A new portal run by agents for agents is to launch on Monday, Estate Agent Today can reveal.
Radar Homes is aimed at breaking Rightmove’s virtual monopoly, and is already being hailed as the potential internet breakthrough that agents have been waiting for.
It will significantly undercut all the paid-for portals, and all agents who subscribe will become shareholders in a regional structure, with full access to accounts and taking a slice of any future profits.
Radar is the brainchild of former career estate agents who say the industry wants to break free of repeated price hikes by Rightmove.
Launched by NAEA member Mark Flynn, together with Julian Partridge and Jon Williams, the trio are telling agents: “It is time to stop feeding the hand that bites you.”
It is planned that Radar will start in the West Country before rapidly unrolling to the South-East, Midlands, Wales and then across the rest of the UK. A map on the website will show shaded areas where agents have signed up.
In the West Country, enthusiasm is running high.
Brian Bradley, chairman of Bradleys, said: “Radar presents the first-ever and possibly the last opportunity to create a vehicle for estate agency marketing.”
Another agent, Roger Wilkinson of Wilkinson Grant, said: “This may well be our last chance to escape the grasp of the portals and bring control to the very agents who provide the rich valuable content on which they build their enormous profits. Please don’t waste this opportunity.”
In every region there will be a Radar Homes company – each controlled by estate agents – making up the national portal.
The portal itself is a spin-off from Home Swap Shop, an internet site for agents with vendors willing to swap properties.
Whilst relatively new, the site – which also kicked off in the West Country – is said to have already proved its functionality, with effortless uploading of properties, and it was West Country agents themselves who suggested taking it to the next step.
Radar – whose message to consumers is to find their next home ‘on the radar’ – will charge a £100 one-off share purchase payment per branch between now and January 1. After that, it rises to £200. This fee buys share issue and setting-up feeds from software providers.
Agents then pay just £45 per month per branch for unlimited property uploads, with search engine optimisation promised.
Annually, the cost will be £540, compared with Rightmove’s current scale of £3,600 to £7,200.
Importantly, Radar promises no huge price rises in future, saying that if there are hikes, these will be tied to inflation plus a maximum of 5% in any year.
Radar managing director Mark Flynn said: “The listings that agents have are of great value, in both content and volume. It is the agents that provide the content that enriches property portals, but agents are then in turn charged for the privilege of doing so, with no future financial reward coming back to them.
“Agents need to start realising how powerful they can be when they start working together for the mutual benefit of each other. By doing so, agents will gradually start to take back control of their own destiny when it come to the future of their internet marketing.”
www.radarhomes.co.uk goes live on Monday. Meanwhile, any inquiries can be emailed to admin@radarhomes.co.uk or call 01392 829748.
Pictured are the Radar team: Mark Flynn, Julian Partridge, Jon Williams, Lisa Reid and John Moss. All have estate agency backgrounds
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Comments
Joined up 2 weeks ago and won me an instruction today off the back of promoting the fact that the site is being advertised on TV.When and if I sell this house,I'm sure I will, the fee I earn will have paid for my membership for the next 5 years +.Best investment I have made and to top it all I am a part owner of this site as I bought a share. I just hope the year carries on like this.
I am an ex estate agent turned web developer. I put my hands up and admit we are about to launch a service that is 100% free to anyone that wants to use it, private sellers/renters or agents.
It will be that mythical 'free market place' that Keynes was on about (you know; level playing field, arms length, willing parties malarkey). RM to us is just friends reunited to our facebook - We'll earn a crust selling advertising to solicitors, hip providers, surveyors just like those property folders I remember.
It has been a slog ensuring what we can and can't do with our trading standards officer and we have already been threatened legal action from one of those estate agent hater sites that offer a nasty service to the gen pub for a few quid and usually set up by disgruntled/unemployed FA's.
I bought the domain name over 10 years ago and only now is the internet good enough for what we want to do - it's a corker too!
It is something that is in my blood, maybe I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one ;o)
As an old boss used to say... "see you 'round the campus"
PS Hi Steve
On another note. I find it laughable in all your comments. That you're all just focussing on cost of membership to all these websites. I rent a house and I was charged a whopping £100 just to sign some papers! Pot-Kettle Black? YES. It's very simple economics guys, you want the best, you pay for the best. Don't just focus on cost, focus on VALUE. There are many costs that large web companies have to deal with. For instance, it costs 100's and 1000's of pounds to just host 24/7 web servers with full redundancy so YOUR properties are seen by the RIGHT people (not those searching in Iraq!)and YOU make the commision. Now how many of you knew that?? I suggest you all take the 1000's of pounds that people like me have paid you, and go buy some perspective!
