Findaproperty: The Life And Death Of A Real Estate Portal
FindaProperty is dead. Long live FindaProperty.
Thats the cry of Zoopla this month as the UK property portal was absorbed into its new home as part of the Zoopla Property Group.
FindaProperty was founded in 1997 around the same time as TheMoveChannel.com, in fact by entrepreneur Andrew Pendery who spotted a gap in the UK for aproperty lead generation company. The model caught on and, after years of operating in Andrews bedroom (and later a Brighton office), became successful enough to achieve the razzle dazzle real estate dream: venture capital investment.
Businessmen Neil Anderson and Simon DUrso bought Pendery out to tune of 2.8 million in 2004 only for FindaProperty to be sold again, this time to The Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers.
By this time, FindaProperty had competition. Rightmovehad been formed, a joint initiative between Halifax, Countrywide Plc, Royal & Sun Alliance and Connells. And that ignited an industry race between portals as the property leads market became increasingly competitive.
Rightmove, as we know, went on to become the market leader for British real estate. For FindaProperty, a different fate was in store, which started in 2008 when Daily Mail and General Trust established The Digital Property Group. The group grew bigger, adding PrimeLocation.com and Globrix.com within its first year.
Once 2011 rolled around, DPG attracted the attention of yet another buyer: Zoopla. A proposed merger between Zoopla and Digital Property Group surfaced, sparking mass speculation over the future of the UK property industry. Would Zooplas new friends help it become big enough to tackle the market share of Rightmove?
FindaProperty carried on regardless, launching an eye-catching/annoying (delete as appropriate) ad campaign, which involved actor Ross Green rapping about property. That then became even more annoying/successful (delete as appropriate) with the introduction of a whole family of rappers.
But fast forward to October and all that has gone. The rappers have left the building.
The site now redirects to Zoopla, the FindaProperty logo reduced to a small picture at the top left of the page. A quick Google of the brand name sees the site scrubbed from search engine history, with only an app review on iTunes and a blocked mobile website to show for 15 years of work. Well, that and 12,541 followers on Twitter. What are they worth now? It is only fitting that @FindaPropertys final message was a retweet of Zooplas account.
It is interesting to note that PrimeLocation continues to operate. Is that brand, dedicated to the higher end of the UK housing market, strong enough to continue targeting its exclusive clientele?
The rebranded Zoopla Property Group said in September that it would launch its biggest ever marketing campaign and that it had plans to invest even more in its brands over the coming months to deliver even greater numbers of applicants, vendors and landlords to its members doors.
With the war on Rightmove openly declared, how much of a game-changer has FindaProperty been in the real estate lead generation race? Will that be remembered in another fifteen years time? And what website will be next to join the fray?
FindaProperty is dead. Long live FindaProperty.
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