LUVTHECITY PRESS
Luvthecity to expand into services sector
The Times, Friday 7th January, 2011
Searching for a property on the internet is easy. Finding out if the hallway is scruffy, whether the lifts are working and how far you would have to walk for the nearest pint — of beer or milk — is not so easy. That is where luvthecity.com comes into play.
The niche property portal is not big, but it is clever, sophisticated and quirky. Unlike the automated data giants dominating your Google search, luvthecity.com doesn’t simply list properties for sale, it gives you a thorough “warts and all” review of the developments it features.
It does this by concentrating solely on city-centre flats in a handful of areas — Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool and London Docklands. Users don’t pay a penny and anybody can upload a property for sale or rent, whether they are an estate agent, investor or homeowner.
“We wanted to do something
upmarket and bespoke - it’s a cross
between Rightmove and Time Out.”
“We wanted to do something more upmarket, bespoke and unusual by targeting a particular demographic in a particular location,” says Julian Bovis, the founder of the website. “It’s a cross between Rightmove and Time Out.”
It’s this mix, and Bovis’s enthusiasm for urban life, that makes the site so vibrant and gives it the feel of a glossy magazine. Expect to see a beautiful shot of a slick high-rise sitting alongside a list of the best greasy spoons in town.
But behind the polish is a lot of leg work. The former newspaper art director spent a year researching his material after leaving his office job in 2008. Having studied architecture and been a buy-to-let investor since 1998, doing something related to property appealed.
“As an investor I was
frustrated by the lack
of real information online.”
“I got to the big 4-0 and thought ‘It’s about time I did something different’,” Bovis says. “As a property investor I had been frustrated by the lack of real information you could get about a property online. An estate agent’s listing doesn’t tell you much about a block’s reputation, quality and design.”
Bovis’s research revealed that Manchester city centre was suffering from a glut of unsold properties. “There had been a lot of speculation during the boom, which went bad when the recession hit,” he says. “But the city has a really exciting vibe. If anywhere represented exactly what I wanted to do, it was Manchester.”
Before launching in September 2009, the team behind luvthecity.com visited each of Manchester’s 240 developments to write reviews and photograph the buildings from every angle. They checked out the architecture, as well as the quality of the finish and the state of the interior decor, before working out the distance to the nearest shops and public transport.
“So far the site lists properties
from 75 agents across the five cities
with 90 per cent of the market in
Manchester city centre.”
Each scheme is then given marks out of ten. Then they did it all again in Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool and London Docklands. This year Bovis will add Sheffield, Newcastle and Gateshead, Bristol, Plymouth and Cardiff to the list.
So far the site lists properties from 75 agents across the five cities. It covers 90 per cent of the market in Manchester city centre and 75 per cent in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. The percentage of listed agents in London Docklands lags behind at 20 per cent. About 35,000 people visit the site each month.
Employing professionals to produce high-quality content does not come cheap. So how does luvthecity.com pay the bills?
Bovis funded the launch by selling two of his buy-to-lets.
“Next year Luvthecity will expand
by creating a directory of
business and services related
to the property.”
Next year he will expand the site by creating a directory of businesses and services related to property. It will list the likes of solicitors, mortgage lenders, removal companies and tradesmen who will have to pay to be on the site. However, Bovis insists that the companies he promotes will have to provide more than just a fee. “We aim to feature the companies that our clients have liked,” he says. “It will be a case of good old-fashioned word of mouth.”
Luv at First Site
Docklands Property Guide - Tuesday 1st June 2010
It's not often that we plug property websites, but just this once we'll make an exception. Funky property website luvthecity is expanding into London Docklands fron its northern launchpad in Manchester, and perhaps its northern origins are what makes it so fresh - where else would you expect to see a Top Ten List of chip shops? There's also a lively blog, with an infectious enthusiasm for all things urban which we readily share. But the site's bedrock is its listing - and critical rating - of apartment blocks, and there luvthecity is off to an assured start, since its Docklands favourites include not just glam newbies such as the Jam Factory, but Docklands classics like Cascades and under-appreciated gems such as the gorgeous Art Deco Alaska Building in SE1. We think that's reason enough to luv luvthecity
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Luvthecity Commissions New Photography
Commercial Photography - Thursday 13th May 2010
I have been given a commission by luvthecity to photograph new and converted buildings in Sheffield. My biggest challenge is that all images have to be portrait, because not all buildings and their context lend themselves to that format – some buildings are naturally landscape. I am also using some of the photos I am taking as my submission for the PLACES part of the Approaches to Photography module. Actually, I am thinking about submitting eight images – four portrait-format taken for the commission and four landscapes as my own interpretation.
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Luvthecity Launches New Promo
How-do.co.uk - Friday 15th January 2010
Residential property portal Luvthecity has launched an innovative promotional campaign that sees it offering Mancunians the chance to get their hands on a city centre apartment rent free for a year. Julian Bovis, the man behind the rapidly-expanding Luvthecity brand, explained the thinking behind the initiative to How-Do
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Luvthecity Announces London Launch
Estate Agent Today - Friday 15th January 2010
Luvthecity, the urban lifestyle property portal concentrating purely on modern apartments and which is free for agents to use, is planning to launch in London this April
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Luvthecity Expands Across North
Luvthecity Expands Across Northern England
Property Portal News - Friday 15th January 2010
When UK property portal luvthecity.com first launched in Manchester late last year, director Julian Bovis admitted “we don’t really have a great commercial strategy as yet”. But something must be working at the new portal, as Liverpool and Leeds have now been added to the areas luvthecity.com covers
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Luvthecity Announces Expansion
How-do.co.uk - Tuesday 1st December 2009
Julian Bovis, the man behind recently launched urban property portal Luvthecity, has been talking to How-Do about his desire to build on the site's early momentum and spread from its Manchester base to 10 new cities before the end of 2010. These include Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, London's Docklands... and Bradford
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Luvthecity Has Clean and Modern Design
Estate Agent Today - Monday 12th October 2009
A property portal with a genuine difference has launched. Concentrating purely on the city centre apartment market, both sales and rentals, Luvthecity has professionally photographed every apartment block in Britain and rated each one out of ten. The site has a clean and modern design and is totally unlike other property portals. Well worth taking a look
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Luvthecity Entices New Agents
Property Portal News - Thursday 24th September 2009
The creator of a new free-to-list UK property portal says it has already begun enticing agents who list with market leader rightmove.co.uk. Launched on Monday, luvthecity.com lists properties for sale and rent in Manchester, and there are plans to expand to cover ten more cities within a year. Along with property listings, luvthecity.com also includes an apartment block guide with ratings out of 10, and information on city services and nearby pubs
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Luvthecity Launches In Manchester
How-do.co.uk - Monday 21st September 2009
Today sees the official launch of city centre property portal Luvthecity.com, with the team behind the site informing How-Do that an enthusiastic response from agents and consumers has prompted an acceleration of plans for further regional roll-outs
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New National Property Site Planned
Crains - Wednesday 9th September 2009
A former newspaper designer is planning to launch a residential property portal in ten UK cities, starting with Manchester. Julian Bovis, who worked for the Daily Telegraph before moving to Manchester to work for Sport Newspapers Ltd last year, is behind Luvthecity.com
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Luvthecity - Launch Interview
How-do.co.uk - Tuesday 8th September 2009
A ground-breaking (and possibly business-model-shattering) new property portal is set to make its digital debut in Manchester later this month. Here the man behind Luvthecity.com, Julian Bovis, tells How-Do how he and his team aim to corner the urban residential market across the country and set up home in 10 other cities in the space of just one year
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