When failed property portal Boomin launched what it claimed at the time to be the most interactive and accurate online valuation tool on the market, powered in part by the ValPal Network’s valuation tool, owned by Angels Media, publisher of Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today, the company did not expect to be calling in liquidators just over a year later.

Valuation tool SmartVal, which is free to all Boomin agents, was launched in September 2021 and was supposed to be a major attraction to boost the number of agents subscribing to list properties with the platform,

Boomin claimed that SmartVal provided ‘a more accurate online valuation for visitors to the site with a mix of technology, data and timely interactive engagement with experienced local agents’.

Visitors to the Boomin website have over the past 13 months been able to request a SmartVal with local agents registered with the platform.

Initially, agents were given a matter of minutes to accept the valuation request or lose out to the customer’s next choice.

Supplied with information from the property owner, and supplemented with detailed market data, the selected agents were given all the information they need to provide a valuation within a fixed period of 15 minutes. This rather short timeframe was later extended after proving unpopular with agents.

Only once the SmartVal is submitted the agent will gain access to the full contact details of the customer.

There was a big marketing push from Boomin, including the release of a video explaining the whole process relating to SmartVal and the potential advantages of its use.

The video aimed to address some of the genuine questions and concerns some agents had, but it failed to explain that the automated computer valuation element of the platform is powered by ValPal, an existing online valuation product offered by Angels Media.

Nat Daniels, CEO of Angels Media, told EYE last year: “Essentially the Valpal API is powering the Boomin instant valuation part of their new three-pronged valuation process for agents.

“Benefits are that they are using our API, and some of their own data layered on top, so very good for agents. And for us.”

Daniels added that the “partnership with Boomin” should provide Angels Media with “more exposure” with agents able to see “that we are in yet another place in the market”.

The previous SmartVal online valuation tool was operated until 2019 by Landmark Information, before it was retired by the company.

In March 2018 Landmark Information and The ValPal Network announced a strategic tie-up in which Landmark offered The ValPal Network’s services.

In return, The ValPal Network promoted Landmark’s products Compliance in a Box and Metropix.

Once SmartVal was retired, agents were advised by Landmark to switch to The ValPal Network free of charge.

Now that Boomin has called in the liquidators, Anegls Media, through The ValPal Network, is looking to fill the perceived void created by this unfortunate situation and use it to its advantage to increase business in this area of the market.

After EYE broke the news to the industry that Boomin had called in an accountancy firm to handle its insolvency, Daniels told this publication: “We would be happy to take on any clients that will not get valuations from Boomin.

“We produce over 100,000 valuations four our very happy agents each month now. We can’t keep up with the onboarding!”

He added: “We have a special deal for any Boomin agents that want more valuations.”

Angels Media, in a bid to strike while the iron is hot and drum up new business, has issued a fresh press release claiming that ValPal has generated 1.4m leads for agents in the past year.

Craig Vile, who is in charge of ValPal, is quoted in the release, stating: “Nurturing leads is vital to winning new business – and the business is there, there’s no doubt about that. But agents are going to have to put the work in between now and the end of the year if they are going to win market share in 2023.

“Tech offers a range of solutions to the problems caused by a fall in the number of transactions. Agents who embrace technology will find they’ve freed up time to generate new business. Capturing and nurturing leads will encourage better outcomes and put agents in a better position to succeed.”

The release adds, ‘Working for agents at all times of the day and night, figures show that 07:00-07:59 is consistently the most popular hour for valuation requests. In fact, 56% of leads are generated outside the normal working day of 9am to 5pm and 32% between midnight and 9am.’

Vile then insists that “there is a danger that agents could be missing out on a huge number of these leads if they haven’t got the technology in place to capture them out of office hours”.

This is where Angels Media can help!

“This is where lead nurturing plays such a crucial role, ensuring prospects are engaged with at all hours of the day and night no matter when they make their valuation request. Our MovePal product can offer exactly this, to ensure agents don’t miss out,” Vile added.

He claims that almost a fifth – 18% – of properties valued through ValPal will go on to sell within two years and it takes an average of four-five months for a vendor to convert from online valuation to instruction.

Vile explained: “We look at every valuation generated and cross-reference this against sold records at the Land Registry and take the average number of days.

“We then take into account the average number of days a property is on the market (from Rightmove) and the average number of days for financing and conveyancing (from MyHomeMove) which leaves us with the time between online valuation and instruction – we call this ‘just being nosey time.’”

The valuations offered by VapPal vary widely – one agent says that applicants were told that a semi-detached house worth in the region of £325,000 was valued by The ValPal at between £240,000 and £480,000, which won’t please all users. But of course what matters here to those offering the platform, and indeed some agents using the service, is not the accuracy of the online valuation but rather the valuation lead itself.