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Estate Agent with Rightmove – 7 Reasons To Use One

Zanet — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:45:00 +0000

Not everyone is a fan of Estate agents. For many years we’ve wondered whether online property portals like Tepilo from Sarah Beeny would start the disappearance of Estate agents. Basically the question do you need an Estate agent with Rightmove Zoopla and Tepilo adverts has been asked many a time.

So do you really save money by using an online estate agent? Some would prefer the security of using an Estate Agent they can see even though it may cost a few thousand pounds. Often because of the fear of the unknown. All though we are talking about saving money, if an online agent doesn’t sell the property then you have nothing to save as they didn’t sell it in the first place! Now that’s a false economy.

Today we present 7 reasons you need an estate agent with Rightmove, Zoopla or any other online presents

The fact that an online agent have already been paid almost deflates any motivation to see the property. As opposed to an Estate agent who is running at a loss until he gets a sale. I say a loss as he has already committed to an advert, and details to print, local property paper and so on. Will an online estate agent sell a property as well as a High Street estate agent. Where is the motivation to sell and achieve results once you’ve had your payment? Small estate agents rather than a corporate ones are more likely to put every ounce of their energy into finding you a buyer quickly as they have far more at stake.
Local knowledge on property sales. Although Zoopla has some amazing property index and historical data, it has no human element and is often a long way of a realist price. I’m sure this will improve over time. A good estate agent will add value to the sale price. This is one of the reasons many still use high street Estate Agent.
Some buyers don’t really want to meet the vendors face to face. The Estate agent acting as an in between can help keep emotions in place. Homeowners can be very defensive about their homes even though they are selling them. So Estate agents can negotiate a happy medium to keep both buyer and seller at peace.

Are Estate Agents needed?

Estate Agents can use there experience to reassure potential buyers about the issues that a survey might bring up. Also ct to any observations made at viewing stage. A vendor would not carry as much weight in the eyes of a buyer and they might be suspicious of any advice and information supplied.
The high street Estate Agent will have a network of contacts in the area and is better placed to know who is around looking for a property like yours. There are still many buyers that don’t use the online searches and will just register with Estate Agents in the area of interest. Clearly in more affluent markets buyers potentially would have registered with an agent they built a good relationship with and buy through them eventually. So the combination of Estate Agent with Rightmove should cover all basis.
Building trust with a client and establishing and maintaining integrity is essential. Many buyers still like to see the face of the Estate Agent they’re dealing with. The Agent has a duty of care to both vendor and buyer so many buyers prefer to work with certain agents they know and trust.
A duel business exist with many Estate Agents that isn’t so intuitive with an online agent. The point is Estate Agents that have both Lettings and Sales can often refer people from one side of the business to the other. If an Agent has a database of tenants it is highly likely they have a pool of potential buyers as well.

So having seen the value of Estate Agents we have to conclude that they still have a part to play.

Most online agents don’t cost very much (Tepilo is free!) then why not try both? Why not have an Estate Agent with Rightmove. No need to flood the market with your property which can be off-putting to potential buyers but a balance of both might be the best way to go. Certainly the combination of Estate Agent with Rightmove covers all basis.

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How Much is My House Worth

Zanet — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:39:09 +0000

If ever we find a question that fills our inbox on a regular basis, that is definitely number 1

How Much is my property worth. In many ways its a variable that has no definite answer. In fact the simple but correct answer is quite annoying.

“Your property is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it”

Although that isnt what any person wants to hear, it is the truth of the matter, as people will only pay what its worth to them and depending on the market, it varies rapidly.

Pricing the property

I would suggest the best way to have a sensible idea of its worth on the current market is to follow these 3 steps

Invite 3 local estate agents round to provide a free estimate. They will have local knowledge and records of what the selling price is for similar properties. They may well of used some online charts and historical records to also help provide a price. In addition they can add further adjustment after seeing the quality of the the property in presentation and additonal benefits including the finish of decoration.
Look online for similar properties amongst the major property portals including RightMove, Findaproperty and Zoopla. This will give you an idea of what others are asking. Remeber asking price isnt always what it sells for, so look at what similar properties sold for.
Finaly Zoopla has a great historical database. This is used to provide a list of what they estimate the property to be worth taking into account previous selling prices of the property. While this is very helpful, it really is only a guide and it has no human element, or awareness of additional DIY made on the property.

Combine these 3 areas and you will certainly have a clear idea of what your property is liekly to sell for. Now do you chance asking for a little more and hae less viewings or do you get serious competion but releasing your property onto the market with a realistic price that will sell?

Only you can make that decision.

How Much is My House Worth

I was recently contacted regarding a property on Tepilo - Elmhurst Coppice, Muxton, Shropshire, TF2. A Detached House, 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, 4 Receptions, Private Garden on for £375,000

Is it worth it? Well only following the above 3 step guide would anyone really know – the beauty is it allows for local knowledge, which is why estate agents will always have a job.

