Radar Homes, the regional portals set up by agents for agents, are continuing to operate despite having been dealt a heavy blow with the collapse of the company that created and managed the concept.
Rightmove’s raising of its charges and its effect on estate agents’ budgets were specifically picked out as contributing to the failure of Radar Homes’ umbrella company, Home Swap, which has gone into voluntary liquidation.
Home Swap held a creditors’ meeting in Exeter, which was chaired by one of its founders, director Mark Flynn of Julian Marks estate agents, and who has stepped down as managing director of Radar Homes. This morning he was at pains to say that the demise of Home Swap does not affect any of the Radar operating companies, to which the agents pay their memberships and in which they are shareholders. He also said that a new company, Radar Homes Group, was set up last week to manage the Radar Homes website.
He said: "The existing team are continuing the Radar mission with the new service company supporting the existing operating companies. Julian Partridge and I wish them all the very best. We're paying customers and are going to do whatever we can to support the team with the ongoing charge which, with Rightmove's continued fee increases is more important than ever."
It was Flynn, together with Partridge and Jonathan Williams – all West Country agents – who set up Home Swap in May 2008.
In his report, Flynn said: “The original objective behind the company was to establish a website to be used primarily by the founders and other estate agents as a forum to promote house-swapping activity.
“By late 2009, it became clear that this objective would not be achieved. House-swapping proved to be less popular than anticipated and the take-up was slow.”
He went on: “We decided instead to establish a regular property marketing portal website under the brand ‘Radar Homes’. This site was of a more conventional nature, similar to other existing portals operated by well-financed national organisations with recognised brands with whom we could not compete head-on.
“We sought to differentiate our site from these competitors by offering part-ownership in the business to estate agents. We hoped this would cause them to be more loyal in using the site to promote the properties they were selling, because they would then feel ownership and be sharing in our success.
“The company model that we adopted was to have Home Swap Ltd as an umbrella parent that would take part of the shares in joint venture companies.”
The plan was for different joint venture Radar Homes companies in different regions, with estate agents paying £100 to become subscribing shareholders and then paying £100 per month plus VAT.
Flynn went on: “Initially there was enthusiasm amongst estate agents and we saw a promising subscription for membership, including from some larger prominent firms.”
Radar Homes South West was incorporated in August 2009, followed by Radar Homes Caledonia, Radar Homes North, Radar Homes South and East, and Radar Homes Midland.
But, said Flynn, “concerns about the viability arose after 12 months when members were failing to renew in sufficient numbers due to the continued deterioration [of the housing market].
“They seemed forced to be acutely cost-conscious, with trading conditions being particularly difficult. We were seen as an avoidable expenditure, being second best to the popular portal Rightmove, which had developed to a size that it had an effective monopoly, with house sellers insisting on its use in any engagement.
“When Rightmove then raised its charges, some members felt compelled to acquiesce by continuing to use that portal and instead cancelled its subscription with us to compensate. Some of our members were also ceasing to trade, which further diminished numbers.”
Last year, said Flynn, there were not enough Radar Homes agents to cover the costs of Home Swap, and last autumn the company approached Homeflow, an unconnected service that maintained the Radar Homes site, to see if it would take it over.
However, Homeflow decided by November that there were not enough members to make a national structure viable and withdrew its interest in taking it over. Its own unpaid charges were also accumulating. By this time, both Flynn and another director had been propping up the company with their own money.
At the creditors’ meeting, James Tickell and Carl Fault, of Portland Business and Financial Solutions in Fareham, Hampshire, were appointed joint liquidators.
The meeting heard that Home Swap was due £15,339 in management and administration charges from Radar Homes joint venture companies, but it was uncertain whether this money would be received. Home Swap’s own shares in Radar Homes joint venture companies were estimated to be worthless.
Altogether, there were assets with a paper value of £32,574 but in reality worth £1,591, and the firm owed creditors £191,476 with a loss to shareholders of £337,326. Creditors include Homeflow, which is owed £27,534 in unpaid invoices, plus a further £59,612 in respect of work for which an invoice has not yet been raised. Other debtors include Exeter City Council.
Jeremy Tapp, of Homeflow, told EAT that he felt it was important for estate agents to have such an option.
Liquidator James Tickell emphasised: “Home Swap Ltd was a company that provided centralised management services to various regional Radar Homes companies.
