What is the best property portal to find properties on?

How do Estate Agents upload their properties to a portal?

This is simple, we all have software systems that link the back end of what we do to all the property portals. For example, once an agency lists its property via its software system, it will link up with Rightmove, Zoopla, On the Market, Prime Location, and the agencies website, as well as any other portals there are. There will be an integration tool used to do this.

Are all estate agents on all the major property portals?

The answer here is no! It can be extremely expensive for an agency to list their properties via the portals. Rightmove is the most expensive, so there is a good chance that an agency will be on at least one of the main three, but not all three of them.

See my blog asking What value an estate agent offers.

Does it bring in more viewers to be on all the property portals?

As an agent myself, I personally think that you should be on at least 2 of the major portals, I don’t think you need to be on all three. If the team are good enough to deal with the enquiries coming in effectively and the database, then I believe if you choose the correct two portals for your area, then that is enough.

However, the law of probability does mean that if you are on all three of the portals, then you should effectively receive more enquiries.

What are the best portals to advertising on?

This will depend on your location, some areas in the UK are much better for Rightmove and some are better for Zoopla and On the Market.

If you are in Central London or its outskirts East or South London, then I would say that Zoopla is more prominent. However, if like us you are an Estate Agent in the suburbs of Essex or other regions, then I would say Rightmove.

Rightmove, Zoopla and On the Market will have the statistics for this, but this is commonly known knowledge in the industry.

What would make a customer use one of the portals would be the customer experience and what interface they are used to using.

My personal favourite is Rightmove because this is what I am used to and as a human being I don’t embrace change.

What is better for Sales in the Essex Region?

Rightmove, for an agency, this is the most expensive, but it is business suicide if the agency is not on Rightmove in my opinion. The reason why they are so expensive is the number of customers that come through from the portal.

I would say Zoopla next and then On the Market last.

What is better for Rentals in the Essex Region?

In the Essex Region, I would still say Rightmove but closely followed by Zoopla and On the Market. If you are solely a letting agency, I don’t think you necessarily need to be advertising on Rightmove all the time, so the costs of the agency can be saved and forwarded on to the landlord. However, the more enquiries means the more viewings and a better potential choice of tenant.

Again, the law of probability is in play here.

Do most estate agents hold back properties that are not on the portals?

The majority will not do this because it defeats the purpose of marketing a property. The best way to market a property, in general, is to put the property out on all the portals, have a board up and match the property to your applicant database to receive the most enquiries, meaning the most viewings and best offers.

However, I would say it would also be a clever sales hack to NOT advertise and conduct in a discreet marketing plan, where you have your existing database open to a secret viewing on the property to try to achieve your vendor an inflated price. This could be work and some agencies (if they are smart) can do this.

Conclusion

Rightmove is the best, in my opinion, they achieve the most enquiries for the UK Public unless you are London based, hence why they are the most expensive in price.

Zoopla is the best for London and its immediate outskirts, most of their customer base is here. Zoopla realised a few years ago that it could not compete with Rightmove as Rightmove have a monopoly on the market and started buying up the property software systems that agencies use and the templated websites too, so they have a monopoly on this market.

However, Zoopla is still famous for its pricing tool that it uses, this was revolutionary when it came out on its website.

On the Market is a personal favourite of mine because they give agencies a different edge in terms of Tenant Referencing features and also have teamed up with Home – Sprift and produced intelligent reports for buyers and sellers alike.

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