“Not another portal… I hear you grumble. Sadly, it is. Only this time it’s different.” That is the opening line of a press release shared yesterday with the property trade press by Kae Travis, the founder of Investate, which he says is an online estate agent “with a difference”.
Travis, who also founded online agent MoveSelf in 2017, which has since closed, specialises in computer science.
In the past he says he has written computer code in over 30 different languages, and now he wants to turn his attention to the housing market and is seeking financial support from agents to help launch a new property portal, called Find Properties, to rival the main players in the sector.
Travis said he is “sick and tired” of agents “perpetually complaining about ever-increasing portal fees yet doing absolutely nothing about it”.
He said he wants to use his experience in technology to launch a product that will help agents take back control of property listings.
He said: “In previous attempts, estate agents have seen mutuals demutualise, privately owned portals sold to marketing companies, failed shareholder-backed portals (that would have possibly resulted in another Rightmove minus the stagnant technology stack), and more recently a portal attempt that scrapes estate agent data without their permission.
“So, I can understand why agents would be sceptical of any new portal offering. Especially since the proposer of this portal offering is the founder of a former property sales platform which attempted to put more control into the hands of the homeowner [MoveSelf].
“But Find Properties is different to previous attempts. Shareholders will not majority-own it. Agents will collectively be able to shape the development of the portal and manage the cost of subscription fees. And importantly, agents will regain control of their own data.
Travis insists that “nothing will change without action”.
“This is my attempt to help an industry that is being held over a barrel, and to use my experience in technology to kickstart something that will produce a tangible outcome,” he added.
Travis has provided the following information for agents to consider:
What is Find Properties?
Find Properties forms the basis of a collective attempt to create a portal that estate agents can control. In its current form, it is a minimum viable product (MVP) property portal hosted on temporary hardware with some sample data (since there is only a small amount of sample data, you’ll want to increase your search radius if testing the platform.)
Some of the features are:
Basic Property Listings – Basic property listings entice prospects to visit estate agent websites directly for more detailed information. Having less features on Find Properties encourages agents to differentiate themselves by improving their own web presence, which in turn will improve agency standards by stimulating competition.
Search Nearby Places – Search nearby places (schools, airports) as opposed to just by area.
No Monetising Agent Data – The portal will not monetise agent’s data by reselling services before prospects contact the agent. By using basic property listings, agents can monetise their own data on direct point of contact.
Google Maps Integration – Google maps integration used for property location and directions.
API-Driven – No logins. No estate agent control panel. Data/statistics can be pushed and pulled from the portal via a RESTful API.
SEO Friendly URLs -Try:
https://findproperties.co.uk/for-sale-near/manchester or
https://findproperties.co.uk/to-let-near/birmingham or
https://findproperties.co.uk/for-auction-near/southampton.
Cookie-based Favourites – Property favourites are set using a simple client-side cookie. Whilst this means that favourites wont roam between browsers and devices, it is a simple approach which requires no user registration.
Mobile-ready – property listings can be viewed on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Do Estate Agents Need a Property Portal?
When searching for property, time-restricted consumers ideally only want to search a single source of aggregated properties. Not two or three. And they certainly don’t have the time to search the stock of individual agent websites in a particular geography.
They also don’t have time to phone every estate agent in the area to register their interest, only to wait for agents to call/email them if a property matches their criteria.
Consumers want to proactively search for their ideal property at a time that suits them, with real-time data at their fingertips.
So yes, estate agents need some form of aggregated property platform/portal.
What is the Find Properties Proposition?
Admittedly, some of the finer details of the project are still unknown. But that’s where support, feedback and suggestions from agents will be required.
At a high level, the Find Properties proposition is:
– Gain support from agents up and down the country and ascertain if they want to regain control of their industry. Agents can show their support.
– Establish demand for the project based on feedback.
[If demand is high enough, continue. If not, disband project.]
– Rationalise the feedback to formulate a concrete vision of what agents want and agree a plan of action. Ensure that major property feed providers agree to integrate with the platform.
– Based on the agreed plan, I will then kickstart the project by donating the Find Properties platform (code) for free to a new legal entity where agents are not and never will be majority controlled by shareholders.
– Agents will then need to mutually fund the project.
– Develop the platform (hardware/software) based on the agreed plan and continual agent feedback.
– Integrate the platform with property feed providers.
– Agents can then list on Find Properties.
– Analyse data/leads and when agents hit a breakpoint, they can slowly transition to list exclusively on Find Properties.
But what does the consumer get? As Kae says, they want 1 place to go- and portals with limited stock and stripped back functionality are not it. These are the two primary reasons portals fail there is no low cost way to evaluate the big three. Any rival needs to give consumers something they don’t get already and have very deep pockets to find a long multi-channel marketing campaign.