“These companies are effectively joint ventures in which local estate agents and Home Swap were shareholders, and it is these companies that actually do the business in their respective areas, promoting properties on the website, dealing with inquiries and so on.
“The Radar Homes companies are not in liquidation, hence you will see they are still trading.”
.png)
Comments
MIke
Rightmove don't have you over a barrell, or have a gun to your head. You use them or you don't, its simples.
If you don't have any of the add on's, its £555 quid a month with the new price rise. If it brings you the most leads, as it does most companies, thats not really a huge outlay.
Agents are currently slashing their fees, when they should be maintaining them, or putting them up, good agents will always get better fees. Thats a Fact.
Good post Jeremy
Don't Quit
by: Unknown Author
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit.
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out:
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far:
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
Someone posted this, thought i would reprint the joke.
'RM stuck their fees up like 20% or something. Why? Because they have a produce they believe in and they can.
If you have confidence in your self or your business, put your fees up as well, its aint hard'
OK I've stopped laughing now.
Try Changing RM to British Gas, same principle, get the customer over a barrel, he believes he cannot do without you, then bleed him dry.
Jeremy,
Thanks for the posting.
I realise that you have to get money from somewhere, to run this portal, I also believe you have to have some registration fees, if only to check that only genuine EAs use the site.
I believe that intelligent concerted advertising will help to finance the project. If you can depend on EAs to list, and do a bit of proactive advertising [its an EA site after all] to drive the traffic to the site, I think all will benefit. I don't know what consultative process you are undertaking at present, but I think this is the direction you need to take.
Have you had anyone look at your business model in this context?
Great stuff.
Will Radarhomes let agents subscribe for £45 pcm now, on a month to month basis (no contracted tie in).
This would allow agents to get on board, test the proposition, and gain comfort, if comfort is to be had, or leave the site with no penalty if it is a flop for any given agent.
From the agents perspective, this would look attractive as the discussions regarding 'membership, shares, ownership' can cime further down the line, say 3 to 6 months or so.
From Radarhomes perspective, this could create an influx of subscribers, lots of stock going on the portal, lots of 'free' promotion from subscribed agents and a potential customer base for 'membership' to talk to over the next 6 to 9 months.
Imagination required
I have been asked to contact Radar Home ... rest assured, if I were an estate agent, I would be doing my best to promote you.
As an interested observer of the industry, I understand the extreme competitiveness between agents in the same area. But, at the moment the vast majority of agents all use one portal - it baffles me why they don't all use one they can own a part of and whose subs are a tiny fraction of what it currently costs them.
If only you (Radar) could get one area to commit 100% to you. If every agent in Devon, for example, said 'okay, we'll use you and promote you (just as we do the leading portal) exclusively - when people searched on the leading portal and only found a relatively small number of properties (from the corporates) - they would, via search engines, soon find Radar and realise 'ahh, that's where all the properties in Devon are ...'
I don't know what it is about agents - a chronic inability to co-operate when it is necessary.
Several themes here - some of which need correcting...
(1) THOSE WHO ARE BLAMING THE BUSINESS FOR LEAVING SUPPLIERS IN LURCH
(@TerryOsser / @PotandKettle / @Onceisenough)
My own business, Homeflow, is by far the biggest creditor. And we know the other creditors well. And yes, we've lost some money. However we are committed to supporting the team and the site, which we provide the technology for. We like the idea of there being an agent owned alternative in the market, it's a good idea. And we think they're doing an admirable job, which is why we're keen to support them. Ordinarily I'd be right with your sentiment, but it doesn't apply in this case.
(2) THOSE WHO THINK THERE IS MILEAGE IN THE MODEL:
@RightmoveAbusesAgents / @Mike / @PeeBee
You say make it a no brainer - do it for free or for beer money. That's pretty much exactly what Radar are doing. You can't run a portal for free, they are expensive, complex operations - so that much is unlikely / unrealistic. But they do have a basic membership for £45 (which certainly is beer money in comparison to the number 1 portal). You should call them and hear their story first hand I reckon.
(3) TO THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE CONCEPT BUT POSTING ANONYMOUSLY
(@DevonAgent / @PuzzledofTunbridgeWells / etc.)
