UK Landlord Forum / Life

Following the advice of our benefactor I signed up with Visum on their gold deal at £79 and shortly after with OpenRent for the free five days followed by £24 to continue.

The property is a very nice flat, admittedly towards the top of the market in rental costs, and has been on a month with Visum - and has had Zero replies

With Open Rent I am into double figures and counting - yet their ads appear on the major sites one above the other.

Has anyone else had that experience?

I am wondering whether Open Rent gets higher-end applicants in terms of what they can afford, for example?

I cannot compare on-line vs. on-line.

But I did experiment with UPad for a high-rent apartment (for Sheffield, anyway) a couple of years ago. Same advert as what was eventually used with a bricks-and-mortar Agent. I got no interest via the UPad advert and plenty via the real Agent. Now, this is not what I wanted to experience, as I do not like working with Agents and I restrict their input to Tenant Find regardless, but it seems there are plenty of Tenants out there who still operate under a significant misconception.

Some believe that there is benefit to them in going via an Agent than in going directly to the Landlord. This benefit is likely one to do with reputation and the impression of trust. Or, as I commented about a misconception, that the Agent is there for them... the Agent is on their side, because they're paying them - little do they realise that the Agents works for the Landlord solely, despite their application fees. It's a weird situation.

For now, I stick with real Agents doing Tenant Find for me. That activity is strictly limited to getting the property on the portals and taking initial enquiries - I do the viewings, I do the negotiation, I do the Check-In, the Inventory, write up the AST, protect the deposit and manage. I pay a reduced fee for this. In a very recent example... I had Tenants move on (to buy their own place) and they'd told their friends about the property coming available... their friends knew the property and wanted it (it's nice) but instead of approaching me direct, they approached the Agent, who has now made them pay application fees. For once, if they had come directly to me, and they were vouched for by the current Tenants who are moving on shortly (work at the same place, good income) then I might've taken a flyer and we could've all avoided fees (I would still have done Right to Rent checks and referencing, of course).

It's a crazy world.

I really did not answer the question at all there.

No you did not - but thanks for the story anyway. I am baffled why 15 replies from Open Rent and zero from Visum - and when I looked on Right Move the ads were literally one on top of the other from those two agents.

I have asked Visum who promised to come back to me immediately after discussing with 'The Team', but the airwaves have remained strangely silent. The guys at Open Rent seem bright and on the ball - within the limitations of what they offer - don't forget they have zero knowledge of the area where your property is they are just doing it from a song-sheet that is general. However, given that massive limitation their Customer Service is not bad. With Visum it appears that The Team is one guy - and whenever you edit the ad it comes back as changing your contact details - they said they had fixed that but they didn't. Visum seems like a man in a cupboard in Northampton. It may abe a nice cupboard and the chap is perfectly pleasant, but they don't inspire confidence.

I would be interested to hear other Landlord's experiences comparing the 5 online agents recommended on here? It seems we are some way from having an Uber or DPD equivalent - whizzy software that is idiot-proof for both operatives and clients - there must be some good stories out there?

Don't know where your property is but I have noticed a quite significant increase in the number of available properties around my area and a corresponding drop in rents (in some cases 10% lower than just three months ago). If you are going for a top-end rent then it may be that you are simply pricing it too high for tenants. Much as people love to hate agents, this is precisely the sort of scenario in which they can actually save you money, by giving you decent marketing advice. Plenty of landlords know the market and know what they are doing but you only have to read some questions on here and other boards to know that way too many are making elementary mistakes and losing money.

Mine is within Division Bell distance in South London, but I have also been told there has been an increase in available properties.

The other element is that a rent grabbed in July is not achievable in November, and perhaps this November more than most?

One piece of advice has been to settle for a lower rent for the initial 6 month term and readvertise in early summer when rents are generally more achievable at the top end.

I finally got a Visum bite, highly keen, ready to sign, but the day before not only pulled out but was rude and hostile to my colleague and put the phone down when asked if he had got somewhere! Aren't people lovely?

Fortunately some are, but I have been spoiled by the current tenant, who has been a pleasure to deal with - now back to reality...