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Free UK House Valuations

Simply enter a postcode, street, town, address or part-address:

The tool will open up a page from the UK Land Registry database of houses sold in England and Wales since 2000. Here you should be able to locate your home or your nearby neighbours property

You are welcome to use our calculator in your website, provided that the following code is used, without alteration. This code will produce a button like the one above.

Rightmove disappoints Estate Agents

Zanet — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:50:30 +0000

So how much do estate agents pay for their branch to access RightMove and enable UK home movers to find details of all their properties ? I was suprised to find many estate agents are posting and blogging there concern of the growing cost. One agent claims over the last 3 years RightMove have increased their price by over 40%. So around £300 to £400 per month per branch.

I can’t confirm the truth of that claim, but it does raise the issue of fair competition. With the need for greater rivalry many are disappointed with the cost for a monthly account with RightMove. The difficulty seems to be down to the lack of similar portals offering the same facilities. Some have hoped that Gumtree, Prime Location or Tepilo would become popular enough to force Rightmove to change its costings.

Estate Agents say Rightmove needs competition

Realistically Zoopla is most likely to have the most impact as it looks like a serious growing property portal who will stop at nothing to get Rightmoves title of UK’s number one property website.

Should RightMove have such a monopoly over estate agents?

Does the cost per branch represent good value for money?

Sarah Beeny Interview

Zanet — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:44:17 +0000

Sarah Beeny is certainly an authority when it comes to English property developer and television presenter. She provides down to earth advice for the newbie developer. Sarah is best known for presenting the Channel 4 property shows such as Property Ladder, Streets Ahead, Britain’s Best Homes and Help! My House Is Falling Down.

More recently, with her web entrepreneur skills she has successfully kick started a free property advertising site Tepilo.com.

Sarah Beeny Property Ladder back?

As a married mother of 4 sons, you have to wonder how she fits so many programmes in. We caught up with Sarah a few months back to see what we can expect in the coming year and whether our favorite program property ladder would be back on the box before too long for a seventh series.

Yourrightmove : Hi Sarah, we’ve really enjoyed the recent series about your renovation of Rise Hall, a Grade 2* listed historic house. Do you have any more series in the pipeline or have you set aside a well earned break?

Sarah Beeny : Yes, I’m filming two at the moment – one is 2^nd series of ”Help! My house is falling down” (C4) and the other is “Village SOS” (BBC) – there may well be another series of Restoration Nightmare too.

Yourrightmove : We still adore Property Ladder – any plans for a new series?

Sarah Beeny : Yes, maybe – well hasn’t been ruled out – needs to be filmed over a longer period really, so won’t be next year I don’t think – but might well be back soon.

How do you search for property? Part 3

Zanet — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:02:33 +0000

Today we will take a look at 4 more property sites I recently used on a search for buying property.

In part 1 of this article we looked at the old fashioned way of accessing property via the high street printed details. I threw some tips in, on how to narrow the property search down to 3 piles and arrange a scoring system before viewing.

Yesterday we looked at the number 1 property web site rightmove and analysed where it is good and also some of it’s failings

Part 3 – The other on-line property websites to consider - Findaproperty

I went into this search open minded as I genuinely want to find another good alternative to Rightmove. I’ve in the past started using Zoopla and found it has some great advantages over Rightmove. Yet others aren’t keen. Having spent some time compiling the article about Property Top Trumps last week, I felt it was only right that I gave them a try out. I was disappointed.

Findaproperty.com – positives

I certainly like the design of Findaproperty
Ease of use when you first enter the site – clear search box
Seemed initially easy to enter a search
Good choice of viewing modes for search results

Findaproperty.com – negatives

No map view for results
Advert heavy
Nothing to make me see a value above Rightmove’s search

Findaproperty - no map view - advert heavy

I found viewing results difficult as I wanted to search by area. I couldn’t find a map view although there were three other views. For me map view makes it so much easier for area searches. I’m now used to looking at an area on a map.

From a design perspective, the site felt a little heavy on advert and selling mortgages or other services. There is a fine balance to get right and it just didnt work for me.

I’ve never used Findaproperty in the past, and my inital searches were making it clearer that my habit isnt going to change.

In Part 4 tomorrow we look at a site that is worth using as an alternative to Rightmove – Zoopla Reviewed

How do you search for property? Part 2

Zanet — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:02:17 +0000

Yesterday I gave you an insite into the way you can shortlist a property search without the internet, exactly how I used to do it 10 years ago!

Today we now look at the internet portals and reveal the amazing benefits and the serious failings of the top 5 property portals.