Please do email Radar - as they request - at admin@radarhomes.co.uk. They have their handsful right now, but I'm sure when this storm in a teacup blows over they'll be in touch to talk to you about what they can do for you.
FINALLY ON TWO SPECIFIC POINTS:
@ShameonyouRos
It was a rather unfortunate article. If you only read the headline, or the first paragraph (as most casual readers do), or frankly even if you read the first half of the article, the message you would take away was Radar has failed. When in fact the real story is that a plucky Radar team are working hard, and making good progress, with the support of their biggest creditors. This is either not drawn out, or at best lost in the final paragraph. I know the guys at Radar have faced considerable trauma as a result of the article. No matter - they'll be back to chat to EAT about their story in time I'm sure. Hopefully they can get their positive story out to agents - off the strength of what they do for members. Quality will out.
@PaulPreen
We just spoke on the phone and clarified the situation. It's good when people post openly in their real name, thanks. I've corrected the record in private, but sadly Mark and Julian did not profit from the hard work they put into building Radar for the agents. They'd be hard pressed to open up their agency without Rightmove advertising (unfortunate though the contradiction that then promotes is) - and what they do with that agency is of course their call. It's a shame they've opened up in direct competition with you around the corner. But don't confuse other agents that their investment in Radar went into Mark and Julian's pockets. It didn't.
Can I correct some of the inaccuracies from Paul Preen with regard to the Radarhomes Property Portal?
I cannot tell you who is laughing Paul but I can tell that Radarhomes agents are not at all unhappy about receiving ever increasing leads from our ‘three stream’ lead generation program which I will gladly go over with you if would like clarification.
Also not one penny of the agent investment in Radarhomes has been affected by our Management Company restructuring, as shares are only available in one of the five regional limited companies which have been totally unaffected by the restructuring. On the contrary agents are already beginning to see the positive results of the new management company policies.
It’s all about delivering to our member agents and we were not delivering enough quickly enough so we did something about it and now are in a much stronger position because of the affirmative action taken by ourselves and Julian and Mark (who are incidentally estate agents so it is no great surprise to see them back in that field) and all the best to them. They may list on RM but they also list on RH.
I have a declared interest as Regional Sales Manager for Radarhomes.
Contact me anytime at pete@radarhomes.co.uk.
Lets start by you guys knowing exactly who you are talking to and I will answer all enquiries to the best of my knowledge. Or will confirm and re-reply.
"Radarhomes agrees long term partnership deal, to power technology and growth of Radarhomes.co.uk operating companies with a new partner."
All this is good news for Radar Homes and Radar Homes member agents. http://t.co/VGnli7x0
This deal brings us right up to the ‘cutting edge’ of Property Portal technology and together with our technology partners we are now able to provide peerless Internet Technologies to our member agents.
Radar Homes members are enthusiastic about Radar Homes (the Portal that they own a share in) contact us now and find out why admin@radarhomes.co.uk and we'll get in touch with you to tell you more.
Radar IS AGENT owned - it's the only alternative to the building, and otherwise crushing, power of the major PLC owned Portals – and we know that rings everyone’s ‘bell’!
Capped subscription of £45 per month – that is our commitment to making your Property Portal work for you.
Some agents ask me ‘what about free deal?’ Are they actually serious or auditioning for ‘Mock the Week’. This Portal is majority owned by its members, the question should be ‘HOW MUCH! How can how can you guys do all that for only £45 per month?' Contact us and we’ll show you how.
New members are joining Radar every day - finding lots of ways we can offer value alongside basic portal listings. This Portal was built by Estate Agents, for Estate Agents and if the members don’t like what we are doing they can outvote us and say ‘no, no try a little harder please’
RM stuck their fees up like 20% or something. Why? Because they have a produce they believe in and they can.
If you have confidence in your self or your business, put your fees up as well, its aint hard.
If Radar Homes is the website that agents have been waiting for to rival RM then why did it's founders Mark Flynn & Julian Partridge set up an Estate Agents pay RM £1000 a month just for the Plymouth home page as well as a number of other home pages, feature agent page etc. etc etc. When the going got tough they sold their shares in a company that most of you invested in and promoted for them and set up their own Estate Agents..... Who's laughing now.
and then they go bust again as more lose £1000s. No thanks.
Pay your suppliers.
