A firm which provides online comparison services in conveyancing has acquired a legal service as it ramps up its plans to penetrate the estate agency introducer market.
ULS Technology already owns a one-third stake in the HomeOwners Alliance, which it acquired last year, and operates an estate agency comparison website www.estateagent4me.co.uk
This is offered directly to the public through the HomeOwners Alliance website. Members of the public submit fairly basic information online and in return get details of the supposedly best performing agents in their area, based on such factors as fees and time to sell.
According to ULS, however, the explicit purpose of the tool is “to grow its conveyancing market share”.
ULS, which is AIM-listed and based in Oxfordshire, has now acquired Conveyancing Alliance for £7.2m, plus an earn-out until the end of March 2019. Altogether, the maximum price will be £12.5m.
ULS says its estateagent4me tool will now be used to help Conveyancing Alliance grow its volumes in the estate agency sector.
Conveyancing Alliance was originally part of Badger, owners of estate agents Townend, before being sold as a separate entity to its management, led by Harpal Singh.
Conveyancing Alliance currently operates under three brands, Conveyancing Alliance and Agency Convey which both target the estate agency sector, and Broker Conveyancing, targeted at the mortgage broker sector.
The business, which had revenues of £4.4m in 2015, allows agents and brokers to introduce new customers’ cases via Conveyancing Alliance’s software platform, which then enables them to instruct from a panel of conveyancers.
Ben Thompson, CEO of ULS, said: “This acquisition is central to our strategy of growing market share in the UK conveyancing market and pursuing further growth via introductions from the estate agency market.
“Around half of all UK conveyancing is bought by consumers following estate agent recommendations.
“Currently ULS has little presence in this sector, which is one of the reasons that the strategic fit with Conveyancing Alliance is so strong.”
The HomeOwners Alliance, which sets out its stall as the independent home owners’ champion, encourages members of the public to find the best estate agent for them by using the estateagent4me tool.
The tool was launched on the HomeOwners Alliance site last summer, with chief executive Paula Higgins saying at the time: “We want to take the chance and risk out of choosing an estate agent, and help home owners choose one that is best suited for them based on hard data about the agent’s local performance.
“Home sellers can take an informed decision, whether it’s based on getting the highest asking price, selling quickest or how much they pay in fees.
“We know that estate agents are a critical part of the home selling process, so we’re pleased to be able to showcase the best ones. And in a way that allows people to properly research agents outside of office hours and from the comfort of their own sofa.”
Just looked at estateagent4me website for my area and the information provided regarding agents performance appears widely inaccurate. Rang them and the explanation given as to how they obtain their information clearly explains why it is unreliable. Does anybody actually use this site?
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“…the explanation given as to how they obtain their information clearly explains why it is unreliable.”
Oh, fluter – you are such a tease! Aren’t you in a caring, sharing kinda mood?
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Oh go on, if you insist PeeBee. Random samples of unspecified number of properties over a limited geographic area does not tend to provide accurate information with regards to % of ORIGINAL asking price achieved against actual selling price.
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Oh… how true, Sir!
That’s just ONE of their issues.
But… MY Agency looks ****** good on there so I’m keeping schtumm! ;o)
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We have developed a tool that can give a far more accurate assessment of performance….just need the investment to market it.
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… he said, in no way trying to find donors.
😉
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Sorry, but that’s not quite true….if anyone wants to donate they are free to do so, and I would be most welcoming :)….but I strongly suspect people will want a return on any money they put in!!!
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Looks like they are scraping Zoopla for their data – similar to what GetAgent do for example.
Once they get leads they bombard them with calls and emails asking them for conveyancing, life insurance etc etc.
HOA has set itself up to look like it is championing home owners rights and helping them in some way. In reality everything they do, every article they write and every press release they put out is designed to push the consumer in to giving up their data in return for conveyancing quotes. They are being compensated by their conveyancing panel and they make a lot of money. Therefore, I would say that they do not offer independent advice and the whole thing is a front. But, they’ve done amazingly well in the 5 years it’s been running.
They also use org.uk for their TLD – which is usually associated with charities. Very naughty.
Conveyancing, mortgages, other loans, life insurance are big big business – far bigger than estate agency fees.
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PeeBee,
Reply to your comment on 23 December:
goo.gl/O9Qy2I
Copy short URL
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I’m onto it, LondonR90. Will absorb and respond – give me a couple of days, though!
#HNY2017 to you!
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