SIBLINGS and former New College students Paul and Gemma Young are hoping to change the way people buy and sell homes with their new online company Settled.

The duo have joined forces with the vision of making the process as simple as possible at a cheaper price but with the same support.

And they want to take the estate agent sector by storm and change it forever using technology.

But they admit it was an exciting and daunting prospect at working together and taking the plunge to run their own business.

The idea came after Gemma, 34, and Paul, 31, took inspiration from their first jobs working in different estate agents in Swindon.

They grew up in Brookfield, Highworth and went to Highworth Warneford School before heading to New College and then university.

“We both finished university and started careers in estate agency and then went into the technology sector,” said Gemma.

“Paul was a digital expert at a big advertising and marketing agency and I was at Google for eight years, so we had the estate agency experience and the technology side.”

But their passion for property remained and over the years they saw companies like Booking.com transform the travel industry, as well as online banking allow people to have more control over their money and companies like Netflix give people access to on demand entertainment at the click of a button.

They started considering what could be done to improve people’s experiences of moving homes.

Gemma added: “Moving home is one of the most emotional and often most traumatic experiences you have. We felt it was time to take a really fresh look.

“We want to take away the dependency of someone in the middle and empower people.”

Their first step was to spend time talking to people. Using the results from their market research they set about devising online solutions and tools.

And last year they launched their online estate agency Settled.co.uk and are based in East London in an area dubbed ‘Silicon Roundabout’ where they share an office with around 30 other start-up businesses.

They currently employ ten people but in a couple of weeks that number is set to rise.

Settled has expanded rapidly with £1 million investment from Seed Funding, where investors offer capital in return for an equity stake within the company. The company has attracted well known investors such as Thomas Teichman, one of the early investors in Lastminute.com.

For anyone thinking of starting a business Gemma said: “You have to look to what you’re passionate about and what drives you.

“For me that was improving an industry that’s caused so many people heartache over the years – moving house – and seeing if I could make it better.

“Once I started looking into what was possible I realised the opportunities to improve things were vast.

“Knowing Settled will help people feel more ‘settled’ is what keeps me going through all the long hours and late nights.”