Questions I considered while looking for my property were:
How easy is it to use in the real world?Why does it work this way?How instinctive or intuitive was the process? What could one portal learn from another?Is there a reason why Rightmove is the largest property search?Is this really the easiest way to narrow down my search?

Part 2 – The best and the worst on-line property websites

I can’t help myself, but no matter how i want to avoid the big boys Rightmove is the best place to start. It’s like the “Microsoft” of the property world. Everyone wants to try something else, but you end up coming back to what you are most familiar with. With 90% of the property listed on Rightmove, you can understand why only a fool would ignore visiting the site for a search.

Rightmove Search – positive keypoints

Huge amount of listings
Draw-a-Search – incredibly useful
Good usability including memory of last zoom level and ability to handle 2 results overlapping on the map view
Not overly heavy on adverts
Easy to navigate
Proven track record – people to buy property using Rightmove

The Draw-a-Search enables you to draw an area on the map using Google maps. There is no end to the complexity of the shape as it uses the UI from Google maps. Along with the street view and great zoom to the various levels the usability of locating property via a map is superb. Once property icons are located you simply click on each icon and then click on more info for the details. Draw a Search appears as a filter on the results page of your initial search. When you click the ‘Draw a search’ button, it allows you to draw a shape within your requested location of the exact search area are you are looking for.You can then generate search results within that area, either in list view or plotted within your Draw a Search area on the map itself. The great thing is that these searches can be saved to your Rightmove account and you will be able
to receive property alerts on those areas, meaning that you know that any alerts that come through are specifically in locations you have defined. - Useful and very usable

Something that Rightmove had in it’s favour, that Zoopla didn’t was the ability to keep my zoom level on the map i was viewing. On Zoopla’s map if you move onto property detail and then back to the map again the zoom level was lost back to the default zoom level where as Rightmove respected the zoom and stayed on the last set level.

When there are more than one property close together on the map, Rightmove overcomes this problem of the overlapping properties by having more than one property in an area within a scrollable window.

A real plus - draw a search

Rightmove Search – negative keypoints

Design a little drab
Lacks cutting edge (very mainstream)
Few widgets and gadgets
No Zoopla “TemptMe” equivalent

Maybe the reason Rightmove is so successful is its delivered, without giving the user every bell and whistle going. I can’t help but feel that Findaproperty and Zoopla, even Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo have a sharpness and excitement about them that isn’t seen on Rightmove.

The slightly old fashioned feel, and why the busy wallpaper with eyes – doesn’t feel like a property site design – more like an African pyjamas pattern!

In Part 3 tomorrow we take a look at some further property websites that you’ll want to avoid and bookmark.

Tepilo App For Nokia

Zanet — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:57:07 +0000

The long awaited mobile Tepilo App is now released. We’ve waited a while to see if Sarah Beeny’s property site Tepilo will release a mobile app to compete with Zoopla and Right Move.

Clearly the market is benefiting from these great apps that provide a convenient way to view property out and about. Although the detail may prove less than the site itself, the convenience of having the main details conveniently at hand is a real plus.

With postcode searching and the use of current GPS location, never has searching for local properties been so easy.

Tepilo App For Nokia

Is the Tepilo app any good?

Reports suggest it can do the same functions as the web – bare in mind Tepilo is free, it really is a great service. One owner with their property is on Tepilo.com, said “Im enjoying being able to look for a new place on my phone whenever I have a few moments to fill on the move. Top app”

At this point i haven’t been able to review it myself as i’m an iPhone man, but i note that the few Nokia owners that have reviewed it give it the thumbs up.

Free download

You can download the Tepilo app for free on Tepilo’s property site

The app lets you securely buy, sell or let homes for free. Endorsed by property expert Sarah Beeney, it lets you search properties by town, postcode or current GPS location. You can create your own property watching lists to track the progress of multiple properties. To help you find a property you want to view it can help you find the location of the property by using the free sat nav on Ovi maps. As well as viewing your uploaded properties you can contact sellers.

It is only currently supported for the Nokia phone, but i’m guessing there will be an Android and iPhone app to follow.

Sarah Beeny : Rise Hall

Zanet — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:51:37 +0000

As a venue for a wedding, Rise Hall is a perfect venue. But that wasn’t always the case as we recentyl saw in the recent Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare.

Rise Hall was a convent for many of its years along with a girls boarding school. But after 50 years funds ran out, thereby the home was abandoned and dormant for 10 years. The owners of the Grade 2* listed Rise Hall desperately searched for something to do with it. No body wanted to rent it – flats didn’t stack up – and eventually they decided to sell it before the roof caved in completely. Who other than Sarah could pick up such a challenge!

We recently spoke to Sarah Beeny to find out a little more detail on how things turned out from the very first wedding and also what other projects Sarah has in her coming 2011 calendar.

