First time buyer site

youngmoney_2

I help run an international property portal and I am thinking about setting up my own project.

At the huge risk of losing my idea to somebody, I would like to have your opinions on the project as I know there are different age groups and different methods of thinking here.

I've noticed that there is a huge gap in the first time buyer market (yes I know I'm stating the obvious). However, in the UK there is not ONE website that specialises in first time buyer property. Imagine how helpful it would be if you were searching for property as a first time buyer and you knew there was a site that was no fuss, no mess just straight forward first time buyer property.

Obviously this is just all thoughts at the moment but what are your thoughts on the initial idea?

meanmachine_2

There is a site, it's called rightmove

Those properties at the lower end of the market tend to be "first time buyer properties", but that term could include any property, to be honest.

kinesin_2

Something like: http://www.firsttimebuyerhelp.co.uk/

youngmoney_2

OK perhaps I didn't make myself clear on that one. Rightmove is just a huge property portal, the same as https://www.propertyfinder.com and https://www.findaproperty.com.

https://www.firsttimebuyerhelp.com is excellent for tips but it doesnt really have any full on property links.

What I am talking about is getting everything in one place. Tips, properties, mortgages, solicitors etc. that SPECIALISE in first time buyers.

That's what I was saying, that no property portal SPECIALISES in low price (is there such a thing!?) UK property. The closest is Irelands daft.ie, but even that is for other property as well.

dboswell

firstly you need to define what is a first time buyer? Sure we know it means a virgin property buyer, but the budget of a FTB in London is not the same to one for say Blackburn. Then you need to make value decisions and judgements about EVERY town and location (not just region) in the UK and what is the max. price for a FTB.

Then what size of property is FTB friendly? 1 bed, 2 beds, 3 beds or more?

Then how do you prevent landlords just hijacking your site to snap up cheap properties?

Joannaclaire

Some people class themselves as first time buyers, when in fact they are just chain free in that they had a property, sold it and then have rented/lived with family etc before buying their next peoperty. So how would you cater for these people? Or distinguish between them and their needs from real FTBs?

Also the requirements for FTBs vary so wildly. For example, we are FTBs but are looking for a 3 bed semi, rather than a flat. And recently several of my FTB friends/couples have bought properties ranging from a studio flat, 2 bed flat, 3 bed terrace to even a a 4 bed house... so as you see there is such a variation in the types of property that a FTB might potentially purchase...

To be honest I don't see how solicitors, mortgage lenders etc would 'specialise' in first time buyers. Surely the legal and financial procedures for buying a property are the same regardless of how many properties the purchasor has bought in the past?

I would rather source financial/legal services locally from recommendations of friends etc rather than through one big FTB website. Currently estate agents often have inhouse finiancial advisor which I would never ever ever go through for a mortgage, as they have a vested interest in all the proceedings and so are not impartial enough to my way of thinking. To me your idea comes across a bit like that, where all the advertisers would be in it for a percentage to be on your site...so I would steer well clear of anything like that personally to be honest.

lush_walrus

I think the fundamental flaw in your plan is illustrated above, what is a FTBs property? They come in all shapes and sizes, ages, wealth etc. How are you planning to receive funding?

Any EA, property website etc it is possible to narrow down the details you can view/receive via price which is the only important factor in property purchases. Vendors all want to sell, purchases all want to buy, the thing that brings the two together is the common denominator of price. Status is irrelevant to both, unless more than one offer is on the table, then the vendor may choose the FTB (if they have a mortgage in place).

The reason that sites such as rightmove etc do not narrow down their range of people who can use or want to use their site is to maximise revenue, why narrow the revenue you can receive down?

In my opinion rightmove have already stamped their mark in this area, and local EAs fill in any gaps. If you want to provide a service for the first time buyer you probably will need to think further into their needs rather than the actual property, what scope there is in advisory services I dont know but if I were you I would be careful persuing FTB property.

good luck, and keep thinking out of the wrong idea can come a right idea.

youngmoney_2

lush_walrus wrote:

good luck, and keep thinking out of the wrong idea can come a right idea.

Bang on how true that is. In answer to other posts these are the precise points I need to go over. The point is that nobody has made an effort to do it on a national scale.

Yes there are complications, I help run one of the biggest property portals in Europe (which shall go unamed for now) and I am certainly no stranger to every problem.

As far as specialists go I will not set up "advertising rates" or go to the bargain basement firms such as Countrywide Property Lawyers. Revenue will in turn come from service and it is the precise point that the ONLY niche area where there is no specialisation is first time buyers.

My point is that it will be difficult (there are around 275 things to think about which I have already thought about) and yes it will constantly change. But then you look at Right Move, you think that happened over night? It has come from years of hard work from them and I have nothing but respect for them.

This post has been slightly blown out of proportion. I would like to point out that i am not a novice at marketing property, I am simply putting forward one question which I shall try to properly define below;

"If the appropriate research was done on a national scale in to FTB's across the country, and in doing so a website was created that specialised in property for first time buyers, assuming that said website was an accurate depiction of the current market at all times and also reflected services geared up to the market, would it then have the potential to attract a large majority of "FTB's"?"

meanmachine_2

You're not listening to what people are saying.

It's possible to categorise property by location and value, but FTBers come in all shapes, sizes and salaries.

You can't say that a FTBer is someone who buys a studio flat under the stamp duty threshhold.

To be honest all I care about is "how many properties does a website advertise"?

In a straight choice between rightmove (600K) and a FTBer site (100K), I'm going with the former.

I also choose rightmove and findaproperty cos they're easy to use. I don't care about anything else. Sorry.

youngmoney_2

No thats fine you don't need to say sorry thats exactly the reason that I set up this thread for opinions from people I value as a good broad base. I think I might set up a poll on this with just the last question, now if only I could figure out how to get that done....