A property portal which bans estate agents although it welcomes property developers as well as private sellers and landlords, sent out a press release saying that a story on yesterday’s Eye was “scaremongering”.
iProperty Company sent it out shortly after our story – on the possible legal problems faced by buyers doing their own viewings – appeared. The story can be seen at the bottom of this page.
In the press release naming this publication, John Candia, CEO of The iProperty Company, said: “It is clear that traditional estate agents are becoming increasingly worried as home owners realise that they can save large sums of money by selling their property themselves.
“Four out of ten home owners believe that they can do a better job of selling their own home than agents so it is to be expected that this is a growing trend.
“This is scaremongering from an industry which realises that the internet is going to usher in significant change, enabling people to sell their homes themselves.”
The iProperty Company sets out its stall by saying it brings “people together who want to buy, sell or rent property without the need for real estate agents – or their fees”.
The service is free to use, and enables direct contact between prospective purchasers and owners.
As a listing service for developers, it is backed by the NHBC.
iProperty was set up by Candia together with Brian Blake, former owner of Swinton Insurance.
Yesterday, the Manchester Evening News published an interview with 70-year-old Blake. It said that after making millions at Swinton, Blake has come out of retirement to launch his biggest game changer yet – “a game changer for people, the property market and the world”.
Blake says: “It’s going to change how we look at things as we are creating a property community where you can advertise your house for free, with absolutely no strings attached.
“I think buying and selling a house is the easiest process.”
In the article, Blake also says: “Estate agents are not going to like us one bit but it is the way of the world, the way things are going.
“You can’t have young boys coming straight out of school pretending to be estate agents, because they can, there’s no qualification for that.
“If they are any good at talking they will sell houses but you can’t have that in the future.”
He says in the piece that iProperty should break even within the next year, and there are plans to expand into Canada and Australia next year.
The link to the full interview in the Manchester Evening News is here:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/im-right-home-being-veteran-7696012
Comments (5)
“It is clear that traditional estate agents are becoming increasingly worried as home owners realise that they can save large sums of money by selling their property themselves."
It is clear that the guy doesn't understand why it costs large sums. If one was to break down his costs he is probably over charging for little service. The big problem with on-line agents is they are trying to buy the customer with cheap fees plus no doubt a bit of ignorance about what goes on within estate agency and how much they want to get involved in, the latter is not business viable with budget fee, either that they are a charity and of course not forgetting those that are not on the internet so can't use their service. If the internet was the holy grail, how come no on-line agent has ever succeeded and all properties are not sold? As I say to my customers, that web site didn't help you and you are still trying to find a buyer years later and you paid how much up front? We advertise on that same web site FOR FREE!!!!!! you only pay us if we are successful.
There seems to be a run lately on "entrepreneurs" (millionaire or otherwise) wanting to take over the entire UK property sales and rental market with a website… Ros, perhaps one day we could have a story on how all the ones you have reported on over the last few years are progressing 🙂
Is Mr Blake seriously advocating, by implication, that his prospective clients' new build show homes should be unmanned or is he just using this as an opportunity for a press release?
As Billy Connelly once said "My father is 70 and we won't even let him have the remote for the tv"
The biggest fear is the aftermath when cheap agents dont know how to handle sales and things drop out of place. The cost of budget agents can be enormous for consumers and the industry.
Maybe Blake should have stuck to retirement.