A new private sales site has launched – with a difference as there are no property listings.
WhenYouSell lets prospective buyers interested in buying in a particular location register their interest, even if no properties are for sale there.
The buyer can simply draw around their preferred search areas on a map – whether it is just a particular road or a whole town, or even just some specific properties.
Property owners can privately follow interest from buyers by dragging a marker on to their property. The site keeps owners informed of interest from potential buyers via free email alerts.
Should the property owner decide to sell, they can select the buyers they wish to contact through the site.
At this stage, it costs £10 for 21 days of access to the buyers.
Buyers do not have to pay anything, but can choose to upgrade to priority buyer status at a cost £5 for 12 months, to demonstrate to sellers that they are serious. Users can register interest in up to two properties and create up to two searches.
The site was founded by John Gardner and Mike Barnetson, who have IT backgrounds. They describe WhenYouSell as a property-based social network.
Gardner said: “We want to satisfy consumers’ desire to be empowered with information and to cut out the middle man whilst offering the right degree of initial discretion for both parties.”
We suspect that estate agents could use this site to considerable advantage, simply by registering their interest in certain areas. What do you think?
Comments (7)
You all REALLY need to check out the "User Code of Conduct". I usually say 'you couldn't make it up' – but in this case, someone HAS! ;o)
What a fantastic ideal. It's a great way to invite thugs, robbers and vandels directly into the consumers home. Great idea. Not.
Where does all the compliance sit with this model? EPC, Misdescriptions etc. The major flaw that I can see is that it probably won't reach enough buyers to make sure the sellers get best price…..the idea may prove popular with buyers, in principle, a bit like some buyers leafleting the roads they like, but sellers will probably want a bit more "when they sell."
CPRs and BPRs sit between agents and consumers and agent to agent. Misleading on private sales and lets means consumers would need to sue.
The very best of luck to them, let's put a date in our diaries for 1 year from now and celebrate their success – Jonnie
Jonnie mate – don't leave it a year. Trust me…!;o)
Interesting to see if the concept works. I can't really see how it's going to make any real money