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Oh this should be a fun story… (Thumbs down city for anyone who dare suggest OTM is no longer our hope!)
I know we have heard all this before, but Kae has the only potential solution here and IMO is concentrating on the right things. (Robert with R4P had it too, which I kind of supported for a while, but quickly felt one of a few, which is Kae’s big challenge)
The bells and whistles of the big 1 and other 2 are just gimmicks.
RM has remained No.1 because it doesn’t actually concentrate on the gimmicks and stock levels are what keeps it at No.1 (it has the gimmicks, for sure, but we all must hear on the shop floor people love RM for its simplicity. I never hear people say “Love RM’s valuation lead tool, or School Checker, or Mapping function” they just love staring at photos.
Every pretender to date (bar R4P) has gone down the Leads route to winning agents over. (R4P didn’t get the support)
We the EA’s are in charge of our destiny with this. (we’ve heard it a billion times)
FACT – A newcomer will never beat RM or the other 2 if they concentrate on gimmicks.
FACT – A newcomer would topple RM and the other 2 if they convince agents to come off and list on their portal.
FACT – Public after 2 to 3 months will change behaviour and type in newcome.propertyportal as first choice once they realise the majority stock is on that site.
BUT FACT is – Having less stock than RM will mean this would NEVER WORK.
Problem Kae has, is convincing the naysayers, and the fact some of the “big companies” are tied to RM, OTM and ZOO, therefore a huge amount of stock will be missing. That is the big hurdle to get past.
Another hurdle might be, what do the agent lose by dropping RM – In some ways RM+ makes an EA’s day job easy. BPG etc.
Kae’s nice touch is, the site when you earn the click on the listing takes you to the agents own website listing. (Imagine having a link to your own FS people on your listing, so a portal you pay for doesn’t try and take more of your potential income).
We all must (EA business owners) know that house hunters are not loyal to ANY portal as such, simply follow stock.
What we need is a portal which then gives the Click back to the Agent for working hard… and allowing the agent to develop it’s own web pages to create the extra income. No brainer.
A simply survey would highlight the public would have zero loyalty to RM if RM had 50% of stock and Newcomer had 90%.
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Thanks @KByfield04 and @Ric. All very valid points.
I agree that in the short-term, the portal will have limited stock and be of little value to consumers. But this isn’t a short-term project. And transitioning across to a new portal will never deliver overnight results. It will need to be a slow, gradual transition. The way i see it, agents will need to continue listing with their current portals whilst simultaneously listing on this platform to maintain business continuity.
It might take months…..years….who knows? Agents will need to be patient.
I guess it’s important to remember that without agents data, RM/OTM/ZPG are worthless right? And that’s a HUGE weapon to have if agents collectively create their own portal such as this.
Imagine agents having their own portal, and each paying a minimal monthly fee (as voted for by agents, say £50 p/m?) just to keep the platform ticking over whilst more agents join. Meanwhile they continue listing with the “Big 3” so their businesses aren’t affected. They all promote “their own portal” with stickers in the shop window, and a hyperlink back to “their own portal” in the footer of their website. Gradually they start getting a similar number of leads to the “Big 3” and transition away, one by one?
“very deep pockets to find a long multi-channel marketing campaign” – but if 20,000 agents up and down the country point consumers to “their own portal”, maybe the pockets don’t have to be quite so deep? If the majority of agents pledge to list side-by-side for a minimal monthly fee, the portal will gain traction in search engine rankings too? Maybe we can get more publicity from the Press? Maybe if all agents listed on “their own portal” they could simultaneously just cancel their subscriptions to the “Big 3” and there will be no need for a marketing budget since listings will only exist on “their own portal”? 🙂 Who knows.
All I know is that other than agents doing something COLLECTIVELY similar to the approach above, I really don’t see how the cycle will ever end? Agents are paying platforms more and more each year to list and monetise their own data?
Suggestions/feedback all welcome.
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In theory a wonderful idea, but I’d worry about not considering an aggressive multi-channel marketing strategy as suggested by @KByfield04, the reasons being that you could build the biggest & best shop in the world that sold the most incredible items for the best prices, but if that shop is in a tiny village in the middle of the Australian outback, then with no additional marketing, he only people who would be aware are the local and incidental passing traffic.
As someone who was an agent many years ago, and now recruits in the sector, I have mixed feelings about portals launched by agents spotting issues to fix, and the main issue seems always to be around domination by RM/Zoopla and the costs of the portals themselves. As someone who spends time looking at properties out of area as buy to lets, my consumer journey always starts with one of these two portals as they are ingrained to consumer behaviour. I then contact agents through these and then commence my journey from there. I’m pretty sure that a large proportion of potential buyers & tenants do the same.
