Settled, the online property sales site which launched last year, is now looking for an additional £1m in investment from funds or venture companies.
The site claims to have ”facilitated the sales of £38m worth of homes” based on charging sellers £299 for its full package. It says analysis of its sales data show fall through rates of just one transaction in 15 against what it says is a UK average of one transaction in three.
A statement from the firm says the new investment “will be largely used to scale awareness of the platform with consumers and to continue further technological advances that will improve property transactions across the market.”
Settled says its new research of 1,000 homeowners shows 58 per cent believing they could as individuals do a better job at many tasks traditionally done by agents.
“Our team and the tools we’ve created provide around the clock support, empowering individuals within a process that’s historically been characterised by middlemen, Chinese walls and breaks in communication. Settled does the opposite of traditional or hybrid models, encouraging real connections between buyers and sellers and addressing the complete end-to-end journey” says Settled chief executive, Gemma Young.
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I wonder if they use false trust pilot reviews to balance their shocking service like all the other Call centre agents?
It's about what price online secure v high street. I personally would offer low for online houses as I would feel the seller had been cheap generally in their house maintenance too. Paying a low fee suggests to me you do not care about your prized joy/property.
If they're a FSBO site using RM and Z then that is not allowed, is it?
I'm sure they'll get it - these online companies seem to do pretty well out of crowdfunding and the like - but whether they can continue their success (assuming you believe the PR and hype) is something that remains to be seen.
"Settled says its new research of 1,000 homeowners shows 58 per cent believing they could as individuals do a better job at many tasks traditionally done by agents."
This is definitely an issue for high-street agents. It's a small sample and we shouldn't place too much importance on it, but there is definitely an anti-estate agent feeling out there, and the public perception of greedy, good-for-nothing agents is still there. It is, in the vast majority of cases, untrue and unfair, but a stereotype exists for a reason. And it's something that high-street agents can't be complacent about, especially if they continue to charge what is seen as higher fees.
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