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London agents launch their own portal today

03 September 2010
Written by rosalind renshaw



A consortium of agents in London is behind a new lifestyle and property portal, Fabricproperty.com,  specialising in luxury homes in North and West London which launches to the trade today.

The site will have a ‘Hello!’ element to it, with celebrity interviews and a number of the properties featured being bought or sold by famous faces.

The consumer launch is next week, on September 9, when the site will go properly live.

The consortium consists of Anscombe & Ringland, Arlington Residential, Aston Chase, Bargets, Beauchamp Estates, Behr & Butchoff, Benham & Reeves Lettings, Benham & Reeves, Brian Lack & Co, Chesterton, Day Morris, Glentree Estates, Godfrey & Barr, Goldschmidt & Howland, Hamptons International, Harris Latner, Heathgate, Litchfields, Parkheath,  Plaza Estates, Savills,  Sandfords, TK International, Vickers,  Winkworth and Wigmore Estates.

The portal, which will promote NW London as the place to live, has evolved from Fabric magazine, which was launched by the same consortium nine years ago.

Unlike the mainstream property portals, Fabricproperty.com will give control back to estate agents.

“Many property portals have been ramping up their charges recently, but Fabricproperty.com is not operated by media owners – the agents themselves run it and they are the shareholders,” said Simon Hobbs, managing director of Forward, the company behind Fabricproperty.
 
Specialising in luxury properties, the site will showcase high quality video walk-throughs.

“This is much more than the average property video. These are TV-quality, and capture the true size and beauty of the property, as though users are seeing the home for the first time with the agent,” said Hobbs. “With this tool, we are able to replace the first viewing, ensuring that the agents are receiving only quality leads.”

There will also be an extensive property search engine on the site, alongside detailed area guides. “We can tell viewers about the latest local cultural events, the best bars, restaurants and boutiques, or even where to go to get the very best beauty treatments,” added Hobbs.

Comments

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    It is a niche, and a very good one. Buyers will like and use it. But, not exclusively.

    Of course they will peek at RM and others, not EVERY agent/property is on it.

    • 03 September 2010 16:25 PM
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    You could go as far to say that these alternatives are already available? It just so happens that Rightmove is the very best and has set the standard. As a result, the good alternatives suffer damage to their reputation as they can’t compete.

    Yes, RM (and any portal) is full of estate agents' stock, but it makes your stock more valuable and accessible. It's a two way partnership. In the grand scheme of things, a successful agent should be able to afford a RM subscription, in comparison to the commission of just one sale - with change to spare!

    Rightmove offer an expectional, proftiable opportunity to all agents.

    Price is the only issue with Rightmove for most agents. While they claim the £650 per month is expensive, which generates lots of leads and (what should be) thousands of pounds per month in return, they still feel that a 3% commission on a £200,000 property is justified!

    It’s the same as any other industry in the World, if you want the best, you’ve got to pay for it.

    • 03 September 2010 15:59 PM
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    Ben: PL is only available to NFoPP firms - so maybe Lance hasn't got it after all...

    • 03 September 2010 15:13 PM
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    Ah the RM debate again, lovely and nice to see so many of the regulars here.

    Isn’t this a mini version of how Rightmove started? Agents get together and launch on day one with content, similar case with primelocation.com

    This will work, it’s a slick idea and the 9 year old magazine its coming off the back off obviously works, but mainly it will work as its following (on a smaller scale) the core founding principles of Rightmove etc.

    I remember a group of agents in Coventry & Warwickshire doing the same ages ago and having just done a quick Google it’s still there and looking alive and well although it wouldn’t surprise me if the agents on it are still on Rightmove as well.

    • 03 September 2010 12:24 PM
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    AofS
    Yes, I am aware of your being a fan of RM that is why I made the comment! I also think RM is first class - but for our own good the profession needs to retain some control of our marketing by ensuring RM (etc) have competition by us having a viable national alternative?

    • 03 September 2010 12:23 PM
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    Don't be silly, Ray.

    I think I am RM's biggest fan on this site.

    I was responding to pigsintrough who said they would not be a success.

    By "Low league" I was referring to the new portals (and some "esatblished" ones) that keep popping up and failing to deliver their domincance, service and promises, but none can match RM as they are ultimately offering the same (but much worse) service.

    FabricProperty has potential, because it is a different approach, targeting a much smaller, but very proftiable market.

    • 03 September 2010 12:01 PM
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    Ben.
    Lance.
    You have a very valid point. I have been banging on about this taking control for ages.
    NFoPP agents should ADVERTISE & PROMOTE its own portal as an alternative.

    AceofSpades.
    Rightmove is 'low league'?

    • 03 September 2010 11:52 AM
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    Pigsinthetrough - I would agree with that comment if it was any other portal.

    However, its purely NW London. London has it's own economy and people pay a premium to live there.

    The people who typically look for property in London will buy into this as it is a portal 'for them'. They have no need to search through any other portal considering, radius, draw your own search and specific areas.

    With this, they can go direct to the source and deal with the top agents in London, covering only the location they want.

    If the top agents are listing here,

    This could be a success. a) because of the target audience and what they want
    b) They are targetting a specific up market area and not seeking UK domination like many of those other low league portals.

    • 03 September 2010 11:37 AM
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    Lance - you've got it, it's called propertylive, you don't use it as the public don't know it exists as it seems neither do you!

    • 03 September 2010 11:29 AM
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    ...I really must cut my lawns tonight.

    • 03 September 2010 11:22 AM
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    I think it will be as successful as ALL the other portals that don't spend millions on marketing.

    • 03 September 2010 10:24 AM
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    Way to go! Well done those agents. I always thought we agents were fools to allow others to use our content to build sites to make them millions, while we struggled at the coalface of the property market instead of seeing the bigger picture and harnessing those revenues.

    Maybe the agents will wake up one day and start a National site and then pull our properties away from other websites.

    What do other agents think?

    • 03 September 2010 10:21 AM
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