An online estate agency which says it could be the next Purplebricks says prejudice against internet property transactions is waning
“With Neil Woodford listing Purplebricks on the AIM market, Connells acquiring Hatched.co.uk, Savills investing in Yopa.co.uk, and Charles Dunstone / Roger Taylor having just invested £13m in HouseSimple, the on-line sector clearly has further growth potential” claims Esale, a Yorkshire-based online agency.
Esale, which describes itself as “a profitable online estate agency covering England and Wales” starts its fees at £495. In a crowd-funding pitch the firm claims - without indicating a source - that online agents “have doubled their [market] share over the past two years to over five per cent” and says industry experts forecast the share to grow by 2022.
“Recent figures suggest that reluctance or prejudice is beginning to wane. Indeed, experts predict if the trend continues on its current course, 50 per cent of house sales will be completed online by 2020” says the agency’s pitch.
Esale started life as a complementary business to the existing traditional-style letting agency Elet, based in Harrogate.
“We’re confident we have a scalable business model which only requires investment to make it a reality. To make that happen, we need to enhance our profile, not just in Yorkshire but across the UK, and that means a comprehensive marketing strategy, embracing the traditional print and broadcast media as well as all the online channels and platforms” continues the pitch, which appears on Crowd For Angels.
This appears to be why the agency is seeking up to £90,000 crowdfunding although, with only a fortnight of its pitch left to run, it had as of last evening attracted less than £30,000.
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https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2498593-purplebricks-turns-out-it-was-too-good-to-be-true
Why is this garbage given page time?
Doesn't this underline one of the snags with online business models? You need to invest millions to even have a chance of making them work.
Q. What's the easiest way to make a million on the Internet? A. Start with 10 million.
"An online estate agency which says it could be the next Purplebricks says prejudice against internet property transactions is waning"
They would say that wouldn't they!
They are right. That's not the sad part though. The sad part is the fact that those who should know better, those who are directly and adversely affected by it, those who are in a position to help stamp it out, are, unbelievably, helping to promote it.
High Street agents with their own el-cheapo offering. I suppose it is literally "if you cann't beat em, join em".
Dismal really, if you think about it, that those who are supposed to be professional marketers, professional sales people, professional negotiators in a high ticket market cann't compete with a billy basic model.
Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas. At any given time there are only a limited amount of properties available for sale, common business sense should be telling you to make the most out of each one not less.
Correct.
"Charles Dunstone / Roger Taylor having just invested £13m in HouseSimple"
You would have to sell a lot of houses at £495 a time to recoup that sort of money!
Profitable- apart from the fact they filed a loss of £29k this year and a loss of £31k last year and thery currently report a whopping £3,500 in the bank. Yup, really proving the profitability of this model. Established in 2010 but this press release is the forst Ive heard of them. Definitley the next PB.
Also I understood online market share to be done this year at 5% from 6% last year, at least thats what ive read on several places, yet these guys say online was just 2.5% last year. Good to see they are clear on their stats and figures.
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