Your Right Move » Buying

Rightmove rise

Zanet — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:38:17 +0000

Rightmove is attracting record numbers of househunters despite the current uncertain market.

Rightmove claim analytics show the six months to the end of June, the number of page impressions on its website jumped by 22% to 3.9bn. March was a record month, said the company, while April included its busiest day ever. With increased advertising spend from estate agents trying to attract customers – average spend per advertiser was up 20% – the company has reported a rise in underlying half year profits to £27.9m.

Rightmove on the rise

Rightmove expect revenue to continue on an upward path. Their plans for 2011 is to deliver further growth in the average spend per advertiser. They say that an outlook need not be materially affected by flat or modest falls in house prices, provided that transaction volumes do not take a sharp downward turn and cause customers to cease trading. Rightmove recently set up a partnership with Google search engine.

The current economic environment meant there was likely to be little improvement in the housing market this year compared to 2008 and 2009, but its customers had taken actions to try and deal with the downturn and had in most cases been able to trade profitably. Its trading in July and August had been in line with the first half.

Sarah Beeny 19 Zoopla 10

Zanet — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:19:07 +0000

Now we it’s not a football score, but Sarah Beeny with Tepilo and Zoopla must be proud with the result of coming #19 and #10 out of 100 respectively.

That was the outcome of the annual Startups 100. This is the definitive countdown to the UK’s most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies.

This years Startups 100 list includes those who they think are the best, most exciting, promising, disruptive new businesses and entrepreneurs shaping the start-up market right now.Some you’ll know and some are less familiar, but they’re confident they’ll be a few more household names on the 2010 list by the time we start compiling next year’s countdown!

Start ups Zoopla and Tepilo success

Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo.com made the list at number 19, just beaten by Levi Roots Reggae Reggae Sauce web site and Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain zoopla.co.uk at number 10

# 19 Tepilo.com
Launched in August 2009, Tepilo is Channel 4 presenter Sarah’s alternative way to buy, sell or let your property, all for free. After realising most buyers were on the internet searching for property, and that only agents could upload property to key sites, it seemed logical to create a site that enabled sellers to upload property themselves, and save agency fees in the process. With just under 8,000 properties on the site at any time, Tepilo has already attracted 25,000 registered users, and has now launched a lettings arm.

# 10 Zoopla.co.uk
Zoopla.co.uk is aiming to become the UK’s most comprehensive source of residential property market information. With the aim of helping buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents gain an advantage in the property market, Alex and Simon set up Zoopla.co.uk following the success of their other venture, LOVEFiLM.com. The service offers greater transparency to customers, offering free instant value estimates on every UK home and enabling buyers to express interest in any residential property online. The acquisitions of Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group and the Propertyfinder group in the summer were key turning points for the company last year.

Zoopla TV Advert

Zanet — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:41:22 +0000

Today Zoopla.co.uk makes its national TV debut and launches a multi-million pound TV campaign.

Zoopla message is ….when searching the perfect home, tZoopla firmly believe information is the key to making the right property decisions. Whether it’s one that may gain a few pounds or a slightly older one with lots of character, here’s a few tips on how to make sure you improve your chances with Zoopla.co.uk.

ZOOPLA.CO.UK TV ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

Leading property website, Zoopla.co.uk, has today launched its first national TV advertising campaign which will include a number of prime-time slots across ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and the Sky digital channels. The initial campaign will run for five weeks to the end of September and is part of an extensive multi-million pound TV, print and digital campaign to run over the coming months.

The new TV campaign will tap into the nation’s obsession with the property market and is designed to increase Zoopla.co.uk brand awareness and drive even greater performance for its member estate agents. 87% of adults will see the TV ad at least once during the initial five-week period and the TV campaign will supplement the ongoing print and digital advertising activities undertaken by Zoopla.co.uk.

Zoopla Tv Advert goes live today

Zoopla.co.uk has grown rapidly since its launch in 2008 to become a key source of enquiries and exposure for agents across the country and is now looking to further capitalise on its impressive growth by increasing its brand awareness through a new multi-channel marketing campaign.

The TV ads centre on the theme that finding the perfect property is much like finding the perfect partner and reinforce the core Zoopla.co.uk philosophy that free and easily accessible information helps buyers, renters, sellers and owners make better-informed property decisions.
Zoopla.co.uk has been working closely with leading creative and media agencies on the campaign. VCCP (O2, Comparethemarket, Microsoft, Texaco and Standard Life) were responsible for the creative development and Vizeum (Coca-Cola, BMW, Five and Panasonic) handled the media buying.