To refer one point back to the other, as a consumer rather than agent, if I’m not aware of a product/platform, then I won’t use it through my own ignorance, but this platform could have exactly what I am looking for. For a portal to have any real value, then engagement needs to be targeted to people who are looking for properties and not those who are already viewing or having their homes valued. There could also also be the argument of word of mouth being valuable through third party validation and the sheep principle of consumers, however with the disparate nature of buyers/sellers/landlords/tenants, if they spoke to each other about selling their homes directly and spread awareness of a home for sale that way, then agents would be out of the job.
As much as one may argue that Boomin’ was a failed exercise, one thing that they did do was try marketing differently. Engaging with a new generation of buyers through engagement with online personalities such as Ethan Payne doing a tour of his house, but his audience via the Sidemen may not be that relevant. Strangely, advertising on Podcasts is underexploited for marketing in this space, and would compliment the innovative software in place for the platform itself. Podcast broadcaster platforms such as Wondery are always advertising surveys for listeners to do which are geared around consumer behaviour and would provide valuable data to quantify a return.
Also, to have a platform which is built around video presentation of properties, rather than having it as an add-in to a dated stack (RM!!!) could provide more value as agents are really now smashing video presentation of properties.
I think that the negligible monthly cost is good as it will entice agents onto the platform and then you have value for them to visit, but if customers of the agents aren’t aware of these, then you may just end up building a shop in a tiny village in the middle of the Outback, selling not very much to a small audience.
I truly wish you luck in this as the concept is great, and if delivered in the right way, has the potential to be huge!
TL:DR – the value in platforms is their accessibility to new buyers, driven through awareness of them.
But what do I know – I’m only a Recruiter!!!
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“not considering an aggressive multi-channel marketing strategy” – to be honest, EVERYTHING is considered. Including this suggested by @KByfield04. The portal’s destiny is in the hands of agents, not mine. If agents deem at some point that a multi-marketing strategy is cost effective and they are willing to pool resources to fund it, then so be it. The possibilities are endless. I’m only here to facilitate change, to be honest, and to offer a viable alternative.
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praise the lord, the saviour has arisen………………………………………….
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This should be fun, look what happened to Boomin and they had very deep pockets.
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Boomin wasn’t a website aiming to give an alternative to putting UK property stock in front of the public?
It was a pyramid sales thingy megiggy hoping to cash in on referring all manner of whatever.
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NEW FLASH!! 1st September 2023, Find Property goes bust!! Who? and Bruce Brothers join forces with Travis to start new website and call it Failed Portals retirement homes.
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Ha ha. You need to re-read the proposition @HIT MAN! This isn’t about some venture-backed consortium trying to take over the property industry again. It’s about agents. Joining forces. To create their own portal.
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OTM is majority Agent Owned and still they don’t join forces they never will they are all in competition. The last thing agents want is another portal.
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Agents really want another portal, to replace RM.
OTM basically pissed too many agents off with the IPO Gun to our heads.
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correct Ric,Hit man why so negattive.
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I read a fair bit into the names chosen by some to be honest. (Bless You sounds nice, kind of warming and probably considered)
Whereas HIT MAN (not even Hit Man) is a bit kind of shouty and scary… kind of like DIE EVERYONE.
PS – If you are one, HIT MAN, someone hacked my account and posted this! ;0) No offence intended, but on a serious note, although why HIT MAN?
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I use to be a Boxer and that was my nick name. Im always straght to the point no messing no time for Shirkers.
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Give us your stats…
20 fights, 20 wins 20 by KO
or 20 fights, 20 losses?
I was right though… killer instinct… no mercy. You can tell so much from the name someone decides to give themselves.
Fortunately Ric (Richard) is also apt for me… LOL.
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I never gave myself the name it was given to me, I can say that I beat everyone called Ric, Ricky or Richard and revealing stats would give the game away, then I would.. need to kill you LOL.
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Thank god I am known as “Right Hook Richie” in the Everlast Hall of Fame.
Problem was, it was always a Right Hook which knocked me out.
Anyway, I feel like I am trying to win you over now…
Shame the industry cannot pull together on this, there appears to be no answer and thus, I think we just have to embrace RM and do what feels right for each of our companies. (And clients)
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Sadly, this won’t garner the support it needs to gain sufficient traction to be a real “player”. As can be seen in the few comments so far, estate agents are quick to criticise and shoot down in flames any proposal to challenge the current portals, so that they can carry on bleating about how much the current portals charge. It would require a vast majority of agents (including the corporates who have too much at stake to join in) to simultaneously withdraw their entire portfolios from the “Big 3”. The public would quickly be drawn to a new portal if it had the widest choice of properties available. But as all agents are tied into varying contracts, this just won’t happen. Which is a shame. I hope to be proven wrong.
