Try before you buy for a prospective new home
ANEW business is looking to completely change the way homes are bought and sold. And the firm’s owner has ambitions to eventually take her company global.
The idea behind Potential Pads is to give buyers the option of staying in their prospective new home to get a feel for the house and surrounding area before they put in a bid to buy it.
“Having worked in hotels for a long time, I realised that a lot of guests were travelling from London and other parts of the country to view homes,” said the company’s founder and director Lynne Maplanka.
“Most guests would book block viewings and see those properties for half an hour at the most.
“Then I remembered when I moved from Kent to Burry Port I drove down to see the house I wanted, then I drove back the same day.
“It took me five hours each way and the children were really unsettled. I looked around the property for 20 minutes and that was it.
“Also, having used Airbnb for a long time, I decided to use their concept but for properties for sale. Potential Pads website functions like Airbnb.”
Ms Maplanka has not had any financial support for her business yet, but is looking into options and is hosting a presentation dinner on August 24.
The event is being held at La Parrilla, in Mumbles, and Ms Maplanka will answer questions.
She has invited investors, estate agents, property developers and mortgage advisers to the launch.
The site will have a soft launch on that day.
The site will operate as a platform – combining aspects of Airbnb and house sale sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla – and agents and individual sellers can upload properties for free.
Ms Maplanka says that as a seller you have control of the dates available for the trial, and whether you will be letting out your entire property or just a room in your home on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
The sellers would need to check with their home insurance provider to allow for short lets or B&B purposes.
It is up to the seller to set the trial price – Potential Pads recommends £50 a night.
When a potential buyer makes a booking, Potential Pads keep the funds until the person checks in to the trial pad.
They then take a 15% fee and release the funds to the seller 24 hours after check-in.
Ms Maplanka has hopes the business can go global. She hopes she will be able to create jobs in Llanelli, where she will locate the business.
The only weakness Ms Maplanka can identify is that the seller must arrange extra insurance to protect their property in case anything should go wrong.
But this, she feels, is something that can simply be sorted with the seller’s insurance company.