An ambitious online agent, SellMyHome, laid off staff just before Christmas after an apparent slowdown in its sales business.
A spokesperson told EYE that five people have lost their jobs.
SellMyHome is part of the MyHomeGroup, which also owns RentMyHome and newer brand ManageMyHome.
The business has achieved stellar ratings, nearing 100%, on Trustpilot, having set out its stall on customer service.
Managing director and founder is ex-Knight Frank surveyor and estate agent Will Clark, who founded the firm in 2013.
The spokesperson confirmed to EYE that the business will now be looking for new investment of several million pounds on top of what looks like earlier funding.
The spokesperson said that in the first quarter of last year, MyHomeGroup had a multi-million pound investment from Guinness Asset Management’s Investment Scheme Fund.
SellMyHome won bronze in the best online estate agency category in last year’s ESTAS, behind HouseSimple and House Network.
On the redundancies, Clark told EYE that as part of a restructure last year “to ensure a strong future for the MyHomeGroup, it is with sadness that I can confirm some of our colleagues from SellMyHome have left the business”.
He said that 2018 had been an important “growth year for MyHomeGroup. We celebrated new investment, made several first time senior hires and we launched a new brand in ManageMyHome.co.uk.
“In order to continue this growth we have made the decision to refocus our efforts with a combination of great people and great technology.
“This will mean we continue to offer our customers the best possible estate agency service that have seen RentMyHome.co.uk and SellMyHome.co.uk achieve a 9.9/10 rating on TrustPilot.”
SellMy Home is currently offering vendors a limited offer of £595 paid upfront, down from the usual £995, or a no sale, no fee limited offer of £1,299.
Last February, Clark said that the business had grown its revenues by over 200% year on year over the previous three years.
He said at that time: “We are focused on building a brand known for premium customer service and benefit greatly from our natural brand recognition.”
However, an earlier EYE story had suggested that the business was looking to raise £10m in order to buy out rivals. It is not clear whether this goal was achieved, although we have asked the question.
At the start of this week, SellMyHome had 132 available sales properties on Rightmove, while RentMyHome – which charges landlords from £25 – had 68 available rental homes on Rightmove.
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I think everyone understands not to take any stock in the Trustpilot rating of a company. These “online” companies dont seem to understand that to keep going they need to actually make some money. After the collapse of Emoov, going back to investors may be that little bit harder.
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How much longer will these undercharging dreamers try to kid us they’re doing great and have a marvellous future when they’re all set to go down the pan?
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He must have spent too much money buying Trustpilot reviews and not left enough to pay his staff. As for looking to raise £10 million, well with his figures he must be joking!
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The dreamers keep dreaming.
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