Two London agents specialising in selling homes for American buyers in the capital as well as converted warehouses and schools have launched an off-market messaging service.

The initiative, dubbed Go-OffMarket, is starting in the East London postcodes of E17 and E10 which are Walthamstow and Leyton.

The idea is that sellers share off-market opportunities and buyers find out about them through estate agents registered for certain postcodes through the Go-OffMarket app.

Agents sign up to represent a particular postcode where they have a branch, with each area costing £250 a month on an annual subscription.

A seller would upload their property details in a certain postcode which then alerts local agents who can message them on a secure messaging system through the app.

Explaining the appeal of going off-market on its website, the firm says sellers can ensure they are only matched with interested buyers who may in some cases be willing to pay a premium. There is also no digital footprint if a seller decides to cut the sale price, the site says.

The advantage for a buyer, according to the site, is they see opportunities before they get to the portals.

Buyers register on the app and enter details of the property type and location they are looking for. Local agents are then alerted and can instantly message the buyer to introduce them to their off-market opportunities.

Both sellers and buyers can then decide independently whether to instruct the agent. There is no commitment from just using the app.

Go-OffMarket is founded by Solly Strickland and Daniel McPeake, who both started London Lofts, which specialises in selling converted warehouses and schools as residential buildings and work for US agency NestSeekers, linking American buyers with the UK market.

McPeake said 23 agents have signed up so far and there are plans to roll it out across London eventually.

He told EYE: “It’s about encouraging conversations between sellers, agents and buyers.

“Although people use Rightmove and Zoopla to search for property, only four in ten sell on through it, according to Which? The rest is through conversations with agents.

“In my experience you do the valuation and then call hot buyers, so by the time you upload it and a person sees it on Rightmove they are the third in the queue.

“We are aiming to put the buyer at the front of the queue and let the seller test the market, as well as giving the high street a way back by showcasing its local knowledge.”

EYE asked how this is different to a buyer just seeing a property on a portal and registering with an agent. McPeake said: “Portals like Rightmove are clunky. You find a property you like and then you are lucky enough that it is still available.

“It gets tedious giving details out time and time again – it should be done in a way where you start talking and find out about the area.

“We are starting the conversation with no commitment and what happens next is up to the agent and buyers and sellers.”

The idea gained support on Twitter yesterday from buying agent Henry Pryor, who runs his own private social media feed of off-market opportunities.

He told EYE: “I’m pleased to see that someone else is looking at providing a link to off-market properties and using technology to make it easier for buyers and sellers and their agents to share information away from public gaze and, perhaps topically at the moment, without the help of the big portals.

“It may be a little old-fashioned but this is how a lot of deals were done before the internet, and I’m pleased to see another way that technology is helping to continue the tradition.

“My Twitter account @Not_OnTheMarket has been working well, plodding along with between 200-300 users, and I’m told it has proved useful, but it is serving a modest market and I’m sure that someone will take the best bits of it and leapfrog the idea – perhaps it will be these guys.”

Find out more at https://go-offmarket.com/