"We're not bringing down Rightmove" says website seeking investors

A platform that allows individual private sellers and landlords to list their properties alongside those from professional agents says it’s not in the business of rivalling or bringing down established portals like Rightmove and Zoopla. 

Last week we revealed that TheHouseShop - a long-standing website once known as The Little House Company - valued itself at £10m when it pitched for additional investment on the crowdfunding website Crowdcube.

Now, in a statement from its co-founders, it says its policy of allowing individuals and agents to advertise homes for sale and to let is what “modern consumers” want to see, 

Founders Nick Marr and Sebastien Goldenberg say the site has an “Amazon-style marketplace designed to work equally for everyone involved in the market.” 

Marr says that traditionally, estate agents have been reluctant to work alongside private vendors and landlords but insists that times have changed. 

He says that PropTech companies “have focused on working with the power of the portal duopoly, TheHouseShop have created a platform that is designed to sit alongside the titans of the industry – without trying to take them down.”

Marr continues: “Unlike the big agent-only portals, we work with both private individuals and professional estate agents. We wanted to make sure that our offering to agents was just as attractive and valuable as our offering to the general public. We believe that traditional estate agents still have a crucial role to play in the market and we want to help agents grow their businesses and reach an alternative audience by working with us.

“Unlike many of our competitors, we are all about inclusivity and we don’t exclude any section of the market. This means we’ve created a truly unique marketplace where consumers can see all their options in one place and have a safer, cheaper and fairer way to transact property.”

The site is crowdfunding for £500,000 and has so far raised around half that sum.

“Demand for private landlords is at an all-time high and we’ve seen the number of DIY landlords using our platform sky-rocket over the past two years. Without a doubt, the private rental market will be a key growth area for the industry over the next five to 10 years – and we are perfectly placed to take full advantage of this” explains Goldenberg.