love2move, a hybrid estate agency which allows high street firms to run separately branded online operations, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.
Valued at just over £1.25m, the company is looking to raise £120,000 in exchange for 8.7% equity.
The fund-raise aims to allow love2move – which launched exactly two years ago – to recruit more independents and provide them with the proprietary tools necessary to compete with online-only agents.
The pitch explains how love2move fills a gap in the market that has been created by the rise of online-only estate agents.
It further claims that whilst the new generation of home-owners want a convenient way to sell their home without paying high fees, online-only estate agents can lack local knowledge.
The love2move concept was devised by Lancashire based high street estate agents MovingWorks.
CEO and NAEA Propertymark board member Georgina Cox said: “We always believed there were flaws in the online only model and these flaws are now becoming more apparent.
“Our business model is different to anything else available and we have USPs for house sellers, the estate agents we partner with and importantly our investors as we have a lower cost per acquisition than other agents competing in the online space, which means we will quickly become profitable.”
With 18 estate agencies now signed up, a pitch video shows firms reporting an increase in traditional fees and conversion rates.
David Leake from Goole-based housesetc credits love2move with helping to increase his valuation conversion rate by more than 10% to 56%.
The video also features two other agents, from Oldham and Nottingham, highlighting the benefits as they see them.
The service claims to achieve an average of 99% of asking price and charges a fixed fee of £895.
Co-founder Mark Worrall said he feels vindicated in his original belief that the best person to accurately value a property is a local, high street estate agent.
He said: “Crucial to a house sale is an accurate valuation and high street agents have years of local knowledge so it has always seemed obvious to us that the best person to help house sellers get the best return is a local, traditional estate agent.
“A number of our partner agents have jumped at the opportunity to invest which will help us achieve our ambition to create a national brand.”
There have been few online property businesses using crowdfunding platforms lately – The House Shop cancelled its campaign, while online agent 99home said that its funding effort had been affected by Emoov, which crowd-funded last summer but went into administration in December.
However, a property business nearing the end of its campaign on Seedrs is online firm Vesta.
With just over a week to go, it had yesterday raised some £625,000. It is looking for £750,000 in exchange for 7.7% equity in the business, which it values at almost £9m (£8,981,429).
The love2move pitch is here:
https://www.crowdcube.com/love2move
The Vesta crowdfunding campaign is here:
I think what bugs me the most about these online agent crowdfunding opportunities, is the absolute stupidity of the owners. Nobody seems to learn. This is not the offering people want. I actually don’t care if somebody chooses purple bricks over us because of fee any more, because we offer something far superior, plus, 9 times out of 10 they come back to us anyway. Why on Earth would I want to lower myself to an online offering? The ship has sailed. Concentrate on something else.
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Valued at £1.25million……based on what? 99% of the asking price, do me a favour
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It just amazes me that these people are able to find so many of the ‘Silly kids’ to invest in these schemes? When I was at school it was one ‘Silly kid’ per class, they seem to be able find a job lot of these poor souls?
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Pitch says ‘Award-winning management team of industry experts’
Who are they? What awards have they won? And what are they expert in?
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Ah, disruption, the feeling that investors get when they discover all their money has been p****do up a wall there’s nothing left and the company has closed with the directors claiming “we’ll be back soon with another silly idea!”
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wow.
They pitched to us at an NAEA Event and it was the worst role play I had seen ending in a “I know, why not use Love2Move”
Concept is great…. sell houses online and speak to people… so you get OnLine and OffLine services… love it… I might try…. oh wait…. hold on…. I do this AND charge more AND make a profit….****** hell… my crowdfund would put us at about £300billion.
Eyze gunna be ritch
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So what are they offering the High Street, they don’t already have – web presence? Seems to me an agent is signing up to reducing their income! The pitch they will get more instructions …. yes, if you are hiding under the bed. Another wonnabe!
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‘to recruit more independents and provide them with the proprietary tools necessary to compete with online-only agents‘
Can we stop this competing with online agency nonsense? They’re at 5% of the market and very unlikely to grow much further. It is they who are desperately trying to compete with the High Street agents. Don’t let the tail wag the dog here, be aware of them, be wary of them but don’t fear them or focus so much time on ‘competing’ with them that you take your eye off the ball that is your existing business.
‘love2move fills a gap in the market that has been created by the rise of online-only estate agents‘ Really?
‘helping to increase his valuation conversion rate by more than 10% to 56%‘ Nothing to do with the low fee then?
History shows that low fees never win out. If it was the case, ASDA Property Services (selling for £99 + VAT) would be the biggest agent by a mile.
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Always be wary of proptech evangelists raising funds on CrowdCube – https://whereisthemoniimoney.com/
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When oh when will these idiot investors ever learn?
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I think my business must be worth a few million then. I’ll be happy to sell 7.7% of it in return for a few hundred thousand pounds.
#ifeelgood
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Reading their pitch on Crowdcube
Fixed Fee £895 of which love2move take £395
so the High Sreet agent gets just £500
Are they for real ?
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“CEO and NAEA Propertymark board member Georgina Cox said: “We always believed there were flaws in the online only model and these flaws are now becoming more apparent.”
Erm… sorry?
Can someone please seek clarification as to why an NAEA Board Member is making this statement?
I can’t recall this ever having communicated via the office of Mr Hayward – have I missed something?
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Raw nerve hit?
Or averse to truth and/or reality?
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