FindaProperty
Encyclopedia
FindaProperty.com is a commercial sales and lettings listings website for the UK consumer residential housing market. It has offices in London
and Brighton
and lists approximately 800,000 properties uploaded by estate agent
s for a monthly fee.
The portal was started in 1997 by businessman and entrepreneur Andrew Pendery who had experience of the US property
market and saw a gap in the UK one for an online listings portal. He began the site in his London bedroom and with the help of salesman Ferenc Schustek, achieved initial growth. He then moved the business to Brighton at offices in West Street and later, Dyke road. The site's first listings were in London and Surrey
which were then - and still are - the UK's busiest property markets and hotspots for high house prices.
specialist Simon D'Urso, expanded the business significantly, enough to attract venture capital money. In early 2004 businessmen Neil Anderson along with Simon D'Urso bought Pendery out for £2.8 million, financed by Barclays Ventures, who put David Garrett - who later went on to work for Figleaves.com - into the business to oversee its investment.
, the publisher of The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and Metro. In 2008 parent group the Daily Mail and General Trust
(DMGT) set up The Digital Property Group (through DMGT subsidiary A&N Media) to which it added Primelocation.com in 2006 and Globrix.com in 2009.
FindaProperty.com has increased the number of properties it lists significantly since being sold to DMGT from some 75,000 in early 2004 to nearly 800,000 in November 2010.
Recent functionality additions to the site outside its property search engine for sales, rental, auction and investment properties include being the launch partner for Google Street View UK (March 2009) and the first property website in the UK to integrate Street View into property details and area information pages.
A more recent development has been the creation of a FindaProperty.com iPhone App with augmented reality capabilities.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and lists approximately 800,000 properties uploaded by estate agent
Estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...
s for a monthly fee.
The portal was started in 1997 by businessman and entrepreneur Andrew Pendery who had experience of the US property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
market and saw a gap in the UK one for an online listings portal. He began the site in his London bedroom and with the help of salesman Ferenc Schustek, achieved initial growth. He then moved the business to Brighton at offices in West Street and later, Dyke road. The site's first listings were in London and Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
which were then - and still are - the UK's busiest property markets and hotspots for high house prices.
Early days
While the business was in Brighton Pendery, with editor Mike O'Flynn and information technologyInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
specialist Simon D'Urso, expanded the business significantly, enough to attract venture capital money. In early 2004 businessmen Neil Anderson along with Simon D'Urso bought Pendery out for £2.8 million, financed by Barclays Ventures, who put David Garrett - who later went on to work for Figleaves.com - into the business to oversee its investment.
Sold to Associated Newspapers
But by November that year the site was sold to Associated NewspapersAssociated Newspapers
Associated Newspapers is a large national newspaper publisher in the UK, which is a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust. The group was established in 1905 and is currently based at Northcliffe House in Kensington...
, the publisher of The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and Metro. In 2008 parent group the Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust plc is a British media conglomerate, one of the largest in Europe. In the UK, it has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. The company has extensive activities based outside the UK, through Northcliffe Media, DMG Radio Australia, DMG World...
(DMGT) set up The Digital Property Group (through DMGT subsidiary A&N Media) to which it added Primelocation.com in 2006 and Globrix.com in 2009.
FindaProperty.com has increased the number of properties it lists significantly since being sold to DMGT from some 75,000 in early 2004 to nearly 800,000 in November 2010.
Recent functionality additions to the site outside its property search engine for sales, rental, auction and investment properties include being the launch partner for Google Street View UK (March 2009) and the first property website in the UK to integrate Street View into property details and area information pages.
A more recent development has been the creation of a FindaProperty.com iPhone App with augmented reality capabilities.
External links
- FindaProperty.com homepage
- A&N Media homepage
- Property portals in the UK
- Guardian: Interest rates and quantitative easing held
- Guardian: Daily Mail buys two more property web domains
- Brand Republic: Content DMGT to acquire Primelocation.com for £48m
- BBC: 'Rents down' amid flooded market
- BBC: The man who bought Stonehenge
- Daily Mail: The new iPhone application that takes some of the stress out of house hunting