Rightmove AND online advertising?

sleepymans

Hi I am currently selling an unoccupied house suitable for refurbishment.

I have a sole agency agreement with a local EA for 16 weeks and the property is on the rightmove website as well as the EA's own website.

I know I would still have to pay the EA fees if I sell privately within the 16 weeks, but in order to market it as widely as possible do you think it would be worth me putting it on any other online house selling websites or is rightmove so "universal" that you'd consider it to be already widely enough advertised ?

The EA are also advertising it on their local newspaper spread and there is a board outside. The house is also on a bus route so the board can be easily seen.

Is it worth me going any further do you think?

We'd like a fairly quick sale like everyone else but we arent desperate!! (yet)

scope

I wouldnt bother to be honest.. Me and everybody I have spoken to all check rightmove.. VERY rarely do I try to find other websites which advertise properties.

gothgirl123

I really wouldn't bother. I myself when buying a house only looked at rightmove, and whilst working for an Estate Agents that is the site I recommended to clients.

The best thing to do for a quick sale is to price your property competitively, and ensure there are internal photographs both in the particulars and on the internet. That is one big thing buyers will look for - I know myself, I didn't really want to view a property unless I saw quite decent pictures on the internet first.

Also, ask about how often the Agency will advertise your property in the local paper - it's many Agency's policy to advertise properties at least once a fortnight, but due to the volume of properties on the market they rarely manage this. So if you are after a quick sale, be sure to push the agents for the advertising space, in the papers and in the window!

courtjester

Scope - like most people, you have your favourite, but this doesn't mean that because you don't choose to look elsewhere that there aren't others worth looking at.

Rightmove are the biggest, but by no means have the total grip on the market that they (and their hype) claim. If their statistics are to be believed (and frankly they are fairly unbelievable), then clearly most of the visitors that go to the Rightmove website are not actually in the market for a home - property porners visiting Rightmove as a daily coffee-break from work probably make up most of their figures.

There are a great many estate agents that do NOT list property on Rightmove because they don't like Rightmove's approach to business, or they don't wish to support their competitors who actually own Rightmove (Halifax, Connells and Countrywide) and operate it in their own interests and you certainly won't see any privately advertised (non-agent) property on Rightmove.

Rightmove probably have no more than one-third of all property on the market in reality and this is disproportionately biased to the south-east. Hence, if you only look at Rightmove, you are potentially missing out on two-thirds of properties advertised elsewhere.

These other large portals have a different part of the market and are well worth checking:

Propertyfinder
FISH4
Primelocation
Findaproperty
Homes and Property
Vebra

Sleepymans - you will NOT have to pay your agent commission if you sell privately - a sole agency means you can't have another agent, it doesn't prevent you from selling privately and the agent can't charge commission if you do (read your contract carefully to confirm this). You just need to be careful to choose a professional online site that offers no agency services and complies with the OFT guidance on this.

So basically, you can advertise privately (even during the existing agency period), potentially saving thousands in commission and you will reach a different audience by doing so. If you do, ditch the agents board and get your own - these are one of the most effective ways of attracting buyers, so no need to give your agent all the ace tools.

scope

courtjester wrote: »

Rightmove probably have no more than one-third of all property on the market in reality and this is disproportionately biased to the south-east. Hence, if you only look at Rightmove, you are potentially missing out on two-thirds of properties advertised elsewhere.

This must depend on where you live then.. Where I live I did not find any properties advertised on the other websites that were not on rightmove, and I have spent the last 3-4 months looking for a house for my family. All the estate agents advertise on their stationary that they are on rightmove (along with some of the others), they even tell you to look at rightmove to see whats on the market.. Personally I would not go with an estate agent if he wasnt on Rightmove.

But hey, if you find your buyer elsewhere, and dont have to pay a fee then go for it.

Norroy

I have to say that in Essex and Kent at least 95% of the properties on the market are with Rightmove.

Again, I would not try and sell or let through an agent that did not use their site.