You could have had odds of 4/1 as second favourite Zoopla is reported as being the mystery bidder in the quest for PropertyFinder.
If the deals go ahead, pundits are already saying it is a good deal for all parties, but does this mean a change in direction for Zoopla?
Yes, PropertyFinder is a good brand and makes a good acquisition, but surely Zoopla want to continue to build the Zoopla brand. As we mentioned a while back, despite having pot fulls of cash, Globrix has shown how difficult it is to get your 'brand' established in this market. So why not try and bypass the years of brand building and jump the que? Excellent idea, but then what do you do now you have two brands, one well established and the other still at the beginning? Running them alongside one another has proven problematic.
Playing devil's advocate, why not just ditch the 'Zoopla' brand and integrate the Zoopla business model into PropertyFinder?! The alternatives are less attractive from a brand point of view.
Of course, Zoopla may see this as the first as many acquisitions, but then they become no different to News International, the REA Group et al and we are back to square one.
Due diligence is no doubt still underway, but as the lawyers and accountants argue over why so many paperclips were purchased, what will happen to the staff, the management, the business? Watch this space.
I haven't been invited to join the new board yet, but I guess they are waiting until the deal is sealed to announce such a high profile appointment.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Friday, 26 June 2009
PropertyFinder and a mystery bidder
Property Portal Watch breaks the news that the management of PropertyFinder have failed in their bid to take over the company.
But not all is lost (just yet). The post announces there were three bids and now the group have entered into due diligence and exclusivity with one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with company purchases, due diligence and the like, the highest bidder (99 times out of 100) will conduct due diligence, which is effectively a detailed examination of the business, its books etc. At the end of an agreed period and some further bartering a deal is either concluded or not. It is time consuming and tedious, I know, I have done it.
Anyway, the more interesting question remains, who is the mystery bidder and what will they do with it if successful, strip the assets, keep it, other?
There are a few likely candidates and to make it a little more interesting, how about we run a book as follows:
DMGT - 2/1
Trinity Mirror - 5/1
GMG - 8/1
Zoopla - 4/1
Rightmove - 4/1
The Owl - 100/1
Good luck
But not all is lost (just yet). The post announces there were three bids and now the group have entered into due diligence and exclusivity with one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with company purchases, due diligence and the like, the highest bidder (99 times out of 100) will conduct due diligence, which is effectively a detailed examination of the business, its books etc. At the end of an agreed period and some further bartering a deal is either concluded or not. It is time consuming and tedious, I know, I have done it.
Anyway, the more interesting question remains, who is the mystery bidder and what will they do with it if successful, strip the assets, keep it, other?
There are a few likely candidates and to make it a little more interesting, how about we run a book as follows:
DMGT - 2/1
Trinity Mirror - 5/1
GMG - 8/1
Zoopla - 4/1
Rightmove - 4/1
The Owl - 100/1
Good luck
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
The greatest form of flattery
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" so the quote goes.
A new network for estate agents ageants recently popped up on the radar and has been advertising in the industry press. Naturally, I thought I ought to have a look, especially as it is built on the same platform as Juicy Red Apple and has a similar set up.
I duly signed up and to my amazement, I was banned within minutes!!
From memory, my initial bio and first page congratulated them on their site and made a point that it was good to see others entering this space. No issue there I think. I did link to JRA, but where is the harm in this? The next moment, I am banned without notice, like a common spammer!
Despite my emails asking for an explanation I have not received any communication whatsoever. Perhaps they will care to comment on this blog. Afterall, I am still big enough to link to them!
A new network for estate agents ageants recently popped up on the radar and has been advertising in the industry press. Naturally, I thought I ought to have a look, especially as it is built on the same platform as Juicy Red Apple and has a similar set up.
I duly signed up and to my amazement, I was banned within minutes!!
From memory, my initial bio and first page congratulated them on their site and made a point that it was good to see others entering this space. No issue there I think. I did link to JRA, but where is the harm in this? The next moment, I am banned without notice, like a common spammer!
Despite my emails asking for an explanation I have not received any communication whatsoever. Perhaps they will care to comment on this blog. Afterall, I am still big enough to link to them!
