Property Advertising
Over the last few years the internet has been playing a huge role in how the property market and real estate professionals operate in terms of marketing their property. With over 70% of all first time enquiries for buying and renting property now coming through the internet it can be seen as to why the modern day agent needs to ensure their online marketing and property portfolios are kept not only up to date but as visible as possible. The shear range of sites and the amount of property available is staggering and there are pages and pages of sites that can be found on all the major search engines.
New technologies
With the advancement of web 2.0 technology the choice to the consumer and the options open to them has become overwhelming. It is now possible to view properties on these sites using mapping technology and by selecting different parameters such as distance from the train station and 1 mile from a primary school and up comes all the different property that would suite your requirements. Being a landlord offers just as much choice as the agents enjoy, there are also specialist websites that are available just for landlords. The options are the same as any agent site with the ability to showcase your property and get increased exposure to a wider internet audience. Getting exposure is becoming more and more advanced but so is the choice open to the consumer. Is it possible to be seen with all of the competition that surrounds the market place and to diversify your business and property from the crowd?
Some of the figures quoted by the major players in the website advertising world are incredible; some of the leading sites are getting in excess of over 2.5 million unique visitors per month. For any business this is an impressive amount of activity, there are also estimated to be in the region of 850,000 properties for sale at any one time and 160,000 rental properties. These figures are huge and just show the size of the property sector and the continued growth.
New methods of selling on the up
The traditional methods to sell property have also seen change over the last couple of years and the popularity of selling your property without the use of an agent has seen an up turn. The majority of these sites will charge a one off fee to advertise your property; the charge will vary depending on the type of package that you are looking for. There are many options available to purchase for sale boards, advertise your property with photos, floor plans, virtual tours and much more. It has been suggested that cutting out the estate agent can save anywhere up to £4000 in fees, but is this a good idea and do most people have the time to carry out the whole process themselves.
The world of property does not stand still whether it is buying, selling, renting or investing and the last few years has seen a revolution in the way property is marketed and advertised on and off line. It remains to be seen whether any of the new methods will have a major impact on some of the more traditional ways to advertise and how these will evolve over the coming years.
Other articles you might be interested in
Times online- How to sell your house
Which report - selling your property online