UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I'm a newbie to the forum, so apologies if there is a board already open on this subject.

We have been building property for a few years, mainly in the Wirral area and we have recently completed a project for ourselves. It comprises of 18 two bedroom apartments in a small community.

Usually, we would use local agents to help us sell or rent these properties but it seems we are not getting the response that we want. So with that in mind, we decided to to create a website and see if we could let the properties ourselves. We have been using a mix of Google Adwords and Social Media and the response has been okay.

My question is... has anyone tried marketing their properties without using an agent and what platforms do you use? I have seen some indifferent advice about upad and not sure if it worth having a go?

In my opinion, it's usually best to stick to the most popular online platforms for property rental, which includes rightmove, gumtree and zoopla. If I'm not mistaken, you could put up just the one ad and state that it is a 18 apartment complex and arrange a plethora of viewings.

In terms of search engines, Adwords is good if you're not interested in going with those listings sites. Primarily, you should also be looking at paid advertising on search engines, especially on Google or Bing. Social media is usually only good once you're established, but if you're getting some response then keep it up! When you line up some viewings, maybe deck out just the one apartment and show it to everyone to give them an idea of what they'll be getting? Either rent some furniture via those landlords furniture packages, or picking something up second hand or free!

http://www.roomservicebycort.com/property-marketing/dress-let - excellent resource on dressing to let and getting your property noticed. Good luck!

I have marketed my own property on a couple of occasions.
I have used facebook, gumtree is pretty good and also things like freeads.
If you don't want to pay.

But if you want a small fee and I haven't tried these yet but openrent seems to be ok. And if you go with the online agents then you get on the likes of rightmove. As I have said I haven't tried them but it might be worth a go.

Happy advertising.

I have used open rent, absolutely brilliant - 12 replies leading to 7 viewings and I had to choose the tenants from 5 lots all wanting to put down a deposit - all done within a week, property empty for one night (and my chosen tenants would have moved in the same day but the old tenants wanted to shampoo the carpets!)
I have used the local newsagents previously, £1.25 fee and loads of calls but a lot more unsuitable candidate requests (DSS etc.). Property rented out in three days.
Give it a go, well worth the fee either way, but would certainly use OpenRent again.