Radar Homes could ‘shake it up’
1. We have Rightmove pounding agents to bits with rate increase that make the water companies look like saints.
2. We have DPG and Zoopla about to merge (or is that hot air) and supposedly take on Rightmove.
3. We have ‘online agents’ shouting the odds and telling us that the market will shift to them.
OK,
Stop and think.
Rightmove have become a ‘megaportal’ on the back of ordinary estate agents. They are charging more and more each year in a supposed declining market. They are allowing ‘online agents’ to piggy back the stock of High Street agents and then claim they are ‘the future’ of agency. Rightmove leach millions of £££ from the industry, this is hard earnt commission that filters up to them via estate agents. Rightmove have a strategy of offering discounts to corporates that is taking the Mickey out of indies. On top of all this Rightmove are now selling direct to the very public that are driven to their website by interest in OUR stock. There is so much wrong with Rightmove and their treatment of their customers (agents) it would take too long to list it all.
If DPG and Zoopla merge, it is true, they will be bigger and could challenge Rightmove domination. So if this happens, is it likely their fees will go up, or Rightmove fees will come down? Oh Yeah Baby! We will be asked to pay more for the new portal as it is inline with Rightmove. Will agents go with one mega portal and not the other? Not on your nelly, we would all find ourselves having to be on both to compete with the agent a few doors along. It is another kick in the cuds on its way to us.
Online agents are sticking their wares on Rightmove, and no doubt the ZoopDpg portal (when it comes) because that is where the public go to view your stock, my stock, our stock. If we amble along their prophecy will come true. Onlie agents will grow and grow, as will the two portals and the high street agency will shrink. It is a false market for the online agents. If they were restricted to a portal just for ‘online agents’ the public would snub it. The public go to Rightmove to see the majority of stock. This means your stock.
If Radar Homes set out their stall to be:
A portal for Indi agents not a portal to get someone rich quick
A portal for agents with offices (not online)
A portal with reasonable fees
A portal with all (or most) indies subscribed
Wouldn't’ that be good?
Think a bit more? How would the corporates compete if Radar Homes was exclusive to Indi? How would the ‘online agent’ compete against it. Think about a world where it truly was the corporates and onliners on the one side and the indies on the other? Who would win?
Imagine that valuation appointment now!
We could all stick with Rightmove until Radar Homes was established, drop Rightmove at any point. (sooner the better). The public would then need 2 websites to perve their property. And trust me, they would, the public have no loyalty to Rightmove, they just want to see all our stock in one place. I think they could live with 2 places, but not 5,6,7,8 etc.
It is not rocket science.
This market is there for the taking by a brave Radar Homes strategy.
Staggered that a company goes bust, leaves debt to honest hard working companies and continues under another "guise", gets so much support, but then again how many agents have pulled the same trick?
@JS "For independents it's a significant expense, and no I don't think it actually represents true value."
Have you not solved the puzzle yourself?
If the fee doesn't represent value, it's foolish to continue with them.
MIke: "...a moneymaking machine, with little thought to the customer"
I wonder if they even realise who "the customer" is!
RightMove constantly harp on about "the end-user experience". WTF?? The end-user doesn't pay the bill; the end-user doesn't choose which site to list on - and the end-user shouldn't be seen - or allowed - to be the tail that wags the dog!
I don't know much about RadarHomes. They are apparently active here 'oop north' - but I cannot find a single reference to them in searches and their main website covers a patch smaller than the seat of my pants!
I've read their membership proposal document (which I take would be identical anywhere in the country). Sounds like a win:win.
I only hope that they actually DO what they SAY on that particular tin...
Peebee,
Good point.
Radarhomes gets all our backing moves from strength to strength, then John Donahoe takes a look and it goes the way of Gumtree.
{this refers to lettings, but I think it is relevant} When Gumtree was free, it alone was giving me up to 200,000 visitors a day worldwide, all wanting to rent UK property after e-bays buyout it dropped to less than a tenth, and they wanted paying, small at first, then the whole package of special rates, bump up and God knows what-else. Then they had the cheek to remove our adverts for containing the URL of our website !!!!!
They turned a decent free listing site into a moneymaking machine, with little thought to the customer. If by paying I got a better service and my traffic improved, of course I would be happy. But as usual in these cases, you end up paying more for a far worse service.