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Tepilo - Sarah Beeny chat
Sarah Beeny believes buying and selling a house ought to be easier and a task one can do on their own. Having spoken with her about her new project, Tepilo, I would tend to agree with her.
Sarah was speaking to me from her office 'shed' the other day. We were discussing the rights and wrongs of the world of real estate and she hit on a few key words that readers to this blog will be familiar with, namely 'simplicity' and 'its not rocket science'.
Sarah makes the point that as an individual, one is happy to hand over what is probably at least a month's wages to a complete stranger to perform a task that you are not certain they can perform. She goes on to say the buying selling process is not rocket science (more synergy) so why not do it yourself. Tepilo is thus a step by step guide and medium to help you sell your house. Sarah says the site is all about simplicity and providing the user with a straightforward simplistic system to sell your own home.
The site looks good on the face of it, but before it launched I asked Sarah how she was planning to generate revenue from it? The 'free' commission word popped up and I challenged her on the viability to maintain staff, overheads, marketing with no revenue. Indeed, there is no advertising on the site either. So where does the money come from I asked? Does she have very deep pockets? There are others involved I understand, but Sarah explained that this was a long term project and not a quick money making scheme. I appreciate that, but I still can't see how it can function without revenue.
Agents will no doubt cry that you need them to deal with the lawyers, arrange viewings and moreover what about the valuation?! Well as Sarah says, it is not rocket science and punters now have sites like Zoopla to help them. Valuing your house is actually very straightforward. The Zoopla functionality needs to find its way onto Tepilo. Indeed, the American model upon which Zoopla is based is now synonymous with valuation and realtors will actually publish the valuation from the website by way of benchmark. As for legal advice and the like, this is all catered for within Tepilo and you can of course use your own. Again, it is not rocket science.
The site looks good, but I would want to see more, step by step web 2.0 style screens, more colour, pictures and examples of how I should do it, larger font size. Video uploads and a video to show me how to do it, a blog, podcasts and all the other goodies. I am sure these are coming in due course.
Private selling is still a very young and small market, but the more Sarah Beenys that come along the better. Agents who poo poo this market, continue to ignore the Internet and continue along the path thus travelled will come undone when entrepreneurs like Sarah find the magic formula for property selling in this country.
I must say I like Sarah and she strikes me as a good person, personable, passionate about the consumer and all round champion of the people. I wish her venture the very best. I will do a follow up interview when Tepilo has been running for a little while.
Sarah was speaking to me from her office 'shed' the other day. We were discussing the rights and wrongs of the world of real estate and she hit on a few key words that readers to this blog will be familiar with, namely 'simplicity' and 'its not rocket science'.
Sarah makes the point that as an individual, one is happy to hand over what is probably at least a month's wages to a complete stranger to perform a task that you are not certain they can perform. She goes on to say the buying selling process is not rocket science (more synergy) so why not do it yourself. Tepilo is thus a step by step guide and medium to help you sell your house. Sarah says the site is all about simplicity and providing the user with a straightforward simplistic system to sell your own home.
The site looks good on the face of it, but before it launched I asked Sarah how she was planning to generate revenue from it? The 'free' commission word popped up and I challenged her on the viability to maintain staff, overheads, marketing with no revenue. Indeed, there is no advertising on the site either. So where does the money come from I asked? Does she have very deep pockets? There are others involved I understand, but Sarah explained that this was a long term project and not a quick money making scheme. I appreciate that, but I still can't see how it can function without revenue.
Agents will no doubt cry that you need them to deal with the lawyers, arrange viewings and moreover what about the valuation?! Well as Sarah says, it is not rocket science and punters now have sites like Zoopla to help them. Valuing your house is actually very straightforward. The Zoopla functionality needs to find its way onto Tepilo. Indeed, the American model upon which Zoopla is based is now synonymous with valuation and realtors will actually publish the valuation from the website by way of benchmark. As for legal advice and the like, this is all catered for within Tepilo and you can of course use your own. Again, it is not rocket science.
