At least 82 new properties came on to the market via easyProperty on Friday, February 5, according to Rightmove property alerts.
A single alert told us that 82 new properties had been added; a second alert was for a single property, also added on February 5.
Previous alerts right up until last Friday tended to show just one or two new listings in a day.
The firm’s listings on Rightmove confirm that on February 3 there were two new listings, on February 2 there was one, and on February 1 there was one.
We asked easyProperty chief executive Robert Ellice about the sudden explosion in listings.
He said: “I would say it is the start of things to come, and things are beginning to take off.
“After all, any agency takes a while to get going and we have really only advertised sales for a total of seven weeks since launch, having come off the national media over Christmas.
“This is going to be a great year and we expect to be listing big numbers by the end of 2016.”
easyProperty officially launched into sales in September with a TV ad campaign, and in December announced a new £25m war chest.
It secured a £16m investment from a London-based asset manager, with an additional £9m available to support easyProperty’s plans for future acquisitions.
The lead investor is Toscafund.
Comments (10)
Easy Come………………………….. Easy Go !
£25m war chest. LOL
How much does PB have to play with ?
Lets see where they are next January, I’m guessing, collectively all the on line agents will have soaked up 8% of the market by then, if they are spending this kind of dollar.
So the story will be how many dissatisfied customers, because to absorb large chunks of a slow sales cycle like property is labour intensive as we already know and a call centre alone wont cut the mustard.
So in 18 months and millions raised they are making inroads in the retirement flats which every other estate agent groans at getting on the books.
I hear you could also corner the market in park homes and beach huts!
I have just sifted through some listings on their site. They all seem to be “retirement properties”. It feels to me like a tie-up with McCarthy Stone or something…
‘…or something’ is right, Mr Walker. Try ‘Retirement Homesearch’. Funny thing is that they have HUNDREDS of them on Zoopla, but none on RM…
If even your CEO can’t make your start sound impressive then I would suggest spending some of that £25m war chest on some great lunches and nights out, afterall you’d want something to remember when it all goes **** up!
When I started my business 25 years ago, I didn’t advise the world week by week what was going on. I went out and gave, my clients a ****** good service. Word of mouth spread quickly about “real world” experiences with my business. Isn’t it sad that EP has to fudge their numbers,even when asked directly. Would the “honest” thing to have replied not be “yes we landed some big developments” ?
From what I could see the ‘Listings’ were without exception ‘New-Builds’. Mr Ellice and his team have therefore done a deal to advertise a developer’s stock the same way that eMoov have done.
They’ll be getting pennies for it – and the portals will soon be chasing them for ‘New Homes’ rates – which will be more than whatever sorry-@$$ fee they’ve ‘negotiated’ for the privilege.
I wonder if they’ll be told to mark unsold units as ‘Under Offer’ as is the usual trick in that arm of the industry…
Phoenix, surely a targeted advertising campaign is a good thing. The fact that it has worked to get listings is great. Now the trick is to measure Return On Investment and advertising costs over the next quarter against total turnover. If they then do a good job for these new clients this should lead to recommends. I was taught by external coaches when I set up our business that you can’t expect clients to simply find you because you now exist. You have to shout it from the rooftops.
My listings go up following a marketing campaign. I f I spent a gazillion pounds on TV, Radio, Press and Web, I think its fair to say Id expect an increase too!
This is exactly the same scenario PB created at the end of last year. Saturation advertising to generate instructions only to then announce ‘fantastic results’. Lets see if the phone keeps ringing when the advertising budget isn’t there!
Phoenix, this boost to their listings is simply a job lot of developments which they will likely get very little return from. If you strip these out you can see Easyproperty are for some reason still getting very little traction with the public (about 5 listings per week).