Uncovering the free tools that property portals offer estate agents

Today's guest blog, from Selwyn Lim, Managing Director of Mouseprice.com, takes a look at the free tools on offer to help you run your business.

Mouseprice.com are one of my favourite free-to-list property portals and are owned by Calnea Analytics - creator of the official Land Registry House Price Index.

"In today’s competitive estate agency market, any advantage over the opposition is crucial to winning new business. In addition to the basics of running a successful agency, such as providing an excellent service to the customer, there are numerous ways you can use technology to get ahead of the game.

The way in which customers find out about property and research estate agents has, of course, changed dramatically over the last few years. Also, the ways in which the internet can be used to attract more clientele continues to develop.

One simple way of getting your business noticed is by listing your properties on as many portals as possible – more exposure means that more buyers are seeing your properties and more potential clients are seeing and remembering your agency’s name. Getting your property stock listed on a wide range of portals needn’t be expensive – there are several free-to-list websites, including Mouseprice.com, Globrix, etc.

Another tip would be to utilise the free tools and information available to estate agents on the various portals and sites which cater for property professionals. One example from Mouseprice.com would be the ‘What the professionals say’ section, in which agents can gain free exposure and boost their reputation by sharing their local knowledge with our users who are looking to buy or sell in the area.

Agents can also subscribe to free monthly newsletters from a variety of websites to help build better market intelligence by supplementing their own local knowledge. Subscribing to as many as possible will help you stay on top of local market developments and trends.

Data in the Mouseprice newsletter includes properties which have sold recently in your local area (as recorded by the Land Registry), local discounted property on the market, a selection of homes currently for sale in the area and much more.

Mouseprice is now offering a new system which compares both estate and letting agents on a number of features such as the number of properties each one has in each postcode district, what the average time on the market is, the number of price drops they have had, etc.

This is potentially an incredibly useful free tool for agents, as you can suss out exactly how your competitors are faring, as well as finding out the areas in which your agency could improve. The data is updated daily, so you can also track the changes in the data.

As well as all the free tools that can be found on the various property portals and related websites, you can purchase Mouseprice assisted valuation reports. These are customised market appraisal reports, designed for agents to take along either before, after, or in place of viewings. The agent can set the value and value range and select the comparables which support the recommended asking price.

As well as winning you new business, these tools can help you gain more knowledge of your local area, highlight ways in which to improve your business and stay ahead of the competition. If you would like to explore the estate agent page on Mouseprice.com and to see what we can offer, please visit: https://professionals.mouseprice.com"

Selwyn Lim
@Mouseprice
http://www.mouseprice.com/