easyProperty, which launches a residential letting service today after months of anticipation within the industry, says it will ultimately expand to handle online auctions too.
Chief executive Robert Ellice - who this evening presides over an official launch ceremony in central London with easyGroup supremo Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou - says in a video released on social media that his service will significantly expand within the next two years.
Early in 2015 the service will start handling online residential sales, followed then by commercial property. Online room rentals and property auctions will then follow. And if that is not enough, Ellice promises to expand with a similar offer for the property markets of France, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands.
The auction market is booming currently - for example, Auction House has just posted a 13 per cent rise on comparable figures for 2013, Liverpool-based auctioneer Sutton Kersh's latest property auction generated proceeds of over £4.7 million taking the firm's annual proceeds to £27m so far in 2014.
Ellice's video also reiterates what he sees as the advantage of the known brand of easyGroup well known for choice and no frills.
Ellice also specifies that his business model - which allows landlords to advertise for free on his site only or for a fee if the properties are to be listed on Zoopla and Rightmove -
works by securing a small margin on additional services offered to landlords.
The same principle will exist for residential sales and other property sectors.
Comments
Chris . . . I don't get your defensive stand on an Estate agents forum. Unless franchising is in your sights.
"to build a business of any size an established known brand was needed". Agreed.
Would I trust my largest financial transaction, my families biggest investment, to Netto, or Lada to save a few quid in fees. Bearing in mind the risks Me no. Some yes. The majority, doubtful.
A very exciting idea. Brand portfolio diversification at its finest! But is it not too early to think about expansion plans
Lettings & Sales are like Chalk & Cheese. Lettings need totally different skills and training than sales, plus a great deal of experience in continuous people contact. On-line can suit just sales - not so with lettings.
@chris welch How do you manage to argue your point so fervently and poignantly with your head so far up Robert Ellice's 'arris :D
Raising money is the easy bit, making it is harder, as other "Easy" ventures that have crashed know.
thanks @Rob take your point,we won't be expanding into sales until later next year and certainly not until we bed lettings in,we were founded by an estate agent of many years Rob Ellice,it his his vision, the easy brand we believe is the perfect fit for a value based proposition and in a market where branding is rather localised. Current online players have built organically in many cases with some generic brand names, to build a business of any size an established known brand was needed. True property is more complex in many ways than aviation hence why branding is even more important,having a known brand gives us the foot in the door it is the product,proposition and service that will determine if we succeed.
Not a big fan of all this easyProperty stuff over recent weeks - a lot of pontificating and hot air. However, they have raised almost 1million via crowdfunding in just a few days which is quite impressive.
Not disputing easyjet's pedigree, although many people will be familiar with their no-frills approach. What I'm disputing is easyProperty having the same success, in an unfamiliar and complex market, so quickly. I just think it would be sensible to concentrate on getting a firm foothold first, before thinking about expansion. Nothing wrong with ambition, but aviation and property are two very different beasts.
@Rob Stelios doesn't do vanity projects,like any business we have a clear vision and a plan of how to get there. We as a management team are in this for the "long haul",we have serious and significant investors and we aim to grow this business to great heights :) Your critique of easyjet one of the most successful and profitable airline businesses in the world frankly made me laugh.
@well done, don'yt know if you are familair with launch an internet business but a pilot site is there for a reason to test and refine the software and processes. We have never promised to list "10,000 properties" at launch,we have registered over 3,000 landlords who between them have over 13,000 properties and rising. Wonder how long a new high street branch would take to get anywhere close to that level in 1 month Today is a great milestone in our business as we officially launch tonight with staff,investors,partners and the media.
hi @lisa the point is due to commission based letting fees and opaque admin fees landlords and tenants end up often paying through the nose,our model is simple pay for what you need and not for what you don't,I have to disagree with your claim on a "full service" costing way over the odds,our pricing is clear and transparent and we are happy to be compared to any traditional agent.
They haven't even properly started yet and they're already talking about expansion. Running before they can walk Biting off more they can chew You betcha! This is just a vanity project from Stelios in an attempt to make a fast buck.
The description of the easygroup brand made me laugh - 'well known for choice and no frills'. That's one way of putting it.
Easyproperty certainly doesn't appear to be following the same model as the other 'Easy' businesses. Customers may have choice over the services but they pay the price - if they end up taking the full service they could be paying way over the odds compared to many letting agents.
Congratulations to easyProperty for going live yet again! The fact the public has been able to access their services for a month now via their website obviously does not count for anything because they were training their pilot.
Greatly looking forward to seeing the new site up and running with the 10,000 properties listed as promised, being well towards its 4-5k listing target a month and having "mortally wounded" those pesky high street agents
Am also looking forward to winning the Euro Millions which I think has better odds :D