technology to establish Europe’s first fully online end-to-end property auction house, from catalogue to contract. I had additional responsibility for multiple briefs: Auctioneering, Client Development, Research & Data Analysis, Marketing & Public Relations, and Technology.I held various positions within the growing firm, including Director of Auctions, Senior Auctioneer, Commercial Director and Managing Director of technology.The inaugural Allsop Space auction took place on 15th April 2011 in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, with the world's media watching. The auction raised €15m in 5 hours, with 81 out of 82 lots selling. 2,500 people attended the auction and 20% of the properties sold to foreign buyers bidding from abroad. The event is widely credited with kick-starting the moribund Irish property market.

As Commercial Director, I successfully expanded the firm’s client base with the aim of extending the reach into the world of private equity, bringing new business into the firm with the goal of changing both the profile of client and the profile of property sold. Larger value commercial properties and residential investments became the norm and the average lot size grew as a direct result.

As company spokesperson, I was charged with handling all of the company’s media appearances and public relations, so as to position the company correctly in the marketplace and ensure the global message was on point. The auctions garnered widespread global attention, with many US, UK and European media outlets covering the events, in addition to the domestic press. I was a regular contributor on the property market to prime time TV and radio business and current affairs programmes, and penned several articles and columns in the national press. These included:RTE's Prime TimeThe Pat Kenny ShowThe Marion Finucane ShowThe Right HookIrish Independent, Irish Times, Sunday Business Post

With a particular interest in market data, research and analysis, I handled the research elements of the firm for the majority of my tenure, culminating in the Investment Digest, a collaboration with Marie Hunt, Head of Research, CBRE. It was the first time in Ireland that an attempt was made to analyse activity across the Irish commercial property sector in its entirety, on a half yearly basis, looking at the full investment spectrum from the small €100k regional sale to the €1bn shopping centre trade.

After training, I became Senior Rostrum Auctioneer, whereby I was charged with successfully conducting the auctions from the podium, alongside my fellow auctioneers from the UK. I personally brought the gavel down on over 1,000 properties, with a capital value of over €200 million. A typical session would last 3-4 hours without break and would see the sale of 70+ properties, with the gavel falling every 3 minutes. This was in addition to discharging my duties as Director of Auctions in preparation for the auctions.

As Director of Auctions, my brief included winning instructions from clients, managing the successful curation of commercial and residential properties by the surveying team, culminating in the binding sale by auction in the format of large, multi-lot live room auctions. A typical auction would see the sale of 200-300 properties across one or two day events, raising a capital value of €40m - €50m. Bidders would attend from far and wide and attendance would be in the order of 500-1,000 bidders. International bidders were facilitated by way of live telephone and internet bidding.

I managed the in-house technology department consisting of a Senior Architect and a team of developers. The technology provided services to all of the group companies. The stated aim was to continually improve upon the proprietary auction technology, to target new sources of revenue, to maintain the online dominance by the firm of the industry, and to ensure scalability.

Dublin, Ie

Specialising in sales, valuations and advice in estate management of country houses, estates and farms across Ireland.

Worked as CAD technician on numerous projects in Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports including the construction of Pier C in Dublin.

Molesworth Street , Dublin 2, Ie

Ie

Bachelor'S Degree, Law

Electrical And Electronic Engineering

Leaving Certificate 535 Points, Maths, Applied Maths, Physics, French, English, Art, Irish