Alex Chesterman, Founder and CEO of Zoopla.co.uk said: “Over the past 2 years, the pace of our growth has been unrivalled in the property portal space. Our marketing to date has been largely focussed online and we are now ready to turn Zoopla into a household name targeting property buyers, renters, sellers and landlords so that we can continue to be the most effective marketing partner for all UK estate agents.”

Little House Company Innovations

Zanet — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:33:48 +0000

How about this for a great new idea from the The Little House Company

They have been online since 2000 and have just made a new website that gets official launch September 2010.

They have some very interesting innovations including Assisted Private Sales, and Referral Rewards both are aimed at selling a home online with an estate agent.
The Little House Company are NOT anti-agent as they also supply an online estate agency service the first online agents service to offer Assisted Viewings

The Jewel in their crown is the “referral rewards” idea

So how does it work? Private sellers can offer a financial reward to anybody that finds them a buyer. They post the amount of the reward on the site and referrers then contact anyone they know who is looking to buy a property. They send them an email and referral code and ask them to enter this code if they make an enquiry. They will also chase them for feedback to see if they actually went on to buy the property. Only when as a result of a referral that led to a sale is the reward paid. Interestingly our market research and test properties all resulted in agents searching for a buyer for our private sellers many doing this unofficially.

Nick Marr founder of The Little House Company

Nick Marr founder of The Little House Company told us, “One sample property we offered 3000 reward (after consulting the owner) his fees were going to be 20K plus! However we had unnamed agents actively working out hours searching for a buyer. The model suits anybody with a online social network. Referral rewards could be really popular we are working on a number of new features for the site once completed we are going to have a real push with this.”.

They are about to announce the free listings package and launch the smart looking web site, so keep an eye out for the Little House Company over the next month and if you know of anyone looking to buy a property, you might be able to make a little earner.

Update: Nick informs us, “we got a our first referral reward £7000 being offered to find a buyer today, at this time we have about 5 people offering rewards”

Tepilo Reviews

Zanet — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:37:51 +0000

Tepilo Reviews are starting to show on the web so we wanted to know what are sellers and buyers saying about Tepilo.com

What are the key benefits of using Tepilo.com and what do other that have used Tepilo say. Lets take a look

The biggest key benefit that stands out a mile is there are no estate agent fees to pay. Which means you can afford to advertise your home at a competative rate as you arent looking to recover your 1 or 2 % estate agent fee in the price.

Tepilo.com Positive Reviews

One customer review said “Tepilo really works. I have to admit I was sceptical, generally nothing is ever free – but was pleasantly surprised. I put my property up on Tepilo – had 6 viewings and 2 offers within about two weeks and accepted just over the initial asking price. If I had been through the more traditional estate agency route I would now be at least £35k worse off – so huge thanks to Sarah and her team for making this possible.”

The review continued “I Thoroughly recommended Tepilo for anyone buying or selling property”

This is quite a review for Tepilo as it is completely free to use.
Sarah Beeny claims “The site depersonalises the negotiation process. Innovative new functionality enables you to provide the ultimate overview of your home and gives buyers the best chance of finding the “right” property.”

Another review on Tepilo says “Excellent site. We found a property we liked and had an offer accepted. It was very straghtforward. I’ve been proved wrong – I never thought I would stand a chance of being able to sell my own property, and assumed I was better off using an estate agent and stumping up the fees.”

The review continued, “I added my property to Sarah Beeny’s new website “Tepilo” two weeks ago and have since had three viewings and now an offer – which we are now looking at accepting. The whole process is so simple – highly recommend this site, and best of all it’s completely free – nothing to pay at all.”

These are quite stunning reviews for a site that has only just been released.

Thought the biggest question i get asked when recommending Tepilo is why is it called Tepilo in the first place?

Sarah’s web site tells the story of her father whom had a fictional story about a castle called Tepilo. He used to tell her about the Tepilo castle when she was a young girl. Sarah says it sounded like a wonderful, magical place and so she decided to name her site after it, because we everyone aspires to live in their dream home.

A great story i’m sure she’ll literally be telling the grand kids about!

How to buy a property in UK

Zanet — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:31:52 +0000

So how do you buy a property in UK?

