Webprop.com will offer details on 210 properties
Amanda Seidl
Vendors have started to use the internet to market large portfolios of small properties.
GVA Grimley is to use a website to market redundant Halifax outlets. From next month, Webprop.co will offer prospective buyers the opportunity to access details on 210 properties, including their GOAD plans and specifications.
A dedicated phoneline is also being set up to connect potential buyers directly to agents acting for Halifax.
Last month Somerfield became the first property owner to sell a £305m portfolio of stores over the internet. Warburg Dillon Read ran an online tender process with Somerfield’s solicitors, Dickson Minto, to market details of 140 Somerfield stores to 30 bidders.
The secure website allowed vetted prospective buyers access to legal documentation about each of the stores and resulted in the sale of 45 stores to CWS.
The ability to market properties online was a key factor in winning the contract to advise Halifax on its disposals, said Grimley’s head of retail, Paul Brewer, who is co-ordinating the project. “Halifax liked the idea of harnessing the internet to their advantage,” he said.
It has taken several weeks to set up the website, but the initial time and expense will be offset by reduced marketing costs following the launch. Some of the 210 properties are already on the market, but the majority are the result of the recent rationalisation of the group’s portfolio following last year’s acquisition of Leeds Building Society.
Brewer said that the website would be a long-term exercise, as the Halifax continues to review its branch network. “After these properties have been sold, we expect them to be replaced by others,” he said.