Yourrightmove :
It looked like it was never going to come together on the programme, and clearly there will be a lot more work before the complete building is fully restored. Have you had a lot of enquiries for events and weddings since the initial wedding?

Sarah Beeny :
“We’ve been delighted at the response to the restoration of Rise Hall. It’s an ongoing project and there will always be a lot of work to do – but we are now open and well prepared for weddings and most other celebrations”

Sarah Beeny at Rise Hall Restoration

Yourrightmove :
So how bad was Rise Hall when you purchased it, was it really a restoration nightmare?

Sarah Beeny :
“The house was literally falling down, and was riddled with dry rot, wet rot and there was hardly a problem we didn’t have to start with. Great experience if you like coming up with solutions to these sorts of things.”

Rise Hall Restoration

Yourrightmove :
Tell us a little more about Rise Hall and how its now used as a business and events venue?

Sarah Beeny :
“It’s a magical setting, with plenty of space and quite a unique chance to get married in a huge stately home The advantage is that it’s your own home for your wedding day – it is very much NOT a hotel – and it’s beautiful. The building itself is a 97 room, Grade II* listed Georgian stately home, it really is a great location and there’s 30 acres of beautiful land around you too. We can accommodate most requests and will do everything we can to make your special day perfect.”

Amazing entrance way and staircase at Rise Hall

Yourrightmove :
Out of interest as I write this article on Rise Hall has it now been revalued since the work? I guess its not fully renovated but has it been valued in its new state? Also, am I right in remembering from the show it cost £400,000 and you had a budget of £500,000

Sarah Beeny :
We bought the Hall for around £420,000 and have put much less than the National Trust would have spent – but we haven’t worked out the exact numbers. We haven’t valued the property yet either – but there would be a considerable increase in value now.

Graham Swift and Sarah Beeny outside Rise Hall

I think we all remember the famous words from Sarah when she was on Property Ladder asking whether they had remembered to allow contingency money in case unforeseen problems stretch their schedule. But how could anyone (including Sarah) ever know what this project would end up costing. This is what made the project so unique as rather than finish Rise Hall, the plan was to make it into a business profitable enough to provide income to poor back into a continued restoration.

As I see it, Graham Swift and Sarah Beeny along with there family have risked everything on an mammoth project and have really turned this around into a great success story.

A visit to there weddings and events web site shows charges currently ranging from around £2,000 to £7,000 for the exclusive use of their home, catering costs vary depending on your requirements.

I have to say it would be a real treat to have a wedding at such a venue. Rise Hall really is the perfect venue for photo shoots, film shoots, larger or more intimate conferences, parties and of course weddings.

For bookings contact Sarah on 0845 450 4545 or visit her web site http://www.risehall.com/

REVEALED, what property feeds on our igoogle

Zanet — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:59:20 +0000

Today I reveal some of the best RSS feeds for keeping us up to date on UK property and Mortgage news. There are hundreds of great widgets and apps and feeds on the web today and property news feeds are essential if you want to keep up with current changes in the UK housing market.

So I thought it would be cool to reveal ours.

Telegraph Property News
Property news from the Telegraph, at least a few daily updates – superb resource for property news
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/

Tepilo – Blog RSS Feed
The Blog from house expert Sarah Beeny, another promiding site to keep an eye on offering everything Rightmove offers but without the costs
http://www.tepilo.com/blog/

The Latest From Aboutproperty.co.uk
A consumer site for everyone interested in homes and property. Dedicated to news for homeowners and people seeking to become homeowners.
http://www.aboutproperty.co.uk/

Screen Grab of Property Feeds

Zoopla.co.uk Blog
Zoopla is the new kid on the block and has had an incredible year. With recent TV advertising, its become obvious Zoopla intends to challenge Right Moves supremacy.
http://blog.zoopla.co.uk/

Mortgages
Our 2nd helping from the Telegraph feed, this time detailed and insightful financial advice, including the latest information about mortgage rates and taking out a mortgage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/

The 4 Homes Blog
Channel 4 is the UK largest television station for Home releated programmes and this feed is a great way to keep alert to the current programmes related to home improvement, grand designs or property ladder and of course Location location.
http://blogs.channel4.com/4homes/

Your Right Move
Our very own rss feed just to make sure its updates are showing (and of course we are slightly biased)
http://www.yourrightmove.co.uk/blog

uk mortgage – Google News
Google newshas various sections including a UK mortgage news area.
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=uk&hl=en&q=uk+mortgage

Google alerts – “House prices” location: United Kingdom
This is a Google Alert for the keywords “House prices”. I would suggest you also set an alert for your specific interests. It’s a great rescource for finding new sites.

Property feeds are essential for keeping an eye on the property market, hopefully we have introduced you to a few new ones to keep an eye on.

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.