A global online property community, which connects owners with buyers directly.
Business overview
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Social media | |
| Website | www.theipropertycompany.com/ |
| Sectors | Property Mixed Digital/Non-Digital B2C |
| Company number | 8298698 |
| Incorporation date | 19 Nov 2012 |
Idea
Introduction
Today, almost all property searches start online yet most of the major property portals represent estate agents and exclude private owners. This tends to force buyers and tenants to go via an agent when what they really want to do is speak to the owner.
Welcome to the The iProperty Company, a global, online property community, which connects owners with buyers directly. With no need for estate agents, we enable individuals to buy, sell or rent their homes, absolutely free of charge. This saves both buyer and seller a great deal of time and money.
Developed with feedback form the Uk's largest and most prestigious house builders we have built a platform which enables them to list thousands of properties automatically. This technology is now available to individual Owners allowing them to list their home in a matter of minutes. Our goal is to enable buyers and tenants to instantly find them via Desktop, tablet or mobile devices where they can message them safely and securely via our chat service.
Intended impact
Our aim is to transform the way people buy, sell and rent property throughout the world. In our view owners believe and we agree that they are the best qualified person to sell their home and given a choice buyers would much rather speak to them than be forced to go via an agent.
Following in the footsteps of travel and insurance, the property industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation with a massive shift towards online solutions. With 79% of UK homeowners saying they would list directly with Rightmove & Zoopla were they allowed to (based on a £250,00 listing fee) we believe that this figure will be much higher in countries where commission rates are significantly more than in the UK. Countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the US and Canada have commission rates as high as 6%.
Information sharing is now the norm because of companies such as Airbnb and social media. In property transactions we think that local and house-specific knowledge is extremely valuable to prospective buyers and the only way to access this information is directly from the owner - something we offer, which no online or traditional agent can.
Throughout the world the major property portals overwhelmingly represent estate agents. In our opinion this has largely led to fragmented sites dominating local markets. Our aim is represent individual owners and buyers in a unified global site, providing significant savings in time and money.
Our users can also save money by opting for our property-related services which hold a 'price promise' such as: valuations, conveyance, mortgages, photography or sign-boards. With many more services in the pipeline our goal is to become a one-stop shop for any service related to moving home.
Having barely started marketing we already have houses in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Argentina, Africa, Cape Verde, The Bahamas, the U.S. and Canada. .With Over 8,000 properties in the UK we believe that our potential for growth is unlimited.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Over 8,000 properties listed in the UK which is more than any online agent including Easyproperty, Purplebricks, Emoov and Tepilo.
Listings in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Argentina, Cape Verde, The Bahamas, the U.S. and Canada.
Exclusive agreement with the NHBC (National House Building Council) representing over 80% of new build homes in the UK.
Barratts Homes, David Wilson Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon Homes, Charles Church and Miller Homes all on board together with a further 130 development companies.
Technology:
- Built exclusively with Opensource technology and utilising cloud computing we are able to offer a free to list service.
- Available on Desktop, tablet and mobile including specific iOS App.
- Automated feeds and admin panels for Developers
- Available in multiple languages
Affiliates:
- Affiliate agreements in place with the UK's leading companies.
Press:
- We have been featured in the Mail on Sunday, Greater Manchester Business Week and the FT.
Monetisation strategy
Income - Data
Data processing information such as Property types, Average Prices, Price Trends, Sales to asking price, Affordability, Supply and Demand, Socio-Demographics, Sales rates.
Income - Services
The iProperty Company has secured partnerships with some of the UK's leading property-related service providers.
These give users access to market-leading rates on a range of services.
The iProperty Company will receive a fixed fee, which has been agreed in advance.
iProperty Company users can purchase a Hometrack valuation for £19.95.
London & Country - The largest no-fee mortgage broker in the UK, 6-times winner of “mortgage adviser of the year” award. Provides services to moneysupermarket.com, The Telegraph and The Guardian.
Myhomemove - the leading conveyance provider in the UK with approximately 50,000 cases completed. Seven industry awards in 2013 including “Best Conveyancing Services provider”. Covers all 109 postal codes throughout England and Wales and offers a fixed-price 'No Move, No Fee' guarantee.
Countrywide signs - the nations leading estate agency sign-board company. Users can purchase a board featuring their URN (unique reference number) for £55.00. Including: Delivery (uniformed erectors and liveried countrywide vans). Erection (post or wall mount) £5 million public liability cover. Compliance with all Town & County Planning.
Directline Insurance: Home, Landlord and Commercial property insurance. Direct line is not available through comparison websites.
Ftonik: An exclusive discount for professional photography or photo editing. A worldwide network of professional property photographers who work for leading estate agents around the globe.
Income - Advertising:
As our numbers build the opportunity for advertising revenue will exist.
Use of proceeds
Our platform is fully invested and online. Your investment will be used predominantly for marketing.
Together with a leading digital and direct media agency we have formatted a fully integrated marketing campaign.
The campaign is designed to increase awareness of the iProperty Company proposition increasing traffic and listing numbers.
90% of the marketing budget will be spent on digital channels such as Google Adwords, Facebook and Twitter with a further 10% dedicated to PR and traditional press.