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Would the public appreciate being taken to a listing on the agent site? Agents may love it, but the public would have to navigate a plethora of different sites & styles – some great, some no-so. Part of the appeal of the portals is a constant look & feel.
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I am sounding like an employee of Kae’s now HAHA.
That is 100% a problem Kae needs to avoid, so how the transition to the agents website works and how obvious it is to just press the cross to get back to the search results is important.
I think if the click opens a new window and it is clear crossing out takes you straight back to the list you were on, then I see NO issues to the public as they have to hit the “return to list” anyway to navigate back on all the sites.
Would a buyer mind being taken (if not inconvenient) to the agent’s webpage who owns the listing… NAH, why would they. RM property template, Agents Property Template both are a click from the search results page.
I suspect agents with **** websites might be the ones who prefer the level playing field of RM template property page.
I think…
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Ideally @Ric, you’d use something called an iframe (framed web content) in a fancy popup. This would be the most graceful way. The trouble is some (agent) websites don’t allow you to embed their content inside an iframe (due to something called Content Security Policy) so it probably wouldn’t work for all agents.
Which would bring us back to either:
a) Opening the agent property listing in a new tab or
b) Opening an internal page on FP (with agent branding/logos/affiliate links) in an iframe popup.
I’ve actually updated the site as a demonstration:
– Click this: Find properties near Manchester
– Click ‘More info’ on one of the properties.
Thanks.
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No idea with tech so…
Can agents tell their web people to allow you to embed? (The web people will then say can’t or won’t).
I assume: if some can, all can, and the agent should then know iframe is the best solution for the house hunter to both see the listing on the agents website, but also feel FindProperties works well enough to be able to cross out and resume on the search results page.
That said, iFrame I think is the not the main issue at the moment, and simply having enough agents to think lets make one of these ****** attempts to reduce portal costs work.
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You’re correct on all accounts (that stripped the link btw, and should have been https://findproperties.co.uk/near/manchester). The trouble is as you say, there’s not a lot of chance getting agents to tweak their website if they can’t even take 2 minutes to complete a form and show their support! 🙂
https://findproperties.co.uk/join-us
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I took that as a hint! LOL.
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Ha ha. More of a hint to the 3000 that have read the article but haven’t taken 2 minutes to complete the form! 🙂
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Too late to join the party. People need to remember some very simple basics of web portals in the UK to succeed and take on the status quo.
It costs an arm and a leg to to provide the service to agents and consumer.
It costs an arm and a leg to maintain public presence/perception to sustain viability (main reason so many fail). Being out of sight, just a web search fails miserably in this industry sector, proven time again, again and again.
Why is it that everyone complains about RM, yet so many won’t ditch them? You can hark on about high fee’s and that is about it. It does everything the consumer wants with a very simple integration for all, as is Zoopla and third place OTM.
To get traction you will need to take on the big three. Yes BIG. For a start up, what are you going to offer the consumer that is different …. that they want. Easy searching and simplicity rules. Consumers are not the slightest bit interested in how difficult or easy it is to load to a portal or how much agents have to pay. if you go down the line its best for the agent ….. you will become a dodo in a very short space of time, like all the others and at risk of taking the agents with you.
The bedroom agents are a minority and have no real power in this industry to forge change on their own.
Who are the BIG three? They are supported by the high street. RM and Zoopla by some of the biggest agents int the country who have fingers in that pie. They are not going to jump ship and you are deluded to think otherwise. For OTM to gain traction, has been more than a challenge and only after support from independent agents, they don’t need a fourth portal and the public certainly don’t.
This is an advert and will fail. Sorry but that is the way it is when you try and reinvent a wheel that runs smoothly for the consumer.
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Getting agents onto a new property portal is relatively easy, but a portal will ONLY succeed if it delivers leads, and for that you have to have buyer traffic. How on earth are you going to achieve that when the public’s “default setting” is to fire up rightmove?
Boomin did try that, to be fair, but their offering was too complicated from day one, with too much gimmickery and messing about rather than keeping it very simple and focused on listings.
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Chicken n Egg Neil.
Traffic follow content.
Content equals Property on the Portals.
We are the unpaid shelf-fillers working for the Portals.
Take away content and the traffic will flow in a different direction.
We and ONLY we are in control of which shelves we place our properties.
Social media and agents can get a brand name in front of the intended audience for very little and very quickly.
More to the point, WE can disrupt the flow of traffic by taking away the content, and this is Kae’s biggest problem of all.
Convincing EAs to drop RM.
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