A Fuller View

Globrix has added the MyGlobrix feature to the site:

This allows you to register and save your property searches, and allows us to deliver regular updates to you via email should any new properties come onto Globrix that match your needs.  We now have over 700k properties, and our search engine updates regularly through every day finding new properties that could match your criteria.

Globrix are also reporting they have more than 700,000 listings on the site. Pretty impressive. I’ll have to visit the site and report back with an update review. I am curious to see how the various property sites fair in a economic and real estate down turn…

I would agree with TechCrunch UK that is doubtful if anyone will “actually notice” and I am pretty sure that no one will care that DotHomes is launching in the US. As far as I can see, even though they have a nice looking property search engine it isn’t making a big splash on UK side of the pond. I am amazed how many property search sites there are full stop. I am also stunned how many insurance comparison and search sites we have in the UK (just watch cable or freeview TV!). Thought: Is this another sign that we are on the other side of a bubble?

There are so many property sites in the US and the UK. I’ve got to think this is a very tough year to be launching such a new serivce - ie, in a falling property market (at least falling in the US and the UK). Anyway, Roost has just launched in the US. There has also been a significant move down for Move.com’s stock - this site would make a great addition to one of the bigger search players. Note to GYM: someone should buy Move.com is a great site, with nice search and an excellent management team out in SoCal.

After reading about the recent moves (or see below) in the US property site space I went over to Compete.com to compare some of the UK property sites.

Rightmove and Primelocation appear to be battling it out as the 2 big UK players. While start-up Globrix has quickly gained on Zoomf another start-up in this vertical - both of these I’ve written about before (see Zoomf Facebook post or Globrix investment post for more on these 2) . Note: this is only based on the sample size from Compete, but I would guess it gives a reasonable view.

Rightmove vs. Primelocation (Jan ‘08):

Globrix vs. Zoomf (Jan ‘08):

Follow-up Note: Here is an excellent comparison of all the UK property portals:

http://www.estateagencynews.co.uk/north_articles/bnorth0807.asp

And this from Primelocation:

What this [the comparison on estateagencynews] doesn’t tell you is the change in market share. Although we are clearly second place to Rightmove, Primelocation was the only portal to gain market share during 2007 which we primarily attribute to our television advertising campaigns (according to Hitwise).

A bunch of interesting moves in the property space in the US:

• Trulia Releases Free Publisher Platform (Greg Sterling) - looks like a powerful set of funtionality for publishers.
• Zillow Adds 10 Million Homes, Adopts Real Estate Data Standard With Yahoo and Trulia (Tech Crunch) - the standard is interesting, need to see if there is a similar effort here in the UK. Also check the chart below on how Zillow & Trulia are taking market share from Realtor.com (owned by Move).

I got this via email today… So, simply here is the complete PR:

Next generation property search engine offers new free promotional opportunities for agents; site launch backed up by massive national advertising campaign in Jan 2008

Next generation property search engine Globrix (www.globrix.com) launches its BETA test site today, offering estate agents across the UK a way of breaking free from the conventions of traditional online listings sites. Globrix will enable agents to include their properties on the site automatically and for free, meaning they can promote the properties on their websites to a national audience without the costs and hassle traditionally associated with online listings.

Globrix will take a new approach to property search. Rather than charging agents to list properties on a centralised site, Globrix works like an internet search engine such as Google, automatically indexing the properties on agents’ websites in a searchable database. When a user searches on Globrix they are delivered links to relevant properties on the estate agent’s original site. In this way Globrix can deliver estate agents valuable web traffic direct to the properties on their website easily and for free.

Globrix is also bringing a new user experience to the property search market. Whilst traditional property listings sites have offered the ability to search by area, price and number of bedrooms, Globrix gives users a massive flexibility in the way they search:

• Price – rather than specifying a price bracket and being restricted by that throughout their search journey, Globrix users specify their price bracket using an intuitive slider control.
• Mapping – As well as searching via a traditional search results list, users can also view and search for properties matching their criteria on a map, meaning they can look for matching properties outside of their core search area.
• Filters – Once the initial set of search results has been delivered, users can filter the list of properties they’re looking at by a broad range of criteria such as property type (e.g. house, flat, maisonette etc), number of bathrooms and bedrooms, outside space (garden, roof terrace, balcony etc), keywords (Victorian, conservatory, wooden floors etc), stations (train and tube) or tenure (freehold or leasehold)

In addition to the free listing available on the site, Globrix is also offering a limited range of paid advertising opportunities for agents on the site. Agents can purchase location keywords, for example to secure a ‘Property of the Week’ slot for a particular area or a ‘featured agent’ banner. The site will also carry limited banner and contextual advertising for related property services such as mortgages, insurance, home decor, and retail. The limited advertising inventory has been designed to give maximum exposure to advertisers with minimal disruption to the ease of use of the website. Further value will be delivered to agents through the regular publication of a wide range of statistics around user’s search behaviour, showing how house hunters are using the site.