How does radarhomes expect to win over customers when something as simple as search doesn't even work. I didn't trust the numbers just with a Devon search, so I entered "Edingburgh" - 4551 properties returned! Lets try another experiment "Iraq"....4551. Huh?
See for yourself.
That is a seriously bad "Go-Live" if you ask me. Home hunters need to trust the results they get.
Well done guys a brilliant move forward for us EA to take back control of what we already own'our properties'.How soon before you can get it into the Bristol area.We have sent your forms to you and look forward to getting on board.
By the way the site looks really good and easy to use.Julian looks pretty hot to,send him up our way!
So today is the launch date - and yet no launch?!! Embarrassing is all I have to say.
I have known these guys for years and they are very experienced in the industry. What a great idea this is. I agree with some of the other comments on how important agent power is when they all stick together.
Good bit of media work here. You have turned a sh*t story into to something eyecatching by mentioning RM. Very clever. When people like Alex Chesterman are acquiring the likes of Think Property and Propertyfinder, what make these joker think they stand a chance against RM. THEY ARE JUST A BUNCH OF JOKERS WHO GOT MADE REDUNDANT!
The growth of property websites will continue to grow because there are more young estate agents (un-like us old school)who are web friendly and fundamentally understand how the internet works, therefore these young'ens will keep developing new web ideas and platforms. Not withstanding recruitment firms and developers are bringing out new on-line recruitment solutions on an almost daily ocurrance with specialist sites within virticle markets and generic sites. Why would you not expect the same within property. For example I own an estate agents and I have a team developing 7 different property websites, some specific some not but all property and all adding to the collective marketing plus we use a few established sites and at some point we will no doubt be on radar and on rightmove and whatever else, why? Because if we don't a competitor will.
How much did Zoopla pay for Propertyfinder? 1.5m and it cost over 20m since its launch. How many leads do/did i receive a month approximately ONE! Per month if i was lucky, how many Rightmove leads do I receive a month well over 100! How many sales from my RM lead’s about 95% of them.
Unfortunately too many people have tried to jump on the portal wars platform over the years trying to get a small slice of a large piece of cake. I think Radarhomes is some 10 years too late, this was needed before the likes of RM started.
Interesting how the concept start up is too entice subscribers with shares, so they will only lose the shareholders money and not the banks money because they have already shut the door on such a high risk investment.
As for all the other portals other than RM reducing their fees, what planet are you on, do you not remember The Digital Property Group (FAP/Prime Location) new model! They wanted nearly £800 per month from me for one office and I negotiated them down to a little over £300! The leads are just average and only produce a limited number of sales compared to rightmove.
My prediction for the future is Rightmove will be the dominate player in the portal market for Estate Agents and we will be paying them £2K per month, however 24K per year on marketing in one super marketing area is better than diluting it all over the place hoping you can pick up some scraps. If an office returns 500-600K I see 24K as a very good return on my investment.
Watch this space!
Rightmove only got to where they are today because they did what Radar are now doing. Rightmove made agents lemmings. There are more independant agents now wiser. Stop feeding RM. We don't have their TV advertsiing in our area but are a brand name only because agents do it for them. Go to Radar now, once the market realises thats were the agents properties are, customers will follow. We pulled out from Rightmove over a year ago and our sales went up and never looked back. Stop being reactive marketing and be proactive and you will be very successful again. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when RM board see agents leaving in droves. Don't wait, do it today. Oh you need to find a better brand name "Radar" is naf!
Dear Ace Of Spades
You are of course entitled to your opinion.Everything you say about RM is correct,but please bear in mind RM has been going for 9 years and took time to get where they are.(look at their history page).A lot is being achieved quickly down here in the South West and the agents are the catalyst driving it forward.The agents will create something very special and valuable to them and that will allow us to drive the business forward for their mutual benefit.You are right it has to be an enjoyable experience for the user,having said that the buyer wants to find property,quickly and easily.This is our main focus for now.All the additional features can be added as we go.For instance the MI is already being built.
My point is,by working together,agents can with belief and commitment do great things.
One key, vital factor you are forgetting, is the service Rightmove provides to potential buyers…its excellent. Everything you need and so user friendly, presented in a clear, attractive and professional manner. If you want to drive a Ferrari, you pay the price for it. It seems the key factor here is the cost. £450 per month for the business RM generates?Bargain. ONE decent sale, will cover you for the whole year. Credit to those who have said RM provide a good service...it does. The public are happy with this service, its fantastic. Radar, if you are going to take try to take a slice of Rightmove's pie, you must focus on impressing (and exceeding the expectations of) the viewers, just as much as getting the agents on side.
I welcome Radar Homes with open arms. Rightmove are pricing themselves out of the market. They just keep on coming with their charges higher and higher..........! No concessions for one man bands either!
