New website in battle to win home-buyers

The chief executive of new property portal MyHome.ie, Jim Miley, has said he will not engage in "claim and counterclaim" with other property websites following a complaint by Ascotfirst.com to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland.

Ascotfirst.com is objecting to advertising claims by MyHome.ie that it has more Irish properties for sale than any individual website or estate agent. Miley says he will not enter into any "argy bargy" between the sites. "I'm not into battles. Ultimately the housebuying public will judge which is the premier site and I'm confident that it will be MyHome".

Ascotfirst.com claims it is the top property website with over 7,764 listings, compared to 2,253 listings at MyHome.ie and 93 listings at Properteverywhere.com. Its complaint to the Authority was made in the interests of accuracy, says spokesperson John Purcell.

"We don't mind competition, we welcome it, but even a cursory look will show that Ascotfirst has more properties and that should be reflected in their advertising."

Jim Miley would not comment on these figures, but said "House-buyers searching the web for property have been on a blind man's odyssey. They've been led down cul-de sacs getting information on properties that are already sold."

With the might of a £1 million advertising campaign behind it, www.MyHome.ie was launched this week. Backed by property heavyweights Sherry FitzGerald, Douglas Newman Good and Gunne Residential, which have invested heavily in the site, and AIB, which has a 23 per cent share, the portal has a nationwide network of 130 estate agents. It claims to have "the largest up-to-date property listing available in this country" with over 55 per cent of the Dublin property market on view.

As anyone who property surfs on a regular basis will testify, out-of-date listings can be a time-wasting irritant. This site promises to be a one-stop-property supermarket, with speedy search tools, daily updating of property listings, virtual house tours and a mapping system which allows property shoppers to pinpoint the exact location of a house and its nearby amenities. It will also be able to source removal firms and solicitors and access home improvement and financial advice.

There is a £50 charge to the agent for each house posted on the site, which inevitably will be added to the house-seller's advertising bill. If MyHome.ie and another new site ezhome.ie live up to their promises, virtual househunting may never be the same again. Both are designed to make the property buying process as painless and sedentary as possible.

ezhome.ie has waded into the market with claims it will cut costs to first-time house-buyers by up to 70 per cent. For a charge of £675 including VAT, they can avail of a range of services including conveyancing, valuation and survey costs. The fee also includes three months' home insurance. Other services include mortgage advice and processing, interior design and property search.

While the Internet has the potential to take 50 to 80 per cent of the hard work out of buying a property, it should not "over promise" says Miley. "It's easy to sell a book over the web but buying a property is a complicated transaction and one of the most important events of a person's life. While many angles of the process can be streamlined and simplified by the net and the cost reduced, it's not possible to conclude the transaction over the internet. The institutional barriers like land registry are significant barriers to speed and simplicity in the short to medium term."