An e-platform which will allow anyone to upload property listings by taking pictures on their smartphone is due to launch this spring.
My Backyard sent an email on Christmas Eve to potential investors explaining itself as an “e-platform for private landlords/sellers”.
The team behind My Backyard includes Angels Media, which publishes trade titles including Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today.
My Backyard sets out its stall as challenging the incumbent portals, with its ambition to become the “preferred property search of the future”.
While agents would be able to use the platform, it appears they would have to share it with members of the public – private sellers, DIY landlords, and tenants and buyers.
An explanatory video on Crowdcube, where it is bidding to raise money, says that while only agents can list properties on Rightmove and Zoopla, on My Backyard “all will be able to advertise”.
My Backyard will allow consumers to market their properties via YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram by uploading their own smartphone photos or videos.
The pitch is currently hidden from the wider Crowdcube community to give “selected investors known only to the business an early opportunity to invest”.
It says: “The concept of My Backyard (MB) is simple: take one user (tenant/buyer), one provider (landlord/vendor/agent) and connect. We aim to connect all property providers (lettings/sales) with users on one platform. Whether you want short or long-term accommodation, a house share/house let, to buy a flat or mansion, users will be able to find their property type, providers, and prospective tenants/buyers.”
My Backyard is currently trying to raise £150,000 on Crowdcube in exchange for 21.43% of the business. The offer is based on a pre-money valuation of the business of £550,000.
Free for early adopters to use, My Backyard cites the ban on tenant fees as one reason behind its launch, saying that it will increase the need for peer-to-peer solutions. In a post put up on Christmas Day, it quotes a recent report suggesting that 30% of landlords will drop agents, adding that “future demand for direct connectivity looks set to increase”.
It is, it says, offering first-mover advantage.
Its platform will “challenge the norm” and offer instant messaging, allowing viewings to be arranged within minutes.
The team behind the company, My Backyard International Limited, is led by founder and CEO Clive Cain, who is listed at Companies House as the only director, having been appointed last September when the business incorporated. Its activity is described as ‘real estate agencies’.
Also in the team according to the crowdfunding pitch are Aaron Wardle, who specialises in mobile app development, and Angels Media.
This morning, with 17 days left, the crowdfunding page was not displaying any investments.
https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/my-backyard-international/pitches/bJV9Mb
https://www.mybackyard.properties/
Below is a screengrab about the team, from the Crowdcube pitch:
Cheap fees, cheap selling price
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Where’s Rocky?
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Really? Another disrupter!!!!
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Does this qualify as a newsflash?
It’s just another “PropTech” solution looking for a problem …
Really can’t see any difference between this and any other online-only pureplay listing agent – hence the lack of interest from the Crowdsourcing community.
Need to offer a genuine USP …
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So the reason for agents, with business costs and livelihoods to support, to help a ‘DIY’ platform grow is ?….or do they think we would all rather not pay the existing portals, at the expense of having no income into our businesses???
I think we are going to see more and more of these ideas coming, since it appears the way to make lots of money is not to design a business model that actually works, but to convince investors you have something that is just different to everything else……however silly it might be.
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Is this why the landlord down the other pub is not a fan of On The Market?
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I always find the best properties, and best landlords/vendors, are those happy to upload poor photos from their smartphone. The sort of customer that wants to avoid a fee … and usually avoid doing anything properly.
Not necessarily the sort of “customer” you might want.
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