The site is launching in Beta today and properties are being added every day with near-total UK coverage expected by early 2008. Backed by national media group News International (who own The Times, The Sunday Times, The Londonpaper, News of the World, The Sun and their associated websites), the site will benefit from a massive UK marketing and advertising campaign intended to take Globrix into the top tier of property websites by number of users within months.

Agents can be automatically listed on the site using Globrix’s web search technology, however, the site also welcomes data feeds from agents in a broad range of formats (Rightmove format, xml, RSS, webservices etc.) Agents interested in being listed on the site or in buying advertising should contact sales@globrix.com.

Daniel Lee, CEO of Globrix, said: “On the rest of the internet it is free to include your website on a search engine so why should property sites pay for the privilege?

“We’re looking to create a service that offers the best to both agents and consumers. For agents we’re offering free inclusion and links directly back to their websites, for consumers we’re offering an impartial search service backed up by an easy-to-use interface and cutting edge search technology.

”With the backing of a partner like News International we’ve got access to the resources and expertise to build a significant audience in a short period of time. We want to work with agents to develop Globrix as a resource for them to access this audience in the most effective way they can.”

-ends-

The new UK based property search engine Globrix has recently move from private beta to public. This site looks like it has the potential to shake up the online UK property market or at least how consumers search online. One to watch. Note; I am hoping ot get an interview with the Globrix CEO line up for Jan and will do a site review in early ‘08 as well.

This is smart. Zoomf, a UK property search engine, is using Facebook to drive traffic and raise awareness. How? They have created a Zoomf group, they have a fan page (on Facebook, must be logged in to see fan posts) and there are having the fans send messages to keep people up-to-date. It helps that the fan sending the messages is an attractive young woman. I thought about adding her photo to this post but decided that was pushing the limits of good taste…

The site also just had a re-design and new search UI released. Like I said before, this is a site to watch. But they need to get more data and coverage - I can’t find the house on my road that I know is for sale now. See property search can be infotainment especially in property obsessed Britain.

Update: check the Zoomf blog for more on the Facebook fansumer action.

News International has invested an undisclosed sum - but said to be in the multi-million pound range (= ~US$4M+) - in a new property search engine. The full PR is here - the following excerpt is very interesting:

Daniel Lee, CEO of Globrix, said: “Globrix is about answering a fundamental need in this marketplace – creating a Google-style model for the property search industry. By enabling agents to list for free we cover virtually every property in the UK, which in turn provides a hugely compelling proposition for consumers and creates a new opportunity for an ad-funded model.”

“News International is clearly the partner of choice for a business of this sort. As well as the scale and resources they can offer us in the UK and, potentially, through News Corporation, overseas, they also bring a massive experience of property markets to the table.”

Clive Milner, Group Managing Director, News International, said: “Through its digital and print media, News International is one of the largest single players in the UK property media market, so this investment is about us remaining at the forefront of what’s happening commercially and technologically.

“Globrix is set to be a truly disruptive business in the online property search marketplace – it essentially turns the economics upside down and creates an unparalleled consumer offering from an innovative business model.”

The 2 founders of Globrix - Dan Lee and Ian Parry - have a lot of serious search experience (they have worked at both FAST and Autonomy in the past). I know that they have been working on this puppy for the past 12 months or more. Should be a great addition to the highly competitive and dynamic UK property search market. I am looking forward to seeing and using the new service. I know the founders personally - so once they get it launched I will see if I get an interview with them.

This is a smart investment by News International (NI). For Globrix the cross channel distribution and the offline to online synergy will be a big advantage for the site. News Corp continues to expand its online portfolio with one of the more innovative strategies around for a “traditional” big media company. Now they just need to infuse the print newspapers will some new ideas (see this post by Mr Sterling “Newspapers, Timing and Human Nature“ for inspiration or latest from Monocle [paid content]). 

How many real estate (property) mash-ups are there on the web now? I am not sure but I am going to wager a guess that’s it more than 10. The real estate or property classified vertical has to be one of the most competitive and dynamic on the web. In the European space Zoomf is one covering the UK and is doing a decent job in terms of user experience and general look & feel etc.

The big challenge will be getting coverage of data and generating a viable revenue stream. Zoomf have raised a 2nd round of funding (we believe this for ~$500k) and are based in London, UK.