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advertising on Rightmove, etc.

Started by Irina, February 21, 2011, 11:35:41 AM

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Irina

I would love a feedback from the landlords who paid the agencies to advertise their property on Rightmove, Find a Property, etc. Any good results? Those who work for one of those agencies could you please not promote your business? Would love to hear from those who had first hand experience and rented their property (or haven't).


Sarah_B

Following the sudden departure of my (now) ex-tenants I followed the same path (ie free websites) as before but with barely a sniff over the last few weeks. Coincidentally (and I am paranoid but sometimes it does help!) I had an email about advertising with Urban Sales & Lettings...
They promote your property on several websites (so I am informed)
To cut a long story (of lots of googling and otherwise checking what it is & does) short I registered with them last week, had several leads Thurs/Fri, 1 viewing on Saturday - which came via Rightmove - which will hopefully lead to a happy me and a happy new tenant...
We will see next week.
Impressed so far, as much as I get impressed ;-)

Watch this space...

propertyfag

I only use these kinds of websites to find tenants. Most highstreet agents find tenants that way these days anyways! But they have much greater overheads, so charge a lot more.

Here's a list of websites that will advertise your property on websites like Rightmove for a fraction of the cost compared to highstreet agents!

It's well worth it, and it's never taken me more than a few weeks to find tenants using these kind of services!

HELP!

Whoever you decide to use, please make sure the references are done properly. Look on the land registry to find out who the owner is of their previous property and speak with them. i used an estate agents and they didn't do these checks properly and now I am suffering!! 

katybnewbe

Hi I successfully advertised my appartment through an agent but can't remember who I used. They sent the replies to my mobile in a text. However I have just advertised on rightmove via visum but am very dubious. I have just had an email from them which didn't make much sense but basically saying that because of a landlord scam  they would be taking a deposit from a  tenant which I certainly did not sign up for and do not want.

This is the email received: "When we speak to tenants about viewing a property we will tell them that if they want the property they are to come back to us and pay a small holding deposit, rather than them giving it to the landlord on the spot. That way if the landlord turns out to be fake then we can refund the tenant. This may mean we money in the event of a fraud attempt, but that is better than bankruptcy."

Maybe I am overworrying but that was never mentioned when I took out the ad and I would never have used them had it been. I only got the email late Fri afternoon but will certainly be contacting them on Monday morning.

propertyfag

Hey katybnewbe,

I agree, if that's not what you agreed, then they shouldn't take the holding deposit. You should at least have the option.

Please let me know what happens when you contact them

Regards


Jack_Homes

Quote from: propertyfag on March 17, 2011, 10:59:42 AM
I only use these kinds of websites to find tenants. Most highstreet agents find tenants that way these days anyways! But they have much greater overheads, so charge a lot more.

Here's a list of websites that will advertise your property on websites like Rightmove for a fraction of the cost compared to highstreet agents!

It's well worth it, and it's never taken me more than a few weeks to find tenants using these kind of services!

I agreed with your perspective. I had heard this kinda of stuff in past. But before going for an advertising agency you must consult others in a market who had got some benefits out of it.

chris_h

I am a first time landlord after failing to sell my flat. After a lot of research on the internet (most of which has been this website so thankyou so much!). I decided not to go through a high street estate agent, but instead to try going it alone. I tried Gumtree at first, got a few responses, but no-one genuinely interested.
After that I decided to give Visum a go. They advertise on the main property sites, and charge very reasonable fees to do so, I paid around £40. It takes a bit of time to fill out the ad form, to upload your photos, and send payment - which is via paypal, so secure in that respect. My flat appeared on Rightmove within a couple of hours, and was there for only a few days when I got my first enquiry. That enquiry has now turned into my future tenants.
I agreed with the tenants Visum would also carry out their credit/reference checks, the tenants promptly contacted them and gave their details. They request that you don't hound them for updates but 3 weeks passed and there was no response. The tenants did contact Visum and there had been a slight hick-up. Visum sent an email to the tenants with a link for them to complete an online application form. For some reason, the tenants hadn't received this email. But now everything is moving, I have the report for 1 tenant, just waiting for the second.
All in all, I found Visum a much better alternative than the high street agent, whose fee was £250+vat.  Plus I've saved my tenants quite a bit of money too!