Comments on BrightSale - Estate Agency 2.0: Is the Writing on the Wall for Rightmove?

This whole scenario is playing out rather more qui...

2008-07-03T00:47:00.000-07:00

This whole scenario is playing out rather more quickly than we anticipated. We thought we were being aggressive in predicting that Rightmove would be surpassed by the end of 2008 by Globrix. But with the stock hitting an intraday low today of 217p and with Citigroup analysts reporting that an amazing 300 estate agents abandoned Rightmove in May alone (!) it seems that the writing is not only on the wall, but is written in bigger letters than we realised.

In the interests of accuracy we should point out t...

2008-06-30T01:25:00.000-07:00

In the interests of accuracy we should point out that since we wrote this post RightMove share price has slumped a further 18% to 270p currently (30th June). How we wish we were running a hedge fund rather than on online estate agency sometimes! Of course events in the UK housing market are having an impact, but surely the realisation that the game is now up for the subscription model must now be being taken seriously in the City. It certainly looks that way.

From our perspective at BrightSale, this debate is...

2008-06-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

From our perspective at BrightSale, this debate is very interesting. The first Anonymous' comments seem to us to be wide of the mark. There is widespread confusion about what PMA 1991 does and does not require estate agents to do (in fact - the Act doesn't require them to DO anything at all. It requires them not to knowingly mis-describe properties). We are going to clear this up in a Commentary note in the next few days - but suffice to say that it DOES NOT require agents to visits properties, and neither does the Act stipulate that it is down to portals to enforce the law (but more later).

We also agree with Ivailo in that there doesn't seem to be a correlation between how much advertising a site has and how popular it is (see thesun.co.uk for example). We do also wonder whether the second Anonymous post isn't quite prescient. It would seem more logical for RM to go to a cost per listing model - rather than the rather blunt 'per branch' model which it has currently. But we will have to wait and see on that one.

But thanks for the posts - and do please keep them coming!

Globrix is advertising funded, but I wouldn't go a...

2008-06-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

Globrix is advertising funded, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that it is plastered with it, their advertising is always placed in the same place. Google has done a fairly good job educating consumers to expect advertising in the right-hand column.
What's more important though is that the adverts are always relevant to property.

I don't think that the choice of which property portal to use will be based on which one does or does not display advertising.

Rightmove and others should adapt a pure pay-per-a...

2008-06-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Rightmove and others should adapt a pure pay-per-action model. Little or none monthly fee, but XY for each email/contact/click. Of course it's hard to change that when you're earning comfortably.
I question Globrix' numbers. Whenever I search there I see houses multiple times: same agent, same photo, same price. They're overcounting a lot.

You are incorrect when you say that Rightmove do n...

2008-06-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

You are incorrect when you say that Rightmove do not allow internet only agency's. They do but the company must be acting as an estate agent in terms of viewings, PMA ect. Rightmove do not allow "Marketing Company's" to advertise property as this is a back door way of getting private sellers on the site. It will take a VERY long time for the general public to cotton on to using Globrix's site and the reason why RM is so popular is that there is no advertising on the site. Globrix is plastered!