Property Natter: interview with Michael Bruce - 'why Boomin is not just another portal'

With Boomin nearly turning one, I decided to catch up with Michael Bruce, the co-founder of the property website and more famously the co-founder of Purplebricks, to get his insight on a range of different topics.

This included why Boomin is apparently more than just a portal - as it doesn't need 'the oxygen of a live listing' - and is more about the whole experience that can be offered to the consumer. He says Boomin isn't just focused on the active market - which is relatively small - but the passive market, too, which is much larger.

"All of our features, whether it's SmartVal, Secret Property, SneakPeek or MatchMaker, they all don't need the oxygen of a live listing to generate activity," he tells me.

In the 20 minute video, which you can watch in full below, he also chats to me about Boomin's TV campaigns - which he admits himself have divided opinion - and outlines how the portal has added 50% more agents since it launched and achieved high levels of penetration among the industry's top 100 agents. We also discuss Agents Together - the highly praised industry charity launched by the Bruce brothers last year - and whether being associated with Purplebricks has hindered Boomin's prospects.

You can check out the full video below - and big thanks to Michael for his time in speaking with me.