The site looks good, but I would want to see more, step by step web 2.0 style screens, more colour, pictures and examples of how I should do it, larger font size. Video uploads and a video to show me how to do it, a blog, podcasts and all the other goodies. I am sure these are coming in due course.
Private selling is still a very young and small market, but the more Sarah Beenys that come along the better. Agents who poo poo this market, continue to ignore the Internet and continue along the path thus travelled will come undone when entrepreneurs like Sarah find the magic formula for property selling in this country.
I must say I like Sarah and she strikes me as a good person, personable, passionate about the consumer and all round champion of the people. I wish her venture the very best. I will do a follow up interview when Tepilo has been running for a little while.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Asda Pods and Property Portal shuts down
Property Portal Watch posts that Homesinstore, Asda's online property venture is shutting down.
You may recall I offered readers a bottle of champagne back in July and August of last year if they could find an in store Asda pod and send me a picture (Asda's offline marketing to support the online venture). Well, I never saw a Pod and truthfully, I don't believe they ever existed. Along with claims made by Asda of 4 million visitors per month it was all hot air.
I have met those who were taken in by Asda as they were 'a large supermarket'. Monitoring their site over the months soon led one to realise that they were struggling for content. Why? A number of reasons, but surely this is evidence of the simple fact there are too many portals.
Maybe Asda can find a real estate agent prepared to buy a redundant system. They are out there, just think Spicer Haart and Tesco!
You may recall I offered readers a bottle of champagne back in July and August of last year if they could find an in store Asda pod and send me a picture (Asda's offline marketing to support the online venture). Well, I never saw a Pod and truthfully, I don't believe they ever existed. Along with claims made by Asda of 4 million visitors per month it was all hot air.
I have met those who were taken in by Asda as they were 'a large supermarket'. Monitoring their site over the months soon led one to realise that they were struggling for content. Why? A number of reasons, but surely this is evidence of the simple fact there are too many portals.
Maybe Asda can find a real estate agent prepared to buy a redundant system. They are out there, just think Spicer Haart and Tesco!
Monday, 8 June 2009
Parklet.co.uk
What a great idea.
Parklet.co.uk is a portal for parking spaces and garages to rent. Great for commuters looking for a safe place to park and as the founder of parklet points out in an interview with property portal watch it has added security for the the home owner who has let out his drive during the day as it provides the impression someone maybe in.
With an average annual revenue between £1,000 and £1,800 to be made it is worth considering.
Parklet.co.uk is a portal for parking spaces and garages to rent. Great for commuters looking for a safe place to park and as the founder of parklet points out in an interview with property portal watch it has added security for the the home owner who has let out his drive during the day as it provides the impression someone maybe in.
With an average annual revenue between £1,000 and £1,800 to be made it is worth considering.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
PropertyFinder to close - management buyout being considered
All eyes on PropertyFinder.
REA Group, owners of PropertyFinder are apparently courting the idea of closing PropertyFinder.
On the back of this news, there are various reports which suggest a management buyout is being considered.
So what will happen? If a management buyout goes ahead we could see the first major portal to switch from a subscription based model to a performance based model. Indeed, why Zoopla have not snapped up PropertyFinder just to eradicate them from the picture is a little puzzling.
I see this as a huge opportunity for a new team at PropertyFinder and I hope they manage to get it together for the deadline, which appears to be the end of June. Bang goes their summer holiday!!
By the way, I would like to point out that rumours regarding the Property Owl Blog being sold for two million are exaggerated.
REA Group, owners of PropertyFinder are apparently courting the idea of closing PropertyFinder.
On the back of this news, there are various reports which suggest a management buyout is being considered.
So what will happen? If a management buyout goes ahead we could see the first major portal to switch from a subscription based model to a performance based model. Indeed, why Zoopla have not snapped up PropertyFinder just to eradicate them from the picture is a little puzzling.
I see this as a huge opportunity for a new team at PropertyFinder and I hope they manage to get it together for the deadline, which appears to be the end of June. Bang goes their summer holiday!!
By the way, I would like to point out that rumours regarding the Property Owl Blog being sold for two million are exaggerated.
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