Nested, the chain-breaking estate agency that offers vendors a guaranteed sale of their property within 90 days, is to expand beyond its current market of London.
Founder Matt Robinson - the man behind payment firm GoCardless - says he will next year expand his agency to cover Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester.
“Our proposition is most compelling in a very slow market like London’s now but in theory it works anywhere in any market. The skill is in the valuation” Robinson told Estate Agent Today editor Graham Norwood.
The agency provides an instant online valuation based on a combination of publicly available data, information entered by the homeowner, and an internal algorithm. It then guarantees to sell for 95 to 98 per cent of this figure dependent on area and property type.
Nested offers vendors an interest-free loan for this ‘guaranteed’ amount; this is the price at which the property is marketed by the agency. If it does not sell within 90 days then the agency will guarantee to pay that sum to the seller, allowing him to continue with his chain.
If Nested then achieves a higher sale price after the 90 day window, the profit is split 70/30 in favour of the vendor. The agency charges a commission of 2.5 per cent including VAT.
In March this year the agency received an additional £8m funding from investors including Passion Capital, Balderton Capital and GFC; all have previously invested in tech start-ups including Citymapper, Crowdcube, GoCardless and Nutmeg.
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It's one of those ideas that many have had but this is the first time a talented and determined entrepreneur has had a real go at it, Mested is one to watch
Or even Nested :)
Perhaps. If it sounds too good to be true ..... perhaps the 'internal algorithm' cuts the value by 50% ?
Jeez I am getting cynical in my old age, I don't like it either
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