Rightmove is the largest property selling portal in the UK that people use when looking to buy property. The portal allows you access to potential buyers from across Britain. Rightmove is one of the tools that has helped to drag the property market into the digital era.
Does Rightmove allow private sellers?
In a word no, private members of the public are not able to directly advertise their property on Rightmove.
The company gets most of its business from estate agencies. The agencies are the company’s top subscribers. Therefore, in attempts to make their clients happy at all times, the company does not allow private listings. The company and others of its kind fear that allowing private sellers to list on their sites would result in loss of business from their main clients who are real estate agents.
To access the services on Rightmove, you need to subscribe to the portal. A monthly subscription will allow you the chance to expose your house to a wide audience. This increases the chance that you will seal a deal faster.
Getting on Rightmove without paying
There is a new service that is available from an online estate agent that is different from the rest. There are absolutely no charges when you sell your property using their service and they even cover your legal costs. Which means the amount you agree to sell your property for, is exactly the amount you’ll receive upon completion.
On average, their properties spend just 23 days on the market before being sold – compared to the average across the UK of 96 days.
All they ask is that you give them 30 days to sell your property on an exclusive basis. If they can not find a buyer in 30 days it will cost you nothing and you are free to use another estate agent if you want.
How Does Rightmove Work?
Rightmove offers a wide variety of tools that will help you get your property off the market faster. All you have to do is subscribe to Rightmove, and you can proceed to sell your house.
The platform allows potential buyers and audiences the option of searching for the best property or house by price, type, location, and number of bed rooms.
The platform also allows you to tailor your search to unique areas using a drawing tool. In addition to the drawing tool, you can also provide information on local schools near the property, links of transportation, similar sold prices in the location as well as crime rates, among others.
Rightmove started as a platform where estate agents would list their property to a site that offers the full experience. The site now allows you to calculate the amount you will need in mortgage and find a mortgage. It also allows you to organize for a removal company, check broadband speed as well as the availability in the area. Rightmove also allows you to plan all the details for your move to the new property.
You can also choose to improve your listing on Rightmove by going premium. The premium listing means that you get access to extra tools that increase your accessibility to a wider audience hence allowing you to sell faster. Statistics show that sellers who choose the premium listing tend to sell 30 times faster than those on a regular listing.
You can choose to go premium if your property has not received as much interest as you had hoped for using the regular listing. The premium listing also allows you to use more than one photo on the face of your advertisement. This helps you attract more potential buyers because they get to see more of what they are buying from the photos. This feature will also come in handy if your property has some unique features that you would like to highlight in addition to the exterior.
Where can you sell your property privately?
It is almost unlikely that any of the large property portals will allow you to sell your property privately on their sites. However, in recent years, more companies are beginning to move towards allowing a mix of both private and professional listings. The fact that estate agents do not seem as sour about their counterparts as in the past also makes this easy for property portals to accept both types of listings.
Property portals the likes of TheHouseShop.Com is an example of those that will allow you to sell your house privately. The company provides an all-inclusive environment that enables home buyers to access to both real estate and private listings. More buyers are also looking to select houses from such portals because of the diversity. For this reason, more companies are planning the move towards this kind of business. Large property portals the likes of Rightmove may also be considering the move because they are losing their audience to less significant portals that allow both private and estate agent listings.
Use Online Real Estate Agents on Rightmove
As much as Rightmove will not allow you to list your privately owned property on their portal, you can always use an online real estate agent. The agent will help you get access to the site without having to look for an agency. Unlike regular estate agencies, online estate agencies will charge you a lower amount to post your property on the portals.
What is an online estate agent?
Online estate agents are a digital and cheaper alternative to traditional high street estate agents. These service providers will charge you a lower amount for services like advertising your property on the largest and most popular property portals in the UK. The agents will also help you to manage all the inquiries from potential buyers from the sites, organize viewings, and get offers from potential buyers as well. However, you need to know that there are two types of online estate agents;
Pure online-only agents are the ones that take complete control of the advertising or the listing process. They do most of the work from taking photos that will be posted on the portals to negotiating offers and everything in between.
Hybrid online agents are those that already have their properties listed in the portals; hence are more focused on theirs than yours. Such agents will help you post the advertisement, but you will have to do all the work, like preparing the advertisement for yourself. You will also have to get a different person to deal with inquiries from potential buyers and organize viewings.
The first type is better than the latter because then you will not have too much work to complete. Hiring other people to perform tasks like taking the photos and creating the advert may also end up costing you more than necessary. You also need to know that online estate agents do not have physical offices where you can meet them. They operate online, and this is what makes them different from their counterparts.
Using an online agent will allow you access to UK’s largest property portals that otherwise do not allow private listings. To increase your chances of selling, you can advertise on both sites that don’t and those that do allow private listings. This will give you an advantage over your competitors, like estate agencies.
In addition to an online estate agent, what else do you need so that you can list a private property on Rightmove?
In addition to an online estate agent, if you wish to advertise on a site like Rightmove and other large listing portals in the UK, you will need;
An Energy Performance Certificate- in the UK, the law requires you to acquire an EPS, which you will display on your listing on sites like Rightmove. The certificate is mandatory for all property advertisement sites. You can get the certificate from the site. However, not all sites sell the certificate. Even though those that do not directly sell them will always provide you with a link to a site that does.
A conveyancing solicitor- the role of a conveyancing solicitor, is to handle all the legal paperwork that is involved in the property selling process. Most estate agents also provide conveyancing services. However, you don’t need to use their services. You have the freedom to shop around for the most cost-efficient conveyancing solicitor.
You will also need a professional photographer. On online property portals, what sells is the photo on the cover of your advertisement. Potential buyers will decide whether or not to read through your advert and the features your house has to offer after they have been enticed with the photo. Whether or not you are using the premium listing that allows you to post more than one photo, you need a professional photographer to help you make the best photos. Hybrid online estate agents do not provide such services like taking the photos and creating the advert; all they do is post it. Therefore, you may need a professional that will help you complete this task as well.
Why Choose Rightmove
Advertising on Rightmove is guaranteed to get you a buyer for your house faster than expected. However, you still have to make sure that your advertisement in enticing. While the platform will open you up to a wider pool of audiences, the success of your advert completely depends on what you have to offer.
Conclusion
Like Rightmove, the UK market does not run short of advertising platforms for properties. Other sites like Zoopla, OnTheMarket, and PrimeLocation are also among the largest property portals in the UK. The sites may work differently, but they all offer the same services and advantages as the former, but maybe with less traffic.