Firstly you have around 3 main ways to pursue your purchase

Local estate agents
On line Estate agents
On your own

Buying property with UK Estate agents

once you have registered with estate agents in the area you want to live, you’ll find its worth visiting each office in person. When you visit the local agents, they will help you identify the properties most likely to meet your needs. Questions like what sort of amenities you need nearby and what your requirements are from the property you want can take place and very quickly you’ll find the process a lot clearer as you have free expert advice

The disadvantage of buying a property through an estate agent is the seller will have to cover the agents fees. Fees very from 1 to 3 % of the selling price.Thereby the price will have the fee built in to some degree. This is where on line Estate agents have an advantage in the UK.

Buying UK Property

Buying a house on line

Most people are familiar with Right Move Searching on line on property portals gives a huge insight into the current market as the sites can also reveal the history of purchases in recent years. . This happens to be the largest gallery of UK properties on line as most Estate agents add their property to this huge database. Having said that, not all properties advertise on Right Move. For example Zoopla have some unique agents as does Tepilo and FindaProperty (All reviewed on this site)

A word of warning though. You will need to remember to account for house-purchasing and set up costs. Your mortgage broker or advisor, they will help you choose the right mortgage. They will help you with your application and you will receive a ‘decision in principle’ on the amount you can borrow.

A third way to buy UK property

If you are familar with purchasing a property in the UK then you could take a drive around areas of interest and enquire within the neighbour hood with friends and locals. Its’s not unknown but a little risky. Best to ignore this 3rd idea unless you are experienced in property purchasing and have a good business acument.
Whatever the route you take above you’ll also need to follow the basic steps once you have agreed a purchase price.

Make sure the property is no longer on the market while its under your offer
Instruct your chosen solicitor to act on your behalf and give him the details of the property location, and the vendor’s estate agent.
The solicitor will contact the vendor’s solicitor requesting title deeds to the property. He will initiate contractual proceedings.
Find a surveyor and ask for a home-buyers report or a survey to be carried out.
The mortgage lender will carry out a valuation of the property.
The mortgage lender, on sight of the property valuation and data backing up your application agrees to lend you the money for the property.
Send a copy of your survey report to the solicitor. He will send you his view on it and you may want to discuss any remedial work you want to request.
The solicitor will check the property, carry out local authority searches – which you may want to supplement – and find out if any alterations have been made. This would be the time to negotiate fixtures and fittings.
The solicitor will finalise the details in the contract with the seller’s solicitor and confirms mortgage details with your mortgage lender.
You pay a deposit into your solicitor’s account. He holds it there until exchange of contracts.
On the day of exchange of contracts, your solicitor exchanges contracts with the seller’s solicitor and sends the deposit over. A date for completion (when you can accept the key and move in), which will have been proposed before-hand is agreed upon.
Your solicitor will liaise with your lender to ensure the mortgage is available on the completion date.
Your solicitor will prepare the property transfer deed, which is signed by you and the seller and lodged with the seller’s solicitor until completion.
The mortgage lender transfers the money into your solicitor’s account ready for completion.
On completion day, your solicitor transfers the money to the sellers’ solicitor in return for the transfer deed, Land Registry certificate and the keys. The sale is completed.
Your solicitor arranges for the transfer deed to be stamped, pays the stamp duty and sends the transfer deed to the Land Registry to record you as the new owner.
Your solicitor passes the deed to your mortgage lender as security for the loan and then he will send you the bill for his services and costs.

It can sound a difficult challenge buying a property under UK law, but beleive me it’s a lot easier than it sounds if you take one step at a time. Before you know it you’ll be moving into your new property and enjoying a cup of tea and a digestive!

To buy or not to buy

Zanet — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 11:43:59 +0000

To buy or not to buy – that is the question

An interesting report on Zooplas blog suggests that around 74% of Britain shows buying cheaper than renting. This comes from a chart that looked at the average asking price for a 2 bedroom flat against the average monthly rent.

The top 10 places across Britain where renting a property beats buying and vice-versa in current climate is shown below. While buying wins out over renting today, the impact of a rise in interest rates cannot be ignored. If interest rates were to increase by 1% and rents to remain the same, renting would become more cost-effective in 80% of the UK.

To buy or to rent

It was also found that it is still cheaper to buy than rent in London, despite high prices. London’s average rents on two-bed flats are currently at £2,155 per month with average asking prices at £446,345.

The top place where renting is a better option than buying currently is Huddersfield, where the average two-bed flat costs only £493 per month to rent versus £146,898 to buy. Renting is also cheaper than buying in a number of other places including Oldham, Brighton, Swansea and Edinburgh.

Keep an eye on Tepilo

Zanet — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:02:06 +0000

Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo sounds like it has a busy few weeks ahead.

