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easyproperty.com Industry first & will rightmove.co.uk , join Zillow with Google mortgages ?


easyproperty.com  online estate agents, part of the easy group brand , has become the first online estate agency  the UK to incorporate clicktopurchase® , an agent-operated transactional platform for buying and selling property online. It provides the facility for a legally binding private treaty exchange of contracts to be conducted electronically as part of the sales process. If an agent chooses, these private treaty offers can be concluded by online binding ‘best offers’.


Using Clicktopurchase Private Treaty to provide certainty and speed of transaction


The clicktopurchase® platform also offers the ability to conduct online, real-time auctions. These auctions accurately simulate a live ‘ballroom’ auction with a real auctioneer (not a computer) conducting the auction and interacting with the bidders.



An agent using Clicktopurchase to maximise sale proceeds by tender or auction

clicktopurchase® is revolutionising the property sales process, making buying a property fast and easy, whilst delivering certainty, transparency and accountability. It enables distant buyers to transact as easily as a local party and brings liquidity and flexibility to the market. The worries of ‘gazumping’ and ‘chipping’ are ended.
clicktopurchase® has already been used to conduct over £100m of property sales in the UK and Ireland, and has been successfully utilised by institutions, banks, receivers and property companies.

Well known sellers who have engaged with clicktopurchase® in the UK include High Street Banks and commercial real estate backers , Barclays, BNP Paribas, CBRE Global Investors, Deloitte, DTZ Investors, Lloyds Banking Group, Moorfields, Rockspring, Royal Bank of Scotland, Schroder Property Investment and Standard Life. Vendors benefitting in Ireland have included Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, PwC, Deloitte and Ulster Bank. clicktopurchase® has also recently commenced operation in South Africa.



Also in the news this week was Google Launched Mortgage Shopping Tool In California, More States Coming Soon .Google is now a licensed mortgage broker in California. The company recently launched a mortgage comparison tool for home shoppers in California [with support for more states coming soon].

This announcement doesn't come as a major surprise, given that the company already signalled its intentions to launch this product earlier this year ,filing this extension to its business operations
 in 2013
It’s worth noting that this isn’t just a public service for consumers. This is a commercial product and as Google notes, “participation in Google Compare is based on a flexible cost-per-lead (CPL) model.” The company says that payment doesn't factor into the ranking or eligibility to participate, though.

Google is launching this product under its ‘Compare’ brand, which already includes an auto insurance comparison tool.

To power this tool, Google partnered with Zillow[UK Rightmove equilvalent ] and LendingTree. The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but it looks like Google will pull data from lenders on Zillow’s mortgage marketplace, for example, instead of working with lenders directly.

In the UK the two main portals are  right-move ,zoopla and primelocation . Zoopla [ US trulia equivalent] , had earlier this year completed its acquisition of consumer switching site Uswitch with includes energy and financial providers within ins portfolio mix. It’s worth noting that Google already offered a similar mortgage service in the UK.




Rightmove [RMV] has yet to offer these consumer services ,relying on the estateagent to bridge the link with mortgage providers. RMV heavily relies on agent subscription listings fees, tools, coupled with banner advertising.



It would seem a logical [for RMV]solution, to continue competing with, Zooplas structured scale up ambitions. By setting up a "zillowesque market place" with mortgages providers , allowing Google to then pull this data from it's lenders.

Alternatively join forces with MoneySavingExpert [Uswitch contemporary] like a "glorified white label site" bringing more revenue stream.Autotrader is another platform , where car insurance could also be offered; Unlike Rightmove or Zoopla, Zillow even has it's own vice president of mortgages, showing more sophistication/ polish to their business operations. 


Further Reading 

Spending Review and Autumn Statement Live 2015 by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's Housing property StampDuty

The Perfect Property Storm?




New right-to-buy boom: 1,000 people a week signing up to housing association sell-off ahead of launch of new scheme










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