Is easyProperty the way forward?
Chris Hogan, 1st August 2017, Landlords
Announced three years ago, easyProperty promised to be "the end of the estate agency world as we know it." Now, after an operating loss of £11 million the online portal has merged with the Guild of Property Professionals' parent company.
What's the link to easyJet?
When easyJet took off as one of a new breed of direct booking, low cost airlines that disrupted the travel industry, founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was quick to roll out the 'easy' model to other industries.
There are now over 20 'easySomethings', from easyPizza to easyGym. However easyProperty refers to Stelio as the company's 'brand partner', which suggests that the relationship is not as close as the branding would lead you to believe.
With no company details on the easyProperty website it's difficult to work out the exact relationship, but it's probably a licensing deal rather than ownership.
Is it working?
easyProperty announced a £11 million pre-tax operating loss in April 2017 although the board and investors declared that it was on the right track.
But with turnover for that year being less than a million pounds, property commentators were less positive, noting that significant growth would be required to recover those losses.
Guild merger
June saw the announcement of the merger with the GPEA, which already owns the Guild of Property Professionals, a network of independent estate agents, bricks and mortar agency Fine & Country and online portal PropertyPlatform.
The deal will give the Guild's members access, though a monthly licence fee, to easyProperty's online platform and vastly increase the amount of professional advice and knowledge available through easyProperty.
Is easyProperty for you?
Putting all that aside, is easyProperty a good place to let or sell property?
Reviews on Trustpilot seem to be a fairly high average at 4 stars (8.5 out of 10) but there are fewer than 500 reviews, even though easyProperty encourages users to place reviews there.
Perhaps the right way to see if it works is to try it out with one property and judge for yourself. Make sure you keep a precise calendar of events in case it doesn't work out, as that will help you recoup any costs.
Property management
Last year easyProperty was offering property management at 3% of rental, which seemed too good to be true - at the moment the website doesn't display a price.
There is a 'Complete Pack', currently at £299, for letting your property which includes all the services and six month's management. That could be a good way to test the property management aspect of easyProperty, without committing to a whole year.
What do you think?
Have you used easyProperty, or do you know someone who has? Why not email in and let us know so that we can run a follow-up article?
Email: media@ceta.co.uk