As we have been monitoring the rise of Tepilo we thought we would ask what we can expect over the coming weeks. It sounds like an avalanche of releases according to the feedback we received from Sarah.

Sarah tells Yourrightmove, “We’re just moving a few bits around as we have a few releases coming up very soon – hopefully this week. I will let you know when they’re good to go”.

A big few weeks for Tepilo

Sarah continues, “Just to explain what we’ve been working on recently:

Properties wanted has a bit of a twist to it, and has been built now – just waiting on the search function to be relocated.
Tempt me – will come, but maybe not this week.
Re-ordering photos – now possible – just drag and drop
Moving a property from rental to sale and vice versa – coming this week hopefully
Portrait photo functionality – coming this week hopefully
6 new useful tools – coming this week/next week
Improved search – coming this week/next week
Export listing to pdf brochure – coming soon
Development and Land search – to search for development opportunities or land – coming soon
Apps – coming soon, with page(s) on site too.
SEO update – bit of an SEO drive on at the moment – so lots of tidying up and browse by links
Updated homepage – coming in next week or so
Much more actually – some smaller things that probably won’t be immediately obvious, but responding to feedback we have had so far.”

Tepilo was set up just over a year ago. It’s tag line reveals its intention “The smarter way to buy, sell or let a property. Tepilo.com is a place where people can securely buy, sell or let their homes for free”.

It is on the verge of making it mainstream but as with all on-line companies, it needs to have a “tipping point” to achieve its true potential. Like a complex chicken and the egg situation…

Few Properties – Few Buyers
Few Buyers – Few Visitors
Few Visitors – Few Sellers
Few Sellers – Few Properties

What it’s already achieved to get this far in a year is quite remarkable. With Sarah’s previous success she may well make the tipping point. Meanwhile we look forward to seeing and supporting the progress of this great site.

Zoopla Vs Rightmove App Final Round

Zanet — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:21:08 +0000

ZOOPLA V RIGHTMOVE PROPERTY APPS FINAL ROUND

The apps are just pocket store fronts to the main web site and company
If the app works great but all communication via the web site or estate agents fail then the app has served little purpose

So which web site and company have the greater stability? Which one claims the highest visitor traffic in the UK and thereby is most likely to have proportionately more buyers viewing?

the final round for the battle of the apps

Already the apps get their own ratings on itunes – current scores:

Zoopla
version 1.0
18 ratings 4.5 stars

Rightmove
version 1.1
17388 ratings 3.5 stars

We felt that this isn’t a true reflection as the numbers for Zoopla are minimal at this point.

So we decided the main site would serve as another good barometer.

According to Alexa
Zoopla.co.uk On line since 21-Feb-1997
Alexa traffic rank for Zoopla.co.uk: 197 in the UK

Rightmove.co.uk On line since 07-Sep-1999
Alexa traffic rank for Rightmove.co.uk: 29 in the UK

Verdict: Rightmove is likely to have more UK buyers using the app as it still has a large monopoly over the others in web traffic.

Final Result: Draw
3.5 Zoopla
3.5 Rightmove

FINAL CONCLUSION

The Rightmove app would of easily lost if it didn’t address the bugs in version 1.0. Since 1.1 the app is stable and still offers the most properties for sale and rent.
Zoopla however is a much easier app with some beautiful extras tucked away in the background.

Both apps in our test provided a faultless experience.

Tepilo are about to launch their version as another challenger to these apps

Meanwhile my suggestion is you use both apps when searching for a property as they both have strengths that make them worthy to use on your iphone

Please feel free to comment below if you disagree or agree with our verdict.

Zoopla Vs Rightmove App Round 6

Zanet — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:16:38 +0000

ZOOPLA V RIGHTMOVE PROPERTY APPS ROUND 6

What sets it apart from the other apps?

At this point we normally ask about cost. But it appears that all these big property apps are free and rightly so. So we have changed this round to enable us to look at any features that set it apart from the competition

What extra features can Zoopla boast over Rightmove?

The map is integrated with Google and provides 3 views Map, hybrid and list
Search from within the map view
The app has a database of 27m homes
Local market data including average home values by area

There is a depth to this app that Rightmove can only match on its web site

A grueling contest continues

What extra features can Rightmove boast over Zoopla?

Rightmove is still the daddy when it comes to current property for sale and rent
It has more properties and estate agents than any other app

Verdict: Zoopla won. It just has so many more features and isnt a million properties behind in database terms, so though Rightmove has the greatest amount of estate agents, Zoopla has a depth of extra features.

3.5 Zoopla
2.5 Rightmove