A new regionally focused property portal has been launched as an alternative to the main property websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla.
Three independent estate agents are behind the new property search platform, which aims to appeal to estate agents, buyers and sellers on a local level.
Localmove.co.uk has been developed by Acres, Green & Company and Paul Carr, which have 26 branch offices between them in Sutton Coldfield and the immediate surrounding area in North Birmingham.
With other local agents on board, the trio claim that it gives local buyers access to more than 70% of properties in the borough and they expect to reach 90% soon.
This is the latest example of local agents across the UK teaming up to develop an alternative portal solution after becoming disillusioned with national portals’ fees, according to Nigel Deekes of Acres, and director of Localmove.
He said: “There has been much debate in the market about the cost of national portals and we felt it was time to take action. We know from our own statistics that 90% of sellers and buyers want to focus on property in their local area within a radius of around fifteen miles. What’s required is a property portal to enable this to happen effectively and efficiently.
“Fundamentally, property buyers will search where the majority of the property of interest to them is advertised. Localmove will deliver not only the most local property but also a group of estate agents that have the experience to assist them with their property journey. By teaming up to launch Localmove, we can ensure that we remain competitive in terms of cost, whilst really focusing on the local property market to deliver a better service for the house buying/selling public.
“For far too long agents have been at the mercy of national portals who are strangling the independent agents and now is the time for these agents to be able to reduce their portal costs and take control back.”
The Localmove platform allows purchases and sellers to search for property using all common filters, register their search and receive emails regarding listings that match.
The trio behind the new portal have plans to move into neighbouring towns, such as Walsall, Tamworth and Lichfield, and have launched a franchise model to help agents in other parts of the country tap into its potential success.
Paul Ivens of Green & Company, director of Localmove, commented: “All previous attempts to break the portal duopoly have failed because being national is not appropriate; it doesn’t work. We know agents across the UK are disillusioned with the national portals’ attitude to agents and their fees, and we know they want an alternative to the current choices.
“We believe that creating local/regional groups – who own and have control of their online marketing – is the way forward and the Localmove concept provides a viable choice. This has real potential to change the way buyers view properties.
“We have a real opportunity here, perhaps this is the last chance to take back control, and it’s time for a change. One of the developments we are currently evolving is the creation of local business marketing and events, thus enabling Localmove to be the centre for all community information.”
Under the existing proposal, all agents pay £150 per office per month to list properties with Localmove, while there is also a franchise option.
Paul Carr of Paul Carr Estate Agents, director of Localmove, said: “Localmove has also developed a franchise option to support those looking to follow suit in new locations, creating an opportunity for likeminded agents across the country to take control of their own areas.
“Any group of agents can take a franchise and thereby own and run their own Localmove portal, which will be totally owned and independently run by its member firms, with shares for each member. It gives local agents across the UK the chance to cut down their portal costs whilst buying into the success of this model with a share in the ownership of Localmove.”
The Localmove platform has been built by property website developer Homeflow, which currently hosts around 2,000 estate agent offices nationwide.
Jeremy Harford Tapp, director of Homeflow, said “When I was first approached regarding Localmove I knew instantly that the idea and timing for such a portal were perfect. It is brilliant in its innovative design and concept.”
Sorry but the site is diabolical. Even agents own sites, which are traditionally not very good, are far better. It looks about 15 years out of date?
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I think the critical comment is a bit unfair. Good luck to them.
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Another great local initiative like We Are The Market and Mike Clearys efforts. Delighted that more and more agents are trying to break the hold of @Rightmove, And more focused to the areas with less annoying ads. Keep up the good work
#saynotorightmove
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Good luck. Paul Carr is definitely one of the good guys.
The cost of scaling and market awareness; oh and agent collaboration are likely to be the biggest obstacles.
It will be interesting to watch the portal wars in 2021.
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Nice direction for a collective of competitor agents to head, good luck to them with an exciting project.
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Fantastic concept, and great to see agents coming together to work on this. Best of luck guys!
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Good luck to them ….but this site won’t do it…..! Doesn’t even work! I don’t know what it will take to end the duopoly but I fear this is sadly not it….
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A lot of work and I do mean a lot of work has gone into #local area portals so it is nice to see the idea that agents can work together locally and create a hyper local property platform is slowly becoming accepted as possible.
Any agent who reads this story should realise the work that’s gone into the innovation allows property sites to scale from 1 agent’s individual website to an activity centre portal ( that’s 2 or 3 branches covering a village or niche market) through, town, city and region.
Once data is fed from a CRM system the latest generation of #PWA (passive web application) technology means the costs of building and hosting hyperlocal platforms drops dramatically.
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Excellent!!! step in right direction.
#SayNoToRightmove
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I’ve looked at why agents got enthusiastic about Say no to Rightmove but very few had the courage of their convictions or their tweets and facebook posts.
With detailed (by property) analysis of traffic flow it’s possible to compare portal traffic between portals and for the first time with CRM, Social media and own website traffic.
It’s now possible to see what’s cost effective and what isn’t. A series of local, hyper local and niche portals won’t necesarily kill national portals but it will replace the pressure to be on 2 or 3 and that’s where cost savings for agents will come from.
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This concept could work and replace all national portals but only if agents can trust each other and stick together. This is the unlikely part.
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It’s not a Boomin article!!
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Great news and I wish you the very best with this portal, heres hoping that it catches on
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Acres, Green & Company and Paul Carr, ‘We have a real opportunity here, perhaps this is the last chance to take back control, and it’s time for a change’ But you are all, still on Rightmove.co.uk website. Am I missing something here?
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Never seen the need to be on a national portal. My customers are not interested in John o’ Groats or Lands End properties. Tried to get this concept off the ground over a decade ago but always hit the corporate wall of no co-operation and fear by some independents that they would be left out, so why pay for two web portals?
To make it work will not be easy, needs committed and extremely clever marketing but raises OverHalfWay comment, all still on RM. What can you do to drive your customers to your sight or have them go to a one stop portal that has all the agents properties? You have to come off all other web portals! (that takes guts). You have to make the local site appealing, interesting content on local affairs which generates interest. Flip the coin and make the agents not on it look to be the ones who should be, with customers. Without dedication it will struggle.
Good luck to them. Agents group initiatives have worked prior to web portals around the UK before.
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Great idea if it works – but all of these Agents mentioned are spending their money listing on Rightmove and OnTheMarket. “…now is the time for these agents to be able to reduce their portal costs and take control back.” – well, with respect, this can only happen if other portals are dropped. Takes cojonas!!!
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