AgentsMutual, OnTheMarket vs Rightmove, Zoopla and others.

Quite a full title with some impressive names, but what exactly will Agents Mutual, soon to be www.OnTheMarket.com offer to estate agents / letting agents and consumers across the UK over what www.Rightmove.com and www.Zoopla.com offer successfully already?

Without taking any position within this debate / topic, let me look at the basics of what a property portal should ideally offer both Estate Agents / Letting Agents and consumers:

  • A centralised point to find the latest property listings from across the UK, easily accessible across any internet accessing device and browser. Be accessible 24/7 with at least 99.999% up time.
  • An easy to use marketing platform for estate agents to list property either manually or automatically via their software provider.
  • Property portals should continue to market their concept to both estate agents / letting agents and consumers to increase the exposure of listings on their website and to keep on top of the latest advancements of the internet , internet accessing devices and marketing trends.
  • Propose varied plans for estate agents / lettings at every level and try to keep their prices to a satisfactory level to the amount of enquiries they can generate their users (estate agents / letting agents).
  • Provide innovative search solutions for consumers to increase their popularity and usage. Work hard to be at the finger tips and indeed the tip of consumers’ tongues when it comes to the first place they search for property.
  • Provide estate agents / letting agents with a detailed back end where they overwview performance and enquiries can be studied.

Please let me know if I have missed any important key points by leaving comments below (I am not an estate agent nor do I work for any property portal).

If Agents Mutual / OnTheMarket come on to the scene, then what are they proposing to offer over and above Rightmove and Zoopla (this is not forgetting or excluding any other property portal such as NeedAProperty, Primelocation etc)?

Let us add to this post Ian Springett’s, chief executive of Agents Mutual, reported comments that online agents are “a bit of a con” and their new property website was being launched to counter the “duopoly” of Rightmove and Zoopla. Are they trying to dictate to estate agents / letting agents across the UK that they need to ditch one of the two, proven to work for many, property portals in order to pay for them? Are their key shareholders some of the larger estate agents who, rightly so, continue to look for growth and expansion in any business activity / investment they get in to?

Maybe OnTheMarket has the right approach, maybe they are a sincere approach to combat the outgoings that many estate agents / letting agents have every month to accommodate both or one of either Rightmove or Zoopla?

As an outsider who has not seen any business plan for Agents Mutual or fully knowledgeable on who has invested and why they have invested, surely if they gain success in what they do, will their shareholders and directors not want to see profits just like any other major property portal or any other business for that matter? They will undoubtedly position their monthly costs to use their services accordingly?

Is Agents Mutual a needed shake up to the industry and they have plans to economise property portal advertising for estate agents / letting agents across the UK and have a market share of consumer interest to compare at least with Zoopla and bring down the market saturation that Rightmove have? Maybe there is another USP? Or is it just another property portal…

Our LinkedIn Group also has a live topic on this subject: Agents Mutual launching in January 2015

 

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 29/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Geovation Spring showcase – why it is important that you come and support the founders The event takes place on the evening of Wednesday the 17th of April, at Sutton Yard, London EC1V 7EN, please get it booked into your diary today. As ever the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 28/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   tlyfe the tenant App gets huge marketing boost from national team tour from the Openbrix team As many will know tlyfe, powered by OpenBrix, is the UK’s most innovative tenant lifecycle app, taking the stress out of the move in process and helping to…
Read More
Breaking News

Over Four Out Of Five Tenants Unaware Of The Renters Reform Bill

OVER four out of five tenants remain unaware of the Renters (Reform) Bill and its contents, according to new research. The data comes from a representative survey of over 2,000 private renters conducted by the TDS Charitable Foundation, which works to advance education about housing rights and obligations in the private rented sector. The Bill…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

What is Property Damage in a Personal Injury Case?

Property damage refers to any damage that affects things instead of a person. This might include damage to your car, house, etc. As such, it is not regarded as a personal injury case. However, when an individual is injured when the accident occurs, the affected person can file a personal injury claim. A typical example…
Read More
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Rightmove comment on new 99% first-time buyer mortgage product

Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert said: “It’s encouraging to see lenders continuing to try to innovate in the mortgage market, even after the government abandoned its own plans to encourage lower deposit mortgages in the Spring Budget. This new product has the potential to help some first-time buyers who fit the affordability criteria, but are struggling…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News – 27/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Coadjute ahead of the game as they are already licensed to provide digital TA6 Forms to property stakeholders This week, the Law Society announced its TA6 Form will now include Material Information as per the the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team…
Read More