Indeed so it shows it can work. Capping the price may be an option but their current £50p/m shows they're at least realistic versus the £700p/m from RM! RM is no longer run to benefit agents, it's run to benefit the shareholders, retaining agent involvement, which RH promotes, is the way forward.
The simple fact is that without agents RM wouldn't make any money, even if they tried to attract private lets, so why should we continue to sit back and pay such staggering amounts? For independents it's a significant expense, and no I don't think it actually represents true value.
Most EAs are free thinking entrepreneurs who hate the way the megaportals have them over a barrel.
Radar homes, any one who transfers their listings to your portal gets the first 3 months free, then set your fees at between 50% & 70% of Rightmoves. As agents join send the stickers out, give them 'powered by radar homes' stickers for thier boards, cars etc..... And get some advertising on your site. There are other revenue streams to be exploited, use them to keep listing fees down.
The Megaportals are a crocodile, the more you feed them the more they want, Many EAs are now running scared that if they don't keep pumping money into them they will lose business and so, no matter the business outlook, they keep feeding these leeches.
The megaportals use EAs listings to generate traffic, traffic is the life blood of internet marketing, if you prove to advertisers that you are getting high volumes of traffic, they will pay to advertise on your site [then there is pay per click].
Any site with a few hundred thousand visitors a day, should not be charging EAs for the listings which bring them the traffic, in an ideal world they should be paying us and making their money through advertising. They could also offer self generated ancillary services, which as useful tools which help EAs to increase profits, we will pay for.
I never have, and never will pay to upload any property onto these portals. Still doing business OK, some of my vendors do ask if we place them on the megaportals, we don't need to, when they start to insist, we ask why do they feel the need, it usually boils down to they have been told by the portal that they need to advertise, the penny drops then. We pull out the megaportals profit figures and show them, and ask them where do they think these profits are coming from. Its amazing how people react, you would think we told them Fred The Shred owns the portal!
JS: "If we can all help to display their logos and links on our sites we'd quickly help them grow."
Erm... isn't that EXACTLY what happened with RightMove - and judging by the disastrous consequences that Agents are all banging on about on a daily basis on this site - do you want another serving of the same?
ANY portal is going to take advantage of its strengths. They will grow; and as they grow they will have a bigger lever to use to force higher fees out of you all. Cut off RMs blood supply - and all you are doing is diverting it to the next big player. Or creating one in the process...
Look - I have no axe to grind whatsoever with RadarHomes, RightMove; or any of the other portals any more than I had an axe to grind with the local property rags 'back in the day'. They do what they claim to do on the tin. They make sales and tenancies; they bring instructions. They make you far more money than they cost you. They get the info 'out there' into the public domain. Too much, I would argue - and this has taken a degree of the Agents control** of the situation.
** Before the anti-Agents jump up and down on my last comment, when I refer to 'control' I am NOT inferring any form of power - so don't even go there!. You are perfectly aware of the fact that a vendor instructs an Agent to market the property on their behalf in order to achieve a desired result - the successful sale of the property to the best buyer at the best price. The Agent must have 'control' over the process - as they are employed for that purpose. Whilst the internet allows more exposure on a far wider scale than any Agent would be able to attain themselves without substantial additional cost to the vendor, it also weakens the Agent's ability to successfully manage the flow of information back from prospective buyers - which is to the detriment of a proposed sale. Anyone can simply click a button or two and make an immediate decision as to whether they like the look of something or not. In my opinion, this does not make the process more sophisticated.
So - will we all be sitting here, 'keyboard warrioring', in three... four years time repeating the same threads verbatim but this time hailing Radar, Zoopla - or some new kid on the block - as the tail that is wagging the dog?
I watch with interest...
Well i've emailed them so let's see what happens. If we can all help to display their logos and links on our sites we'd quickly help them grow.
Rightmove turnover is over £80 million of estate agent commission a year.
10% of this would do it.
Leave RM with the 'online' agents and the one 'key' corporate. They deserve it. Their 'clicking' would grind to a halt.
If RH had turnover just 10% of RM they would have £8 Million pa.
Is thet enough HD?
I think it is.
Why don't we all get behind RH then? If they can do a free trial to help build them then i'd certainly be in, as would the vast majority, if not all independents.
