Radio H-P, Lowicks and members-only Whatsapp groups: inside the elite house, car and holiday selling groups
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I’m loitering on an invite-only WhatsApp group where 469 fellow East Anglian residents’ hang out to trade their assets. This week I have been offered a variety of ‘off market’ deals from a selection of kids ski suits, some floral curtains and a Cybex pushchair, all marketed as being in good condition and ready for a kerb side ‘pick up.’ Nothing to sniff at there or remotely unusual, it’s the veritable modern day version of your neighbour’s garage sale, except far easier. What’s slightly more interesting is the surge in the touting of ‘big ticket’ assets – houses, holiday rentals, cars and designer handbags to name just a few are now part of the regular, daily haul. It has become a shopaholic’s phone-side paradise.
Every day a new treasure trove of listings are all juggling for facetime. Alongside your child’s discarded Harry Potter wand is a country pad with private driveway, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and some eye-watering acreage, yours at a snip for £2 million should you want to just reply, ‘Why not?’ If you don’t fancy that you could pick up a Devon coastal gem for half a million or a pad in trendy Hoxton for around £800,000. All up for grabs and as easily purchasable as a pair of Nike trainers, size six for £10. Simply slide into the DMs and strike up a conversation with the seller and it’s yours. Daisy Gibbs, aged 41 from Bentley in Suffolk, did just that. An interior designer with a wider interest in property, she directed buyers on WhatsApp to a house that was off market. “I booked two viewings for the next day to a property in Suffolk with an asking price of £2 million. ”This kind of ‘off market’ ‘first dibs’ touting is no longer uncommon. In these ‘invite only’ groups - the unwritten rule is that members are ‘trusted’ - a house listing is as verified as a Kidizoom camera. While the latter leans to a green approach for swapping unwanted childrens’ items – the housing stock trading is a DIY route, cutting out the need for a third party and the hefty agent costs involved in that.
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