PORTALS
And he adds that “users visit a number
of different websites during the process of researching, viewing, marketing, buying, selling and moving house,” browsing widely. They’re not just looking for listings, they want to see other information, such as historic and current property prices and local information, as well as advice and guidance on the sales process. Adding this to a property portal is vital, he says, “more related products in one place creates more reasons for customers to visit and they are likely to buy more products when they do.” Obviously, the big three are doing this, but there’s still room for other players to differentiate themselves with their content or to address particular niches. Tepilo is one of a cluster of relatively new
sites that have started in the last couple of years (it launched in July 2009). It only handles private sales and rentals, completely the reverse of Rightmove which will only work with agents. That gives it very thin coverage; Norwich throws up only ten sales, and no rental property at all, compared with over 1000 sale and 692 rental properties on Rightmove. But it does, obviously, have an appeal for those who prefer not to deal with estate agents.
PeriodProperty.co.uk operates more as
a community of interest than a portal, says its co-founder Rob Tavendale. “The idea wasn’t to create a moneyspinning website,” he says, “it came out of our
Rob Tavendale suggests that
Rankdesk collates the top 100 investment deals every week – a quick way for investors to spot a
suitable property.’ DR SAVVAS VERDIS RANKDESK
interest in old homes and our problems getting good advice on what to do with issues such as damp.” The revenue base looks rather different
from that of most portals, with an online shop selling lime mortar, paints and other conservation building materials, and services listing from architects, insurers and other professionals. Property listings are still mainly from private individuals, at £45 a listing, though some agents are now using the portal; Musker McIntyre, in Suffolk and Norfolk, now puts all its period properties on the site.
PeriodProperty would consider a syndication deal with one of the other portals, taking relevant content automatically, as an enhanced feature for the other site. “The functionality is already in place,” he says, “and from an online marketing perspective, we’ve got the domain name, fresh content, and the top four places in Google search for period property.” Another niche portal is Rankdesk, which
has focused on a specific buyer – the property investor. Savvas Verdis started the site after a Greek buy-to-let investor complained that Primelocation didn’t give him enough information to judge whether he was looking at a good investment property or not. By using an evaluation
A portal that’s more of a community
algorithm plus human analysis, Rankdesk collates the top 100 investment deals every Wednesday – a quick way for investors to spot a suitable property. Listings are free for agents (though there is a charge for redistribution of the reports). Rankdesk is a new entrant (service began
in December 2010) but it expects to be profitable within the year. Though it’s a new business model in the UK, Savvas Verdis points out that ERealinvestor has made it work in the US. “Most of our income comes from
You may not like Tepilo but it seems to meet a need in the market
on-demand reports,” he says; they’re priced at £60, less than a full homebuyer’s survey but more than purely automatic valuations provided by other sites, and they focus on investment buyers’ requirements such as yield and tenant demand. “We never wanted to charge agents. We want to be independent, like Which?, the independent reviewing website.” Rankdesk has already signed up a number of London agents: Douglas & Gordon, Marsh & Parsons, Sandfords, and Kay & Co, and it is now negotiating with one of the major players in the market.
14 MAY 2011 PROPERTYdrum
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