The advantage of digital marketing is that we receive realtime feedback and can therefore optimise our marketing spend accordingly.
SEO, SEM and Social Media strategy is fully implemented which ensures we maximise our return on investment.
A small percentage of the investment will be dedicated towards working capital, which encompasses adding further features to the site and increasing the range of services we offer.
Market
Target market
Users by activity:
- Individuals who want to buy and sell by dealing directly with each other.
- Ex-pat or holiday home users looking for an international platform.
- Building and development companies
- Property investors.
- Landlords who wish to rent properties without using a lettings agency.
- Tenants looking for a rental property direct from the landlord.
- Commercial property owners who wish to sell or let property directly.
Users by motivation - who want to save money:
- No fees or commissions. All of the above invited to purchase property related services – based on carefully targeted, 'price-promised' deals. The majority of property exchanges involve the use of services such as: valuations, sign boards, mortgages, legal services and removals. The iProperty Company aims to offer good deals with reputable providers at the same price or better than elsewhere.
Users looking for a particular experience:
- A free-to-use service available on desktop and mobile devices which provides direct, instant, realtime interaction with other users. Plus a high quality format that provides a clean, ad free, intuitive platform to use. Users who want to harness the power of integrating with social media and other networks to enhance their own chances of finding or marketing a property.
According to Statista the Statistics portal 79% of people surveyed had a low level of trust in estate agents.
Characteristics of target market
Throughout Europe, the US, Canada, South America and Australia national property portals dominate the online property space and almost exclusively represent estate agents. In the UK the market is dominated by Rightmove & Zoopla, both ban private listings. We believe that in all of these countries there is an abundance of internet coverage and high estate agency fees.
Estate agents in the UK charge the lowest commission (1 to 2%) yet a recent survey carried out by investment banking firm Jefferies found that 79% of homeowners in the UK would pay to list directly if they were allowed to (Rightmove & Zoopla). Considering the lower commission rates charged in the Uk we feel that this is a very good indicator that in countries where the commission rates are much higher a similar or greater level of owners would want to list their property directly.
Commission rates are typically 6% in the U.S. and Canada and 4 - 7% in Europe. Rental fees are 1 to 3 months rental.
Estate agency industry Uk £8bn, US $160bn.
Marketing strategy
We have developed a full marketing strategy with a leading digital agency and undertaken test marketing and research. The result is a multi-channel approach:
1.SEO: We have a full SEO, SEM and Social Media strategy based on best practice guidelines and including the latest innovation and trends. With our in-house team we are able to adapt quickly which is key to maximising our efficiency.
An important element for any SEO, SEM strategy is the generation of fresh and relevant content. By encouraging owners to write about their homes and local areas and by ensuring this content is indexable we aim to have a continual flow of valuable information which is relevant to our users and therefore improves our ranking. Importantly this is information we are not having to generate in-house
as it would take up considerable resource to do so.
2.Digital marketing: We plan to concentrate 90% of our marketing spend on digital channels such as Google Adwords, Facebook and Twitter including organic content and paid campaigns. The beauty of digital marketing is realtime feedback which enables us to continually optimise our marketing spend.
By integrating Facebook, Twitter and Google plus throughout our site and by dealing with individuals who tend to have a large social network footprint we are able to maximise our reach by allowing them to share properties, login and comment at the touch of a button.
3.PR: 10% dedicated to PR and traditional press, identified as being most efficient in our sector. We have already created initial awareness with exposure in UK media such as the Independent, Mail on Sunday and Manchester Evening News.
4. We are working on a number of partnerships with service providers whom are willing to showcase us as part of our affiliate agreement. These companies all share our consumer driven ethos and could provide significant exposure for us in the UK as they are leaders in their sector and spend a considerable amount of money on marketing.
As a property community offering a genuinely useful free service, we also anticipate that word of mouth will provide added growth.
Competition strategy
More listings in the UK than any online UK agent including Easyproperty (valued @ £66m) and Purplebricks (valued @ £21m).
In our view a growing number of owners are dissatisfied with being forced to pay high commission rates to estate agents which has led to a new breed of online agent to fill the gap. We believe these online agents provide a fixed fee gateway for individuals to list their properties on the leading "agent only" sites. In order to do this they must comply with regulation, which in turn requires boots on the ground. This is why typically they have to charge £400+ per listing. We think that the very fact they have to comply with regulation and require high staff levels limits their growth nationally and almost completely prohibits them expanding internationally with the exception of franchising.
We believe that online agents are not offering the consumer anything new but are a short to midterm model capitalising on the fact that owners want to list directly but can't. They rely almost exclusively on search being produced by the dominant portals which is risky as pressure form traditional agents who make up the overwhelming majority of the dominant portals listings are pushing for online agents to be excluded.
We believe that we do offer the consumer something totally new and this is why we will succeed. We feel that we are offering buyers and sellers the chance to completely sidestep estate agents by dealing directly with each other.
Unlike Traditional or online agents our expansion is not hindered by regulation or geography which is why having only just started marketing we have properties in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Malta, Cape Verde, Africa, South Africa, The Bahamas, Ecuador, Argentina, Australia, the U.S. and Canada.
By being completely free home owners and buyers have absolutely nothing to lose by using us and an awful lot to gain.
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