Top Tips for using Zoopla & Rightmove more successfully

Most searches for property online will undoubtedly take place on either Zoopla or Rightmove. The internet today is key in helping people to buy and sell property in the UK and globally too for that matter. The good old and reliable high street estate agency obviously will offer you a very hands on service and key local knowledge and your naked eye will spot for sale signs up in the area you are searching to move if local enough – But online is where it is happening for property searches.

Zoopla and Rightmove dominate the UK property portal scene with both being household names and both being easy to use and access (Apps for Android and IOS). Rightmove is said to be receiving over 125 million visits monthly and Zoopla (along with Primelocation) 50 million plus.

How about using each platform that little bit more wisely especially if you are hunting for the best property for your money:

• Both portals enable you to register yourself an account and save searches and also listings. You can also be alerted to new listings (including reductions) on specific searches so you can find out sooner rather than later about what is coming on to the market.
• You can obviously search smaller areas such as villages, postcodes and towns or you can search counties – If you use their ‘draw your search‘ facilities you can be even more precise with where you search and these can also be saved for future use. It is a good idea always to expand your search slightly especially if you are struggling to find local listings of interest / in your price range.
• Make sure you put in order how the results are shown depending on what you are after. Zoopla gives an added function of ‘Most Reduced’ order which is useful for those looking for distressed sales and though Rightmove does not offer similar you can put listings in order of ‘Newest First’ which shows you both recently added and recently reduced listings. Some people prefer to view listings that have been for sale the longest and Rightmove enables you to seek them out by sorting by ‘Oldest listed’. Concerned that you are missing out on something special – Zoopla allows you to search by ‘Most Popular’.
• Do not be shy to study property above your price range. Do consider that most property will not sell at their asking price and some reports say that an average of 10% is usually the difference between asking price and selling price.
• Do not rely just on the portals. Do think about contacting local high street agencies and online / hybrids agents to put your name on their books just in case property comes along of which you could be finding out about before that are put on to Zoopla/Rightmove.
• Remember that not every property will be repeated on each portal, some will hold unique listings as not all estate agents will pay to advertise on both (the fees are high). Also consider some of the other portals such as OnTheMarket.
• If you are on the move frequently then think about downloading each platforms free apps available for mobile and tablets (Android and ISO) – Both are super easy to use and quite addictive! There are also apps available for Smart TV etc.