The iProperty Company – the portal which allows new homes developers and private sellers but bans estate agents – is to start an aggressive marketing campaign this spring.
It has also raised a question mark as to whether Rightmove and Zoopla will continue to accept listings from online agents.
By yesterday the company had raised £290,400 in its crowdfunding campaign, of which £200,000 was from one investor, and claims it has a “very big name” backer lined up.
The £500,000 it hopes to raise will give investors 6.25% of the company.
It also claims it will be to the property industry what Airbnb has been to travel.
The pitch to potential investors on Seedrs values the iProperty Company at £8m, and says it has more listings in the UK than any online agent. The campaign has 31 days to run.
Investment news site City am has recommended iProperty as a top pick.
The crowdfunding pitch describes the iProperty Company, launched in November 2012, as a global online property community which connects owners with buyers directly.
The pitch says: “With no need for estate agents, we enable individuals to buy, sell or rent their homes, absolutely free of charge. This saves both buyer and seller a great deal of time and money.”
It is also carrying an offer for anyone investing over £1,000 to receive a free For Sale or For Rent board.
Co-founders John Candia and Brian Blake, former boss of Swinton Insurance, says they are determined to “smash the hold that estate agents have on the property market” and that their site could soon rival Rightmove and Zoopla.
Candia said: “I know it’s a massive mountain to climb.
“Ultimately, though, I think that people who go to search on portals like Rightmove and Zoopa are guaranteed to be put in touch with an agent, and I’d like to build a site that does the total opposite.
“I’d like to guarantee anyone that searches on our site that they go straight to the owner, and I think ultimately we are on the right lines.”
Candia said he believes estate agents add no value to the property market.
“If anything, they hinder the operation,” he said.
“Dealing directly with people you get a true picture of what is going on. You’re not relying on someone in the middle.”
He said home owners know what their property is worth, and if in any doubt can buy a valuation from Hometrack for £19.95.
On the Seedrs pitch, in a Q & A section, Candia says: “It’s important to note that most of the online agencies rely heavily on search being provided by a third party which in my view is a risk.
“Currently in the UK online agencies only account for 2% of advertisers on Rightmove and Zoopla. What happens if they change their policy to appease the growing discontent from traditional agents who incidentally make up close to 90% of their advertising revenue?”
The iProperty Company claims to have over 8,000 properties listed in the UK, more than any online agent.
However, almost all the properties currently listed on the iProperty Company website are not private sales but homes being marketed by developers, after a deal last year with the National House Building Council. Developers using the site include Barratt, Bovis and Persimmon.
iProperty insists it is not an online agent. It will monetise itself by offering additional services such as For Sale boards and photography.
It was Tesco’s provision of sales boards when it tried to get into the private sales market that helped land the supermarket’s model in trouble, as it would have been deemed to be an estate agent.
The SellingUp website which carries advertising from both Tepilo and HouseSimple, but which also has an OnTheMarket map of agents, has more here
a “very big name” backer…. Theodorus Papadopoulous is quite a big name, is it him?
Really gents, get over yourselves!
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The model appears unlawful as it is suggesting that it is a ‘passive intermediary ‘ property sales platform, yet derives revenue from offering ancillary services (which would make it an agent).
Unless it is registered now under 1 of the 3 redress schemes then it’s not one thing or another.
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There are so many things wrong with this business model I don’t even know where to start but whenever I see the tag line “former Boss” I often think they should perhaps not try and be what they once were. Brian take some advice: Leave the iProperty, take up an iRon and play golf, you’ll make less of a hash of it.
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“If anything, they (agents) hinder the operation,” he said.
“Dealing directly with people you get a true picture of what is going on. You’re not relying on someone in the middle.”
He said home owners know what their property is worth, and if in any doubt can buy a valuation from Hometrack for £19.95.
Of course owners know what their property is worth, agents see that day in day out but even if they don’t, there’s always Hometrack or even better Zoopla for an up-to-date valuation!!!! Would iProperty be a pay up-front model by any chance?
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An entry for ironic comment of the week?
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All high street agents paying rmove and zoopla are also helping the online parasites. SHEEP!
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“estate agents add no value to the property market”? … really?! I single out that comment as nothing more than a lie!
Having personally invested via Crownfunding for actual physical real products I get the Crowdfunding thing and the risk that you get nothing having put your money up-front.
This stampede for Crowdfunding looks like a future scandal boiling just nicely however unlike PPI etc there will be no compensation, no penalties… just individuals laughing as they drive away from their Crowdfunding Car Crash having burned thru the money and delivered NO VALUE WHATSOEVER!
What next?…isurgery… cut out the surgeon, do it yourself!
identistry… yup!… do your own drilling!
ifirebrigade!… buy your own bucket!
ifunerals!… here’s a shovel & a saw… dig your own grave and build your own coffin… this one just might happen!
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When this story first broke back in early summer last year, I pointed out that while everyone is welcome to compete and try something new this particular model challenges the symbiotic relationship between developers and local agents. Not every local agent but those who understand the benefits to residential vendor clients of thorough assessment and valuation.
When challenging the emergence of online valuation tools I used a single property example- a property which was sold several times by local agent over a number of years none of whom realised the strategic importance of the property as a ransom strip. The agent who did a professional job not only achieved 100% more for the property for a grateful vendor but also trousered the commission on selling (from memory) 32 units on the site the demolition of the property gave access to. If these business people think developers are going to support this venture once the source of informed access and strategic knowledge dries up, I think it fair to describe the venture itself as naïve and investors in the project as easily mislead.
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I’ll say it again…..Professional, established High Street Agents will have to start charging a valuation fee if the property is placed on the market with an online agent or a self sell site like this. This is another model that,imo, relies on the professional agents to do valuation work for free.
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If Rightmove or Zoopla don’t move quickly they may lose out on the private listings if other sites like this (with massive backers) get the “self sell” branding established before them?
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I’ve been an advocate of this for years. No Sale – No Fee is a grossly unfair system whereby agents have to charge a disproportionate amount to someone who does actually sell to compensate for those who just “dabble” because it costs them nothing to do so. Why not charge a sensible, up-front marketing fee on all instructions and then a success fee upon completion of any sale. The overall fee could be greatly reduced whilst still maintaining a sensible level of income. After all, who enjoys a nice meal and then expects the person at the next table to pick up the bill?
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Sorry, should have linked my above post to wilco’s comment above!
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Okay, he’s got a free deal with some house builders, conversation went like this
Hello is that the sales director of *** Homes that’s got some plots stuck for sale and wont tell the MD they need reducing? – yes, how can I help? we are doing a deal with the NHBC who have the commercial awareness of a brick and they are happy to put their name to us listing your stock for free, do you wanna do it? – all we do is scrape the listing you have on proper portals…..did I mention the NHBC and you can tell the board you have some free advertising?? – Okay, lets do it, thanks for your time bye.
So direct to consumer blah, blah, this boy needs to take a leaf from @easyproperty and hammer the granny out of the 100 thousand private listings on Gumtree where I believe the consumers deal direct quite happily and have done for many years.
Also, can we be quite clear that you cant ban agents from a site they don’t want to be associated with so Roz, can you change the description to ‘The Portal agents don’t pay a thought to’ instead, seems more fitting – Jonnie
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the censorship I just got hit with on the above was using three crosses in place of a name………is there a three letter swear word? – Comments please – Jonnie
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I really get up with sites claiming there will rival RM or Zoopla. People have no idea how much money, time etc. it takes. Even with all the big names, agents mutual are struggling to gain any ground on the visitor/lead front. Another company that had a lot of wind, but a little sail.
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Now who was it the other day chirping off about anti-competition law?
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