Because I am a director of Radarhomes I don't feel I can comment about what we are doing or how it is going.The agents themselves should decide that for themselves and we are happy to talk to you.But I will just say to clear a few windscreens that myself and my partners all come from very successful Estate Agency backgrounds.We all CHOSE to leave our positions to create and drive this opportunity forward as we were being told by the agents themselves their would be an enormous appetite and amount of support for an agent owned portal and that is now proving to be the case.
However only you, the agents, can make this what it has the potential to be.Together you have an enormous strength and immense amount of power.Individually, no matter how big or small, you are easily picked off,divided and conquered.
It is,after all, Estate Agents that make portals what they are.
Hi Boys, that makes 3 of you that quoted £325 pcm for rightmove but yesterday rightmove quoted me £450 pcm as a single office new client!maybe you are about to find out next years premium.
By the way these comments I read of yours (if we stick together and leave rightmove) are like last years and probably next years too.Radar could be just what we need but we REALLY do need to stick together to succeed but we won't,as for the £10,000,000 guys if you all added radar to your weekly newspaper advert and window display and removed all others then the public would be lead to it by you for you,its a start and it should only grow for all of us.
er...what short memories. Primelocatino started off as a site for agents by agents, as indeed did rightmove. AJ - please post the ID of your agency, as ther's no consistency in portal pricing. I know soe agents paying £500 for rightmove!
I am an agent with several branches in the south west we operate a very successful sales and letting business. We are very pleased and proud to be part of radar homes SW Ltd. This portal has been years in the making and for someone to suggest that “a bunch of out of work Estate Agents” have created this great opportunity, is very short sighted. Knowing the directors involved and their capabilities I'm in no doubt this will be a Hugh success!
My apologies James if you are an estate agent,however it does infuriate me when we as agents can't seem to see the power we wield when we stick together and it is about time somebody started to give us back the ownership of our own content and start to get back some sort of control.If these people at radar are able to start the process I am in full support of it.
lets just wait and see, I agree though 5 years too late, and as for rightmove, £325 pm is fair enough, plus newspaper advertising, get good quality leads, although we know we pay partly for the millions of pounds worth of advertising its good advertising, and at good times....its also slightly worrying that its out of work Estate Agents that have set it up!!!!
They can advertise £10m + because we pay them. They hardly pay for this out of their B/Eves network. There is space for a rival, but i dont have the time to look into why the others failed and why this would succeed. If a large % of agents left rightmove then rightmove would have to entice them back with lower deals, this is how it really goes. However single offices couldnt care less no paper advertising and £300 pm to advertise, I pay nearly £1000.00. Every other company are dropping their prices but rightmove put theirs up every year.
Ok yet another internet site, I for one think rightmove at £325 pm is good value, this other site is just paying wages to out of work estate agents, I looked at the homeswap shop, doesn't look like any swaps have been done yet, and as stated earlier to compete with rightmove, primelocation etc millions of pound are needed....sorry great idea but 5 years too late
I can't stand Rightmove. My disbelief was that anyone thinks there is a gap in the Market for a new portal. It would be like choosing to start a new HIP company, or training to be an EPC assessor. (with apologies to those unfortunate investors who sunk their redundancy money on the Governments advice)
As an estate agent for 25 years and having spent most of that time spending around £1000 A WEEK in newspaper advertising I cannot see the problem in paying rightmove £325 PER MONTH. AND you can analyse what you are paying for. Estate Agents could start their own website and equally rightmove could allow the public to go on their portal!!
James,
Should'nt you be getting back to your job with Rightmove!If you are by any chance an estate agent you need to wake up to what you are doing by continuing to support this monster we have created.Rightmove will undoubtedly continue to increase charges and take more and more of your hard earned money for the content that you provide them in the first place.We came off Rightmove 6 months ago and it has made no difference to our business.in fact our last 3 months has been better than ever.
James, nearly right on rightmove, just need to add, “Then get a load of Lemmings, AKA Estate Agents, to promote you for free so you are so powerful when they realise what muppets they have been, its too late as they then can’t leave you. Oh and make your Corp opposition shed loads of money along the way!
"former career estate agents".. we all know what that means. I didn't think that after thousands of attempts to do this, someone would actually be so delusional to believe they would succeed. To rival Rightmove.. 1.Spend 10 million pounds on a national TV and radio campaign. When that has expired, spend another 10 million doing it all again. 2.Try to get your old job back when the market picks up.
The pricing of Radar homes seems reasonable even if they haven't chosen the completely free to upload approach of Globrix and Mouseprice. Good luck to them. I hope it is not another PropertyLive!