I'm in, email me! - james@manchesterpropertygroup.co.uk
Unless an up and coming portal is backed with £millions and £millions, then they never will be a viable alternative to compete with the bigger boys.
Zoopla and DPG are merging to try and take on RM, thats how big a task is faced.
Although after the big breaking news, it has gone a little bit quiet on this merger front.
A company associated with Radar goes squit and we dished up a story that makes the un educated tabloid reader think that Radar is in trouble.
AoS,
Thanks Matie,
You are so right. But it is not up to me to make a first move, it is up to Radar Homes to PROVE they want US. Make it easy for us, make it almost free. Get us involved as a 'NO BRAINER MUST DO'
They can do it, I can't.
Over to them.
@Rightmove Abuses Agents.
I like your spirit. The problem you face is gathering the backing to do this.
The best thing you can do to convince agents to do this (like anything else) is to show them.
Do it yourself, move over to RadarHomes and make it work for you. If one or two agents per town do it (and it is delivering results), others will follow.
Face up to reality that agents are not motivated or convinced to do anything they read on an online forum (for numerous reasons).
Make the stand and set the trend. It's very similar to the calls for everyone to leave Rightmove...not gonna happen. You have to leave yourself if you believe it is not offering value for money.
no such thing as 1 key agent. At worst, all countrywide offices, maybe.
And... 'So What?
If every agent had RH logos in their windows. newspaper ads, websites, prp details, facebook/twitter links, and so on.. RM would have no traffic.
So when 'key agent' wants bach in (after doing the dirty) a polite bugger off would see them off.
Go with the flow
'Lots of competing Entreprenuers all pulling in one direction? '
Could happen, then one key agent breaks ranks back to rightmove as vendors demand, corner market, the rest flood back.
And now a failed business needs more funding, is that going to happen?
Anon, you seem to believe "Lots of competing Entreprenuers all pulling in one direction? Unlikely to happen"
You are so 'cup half empty'
I would imagine with many businessmen with clear vision, vested interest and industry experience pulling in the same direction for a common goal, being cheap but effective internet advertising, such a proposition could not fail.
The only thing that would prevent it would be, if (as I fear) this is not a 'put it right' idea on the part of a bunch of West Country Estate Agents, but a 'let's get rich' scheme on the part of one or two individuals.
Lots of competing Entreprenuers all pulling in one direction? Unlikely to happen!
There will always be a rightmove to do it properly.
"Business as usual" Nice.
Oh yes, what about the £200,000 worth of creditors? Business as usual?
Hi Pete, (Lisa, Janet, Dan, Patrick),
Have you thought about making this site a 'no brainer' for Estate Agents?
Make the link and upload almost free for 6 months, get everyone in the industry involved, get those properties loaded. Indies first, the corps will follow. Make it 'beer money' at first, as it proves itself ask the membership for reasonable but justifiable increases, show us the costs and spread the costs through the membership.
Even if the the corporate's do not come in, it could still be a good move or the Indies.
Please exclude 'online agents' this is crucial and key.
High street or local presence only or you can't come in should be the business model. That would be a major selling point against where the 'mega portals' want to go. If Radar Homes actively shunned 'online' agents and we/it became big, that would mean even more free promotion for the website from all agents at street level. That is how RM got so big.
It can be done again.
Please show us that you are not building something that could be sold for 'mega money' at a point in the future. Associate yourselves with a large charity, ensure any profits above a certain operating profit go to charity forevermore, no matter who is in control.
Agents will worry that someone at your end is trying to make a massive personal profit with a sneaky exit strategy. Remove this possibility, make it like a subscription club, prove it works and you will get support.
Give it a try! what is to lose?
Can someone please advise how much the NAEA has spent so far on PropertyLive.
Are members happy to see their subs funding it?
For ever?
Or is it really PropertyDead...?
If everyone thinks it is a worthwhile website, I'll have a word with the venture capitalists.
Keep up the enthusiasm guys!
Puzzled of Tunbridge Wells and Devon Agent...
Glad you like the look of the site. Let's get you involved, and get you briefed about what it can do for you properly, you may well be surprised.
Don't just post anonymously as that way we can't update you on the real picture - get that direct from us - get in touch:
admin at radarhomes dot co dot uk
Radarhomes
those who can't - teach, those who can't teach, set up a property portal.
