An online estate agency has launched a major crowdfunding campaign to fuel expansion plans.
MyHouseAdvert.co.uk, formed in 2011 by Adam Sutherland, claims to have sold over 850 properties across the country worth more than £150m.
The Sheffield-based company is now seeking £100,000 of investment for a 10% equity stake via Crowdcube.
The investment will be used to fund a marketing and advertising drive to raise the profile of the business.
Other online agents to have used crowdfunding are Hatched and easyProperty.
Property TV also used crowdfunding – although that was cancelled as it closed – and raterAgent currently has a campaign.
Sutherland said: “This is an exciting time for MyHouseAdvert.co.uk and we see huge potential for growth.
“We get such fantastic feedback from everyone who use us and we want to tell more people about the unique offer we have in the market.”
MyHouseAdvert.co.uk has a monthly payment model at £69.95 a month, reducing to £39.95 after three months.
The fees include listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.
Sutherland said: “We’ve just sold a client’s house in Fulwood, Sheffield, for £690,000. The client paid us just £359.75, a potential saving of over £10,000 compared to a traditional estate agent’s 1.5% plus VAT commission.
“We’ve focused on creating a flexible, transparent and honest business model that also gives people more control in the house-selling process.
“Users can just test out the market for a month with no commitment, pay monthly or through a one-off fee of £369.95 for nine months’ service.”
He said that MyHouseAdvert.co.uk is one of the highest-ranking online estate agencies in the UK on the independent review site Trustpilot.co.uk with 140 ‘Excellent’ reviews.
He added: “No-one was talking about online estate agencies four years ago but it is clearly a model that is here to stay and I don’t think traditional estate agents can afford to remain complacent.
“The portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla are doing all of the hard work and generating buyers now. Our job is to make sure the sales go through.”
Potential investors in MyHouseAdvert.co.uk can take a stake from £10.
On its first day it quickly raised a quarter of its target from four investors, with the largest stake being £11,000.
The Crowdcube offer is here
Comments (14)
Has anyone else noticed that Crowd funding is an acronym for Can’t Risk Own Wedge on Deal.
Now that PeeBee is really how you get a comment of the week.
Ahhh… someone seeks my boots to fill!
We shall see, shall we not?
’tis a good effort I agree and worthy of the weekly accolade it is – but lucky you are that head to head we were not.
;o)
It’s true, given its only Tuesday, I fear I may have peaked too early.
Youth is not always an advantage… ;o)
It just goes to show that the ‘cheap’ version of estate agency doesn’t work. If it did, they wouldn’t need to go for crowdfunding if they have sold so much. Being cheap isn’t sustainable, especially when you need a huge amount of staff to deal with the throughput and they all need paying. You end up turning estate agency into a poorly run call centre.
Totally agree. Why isn’t it just growing naturally… and if it is why give away a chunk of your business for an amount of £££ which won’t last very long?
The client paid us just £359.75.
359×850=£305,150. I assume he has quoted this sale as a good example. My business, on this basis must be worth millions! If only! £100,000 for 10% means he reckons his business is worth a million. Hmmmm……
To value up to £1,000,000 he needs to have 1200 properties listed at all times and show the £70 generates a profit. ( it will do there are no real fixed costs)
Someone can go and look to see if he has 1200 properties on the books ahead of investing, if they haven’t done so their investment is reduced to a punt.
Dose any one know how many properties where sold in the uk x this buy £350 say a online agent gets 20% of the market will it make money I don’t think so every estate agency could work from there bedroom if they wanted to there be 20,000 online agents
Congratulations of the two ‘Dislikes’, markpne.
I am not entirely sure what is in your post that people have taken a ‘dislike’ to – but that is simply because, with respect, I am struggling to actually understand your post.
A case of more haste less speed, perhaps?
Just like Dragons Den isn’t it?
Peter Jones > ‘What makes you think your business is worth one million pounds?’
‘What was your net profit for the last 12 months? I’m out’
Does Findaproperty exist these days? I thought it had been switched off. Perhaps this is an old photo and the boards have been re-done since it was taken.
how can anyone possibly make money charging £359 especially selling a £650k house. it just doesn’t stack even if doing it from your spare bedroom! would have more respect for these boys if they charged 1%
“how can anyone possibly make money charging £359 especially selling a £650k house.”
Of course the answer to that is simple – onlinies generally don’t actually NEED to “sell” their stock. The majority charge to LIST a property – and this one is no exception.
They WILL make a “profit” – IF their outgoings are less than their incomings. Property value here is irrelevant – and if the vendors of high-value properties don’t understand what impact that has on them, then the budget model Bedroom Billys are frankly welcome to them.
“would have more respect for these boys if they charged 1%” Really? They get respect from me when – and only when – they actually prove they can do what they claim to be able to do.