Devon Agent: 'I agree with you puzzled, but it has to be done well. I'm an independent agent trading in Exeter where these guys operate from and they have never contacted me! If they had I may very well have subscribed, but how confident can you be of a product run that way??'
Shame though isn't it? I thought their site looked good. Seems you need huge resources to get started - whereas, these days, you shouldn't - with the web and social networking sites it should be easy to set up and involve everyone - but many agents are so up themselves (not suggesting your good self) that it's hard to get to them.
Just to add...
The existing team are continuing the Radar mission with the new service company supporting the existing operating companies as normal.
Julian and I wish them all the very best. We're paying customers and are going to do whatever we can to support the team with the ongoing charge (which, given Rightmove's continued fee increases, is more important than ever).
Mark
And well done to Rosalind at EAT for providing us all with a platform to keep us informed as to what is happening in the big wide world of property and what is hot and what is not.
It's so wonderful to have an official response from Radar Homes. Im sure Pete, Lisa, Janet, Dan, Patrick are all really very nice guys and gals.
OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM US HERE AT RADAR:
To be clear - nothing has changed...
This isn't really a story. None of the Radar Operating companies (which member agents pay their memberships too, and hold their shareholdings in) are impacted at all.
All these companies trade perfectly normally and are growing nicely. It's simply the technical services company that has gone through administration.
We're all still here (Pete, Lisa, Janet, Dan, Patrick) working away on Radar exactly as usual. Mark and Julian haven't really been in the business for some 6+ months now - as most of the members of Radarhomes will be well aware. We're still in good touch, but they gone back into estate agency as Radar wasn't big enough to support them full time.
Everything else is business as usual.
Devon Agent: That's astonishing - and shame on us - we have 60-70% of the agents in Exeter on with us. Can you email me at admin@radarhomes.co.uk and we'll organise to give you a call straight away.
Business as usual: www.radarhomes.co.uk
Pete, (Lisa, Janet, Dan, Patrick)
Zoopla is fast catching up with Rightmove and is quickly becoming the agents web portal of choice, judging by the increasing number of Zoopla stickers in Estate Agents windows, and in many cases the diminishing Rightmove ones.
I was approached (in Somerset) by Mr Flynn. I was indeed impressed at his aims. I was interested in the concept but am already using some 20 websites other than my own, many of which are bundled into a newspaper agreement with A&N Media.
I am also regularly approached by Zoopla! who I did use, as part of a bundle, a few years ago .... somehow they dropped out of that bundle but brought me few leads so I didn't care, but I believe thay are now far better, but that if they do get taken over by Digital Media then they may well bundle themselves back in again.
I do get a bit fed up with endless website approaches. I did not join Radar Homes because they were unknown, not asked for by potential vendors (who sadly pretty much insist on Rightmove), and I feared that what is happening now was quite likely. Right now I am doing a 3 month trial with no fees during the trial, with Need a Property and there have been plenty of teething troubles but as yet, no evidence of leads.
Now, if a parent body like N FOPP/NAEA could get decent market penetration with their website ...........
These initiatives lack resources and therefore fail
To succeed they need to lose a lot for a long period then charge a lot going forward - RM has had a ten year head start on everyone and will not be beaten unless a new model comes forward
The NAEA portal lack money to succeed - but could be a sensible starting point, and should be sold to a venture capitalist to get the backing it needs
The new breed of Internet based estate agents whom Rightmove accept with open arms should be of more concern to High Street based estate agents. Times and trends are changing. Rightmove have a stranglehold and most agents wont let them go at any cost it seems. Limited budgets obviously mean that there is less to spend on other more obscure property web sites. I've actually never heard of nor used Radar Homes before!
I agree with you puzzled, but it has to be done well. I'm an independent agent trading in Exeter where these guys operate from and they have never contacted me! If they had I may very well have subscribed, but how confident can you be of a product run that way??
Your industry has missed a great opportunity to free yourself of the market domination of the big portal(s).
A portal owned and operated by estate agents - providing a service for the whole industry - with a good web site already up and running ... it just goes to show how hard it is to get people to work together. You deserve what you get when companies get themselves into the position of a dominant supplier and you suffer endlessly jacked up charges.
You can lead a horse to water ...