Self Managers - Why don't we lobby Red Direct to put our rental adverts on the net?

[wylie]

Following on from something Boat Boy posted about listing his house with Red Direct, I checked out their website to see if they only list houses for sale, which it appears is the case.

I have emailed them asking them if they would look at doing a similar thing for privately managed rentals. We advertise in the Courier Mail in Brisbane but would love to be able to get an advert on realestate.com.

Last house my mother rented, a local agent did undertake to find us a tenant and listed it on realestate.com and actually sent a prospective tenant, which my mother rented the house to. However, in the past this has seemed a waste of time, as most only add us to their rental list and as we all know, people search on realestate.com and other websites, so being on the paper list at one agency just doesn't reach the target market.

Why don't all you other self-managers send Red Direct an email. I would be happy to pay (maximum) one week's rent, but really think this is a maximum because they are not doing any paperwork (condition report, lease etc) so maybe they would be interested for a lesser amount.

What do you self-managers think of lobbying them to show your support for the idea. I have sent an email today. If they get a few more, it might tweak their interest.

I don't know if they are Australia wide, but if anyone has any other ideas of how to get our ads on the net, please add to this thread.

Wylie

 

[BoatBoy]

From the Red Direct FAQ section

Is it true that other agents who charge ‘traditional’ fees are threatened by Red Direct?

They are. Boy do we scare them, and so we should! Greed has driven many real estate services and practices and this has tarnished public perceptions. In this marketplace, some agents get an awful lot of money for doing very little. People are seeking change. Red Direct is changing the game!

Of course there are some agents and property managers out there that are worth every dollar that they recieve.

Dave

 

[wylie]

Just had a call from Paul Mooney, Licensee and Director of Red Direct who said that after appearing on Today Tonight a week ago about their real estate fixed fee service (I didn't see the show but heard about it here on SS) they had been overwhelmed with calls and emails.

He said my email stood out because it was about getting rental ads onto the web, and it is an area they are certainly interested in pursuing. I told him about SS and that I had suggested that other self-managers should email Red Direct so they get an idea of how much we want to get on the net.

I told him about Somersoft and Propertyinvesting and suggested he would find plenty of self-managers on both forums.

He said that he would love somebody to come to the table and talk about developing the concept. Red Direct is based in Toowoomba, but I don't know if that matters these days.

I told him I would add to my thread so that others know that Red Direct is interested in pursuing this avenue.

I have no connection with them, but read about them here, so this is not an advert for them, but if they are prepared to be the conduit for us to get on the net, I would love others to get in touch with him.

Wylie

 

[hagel]

Hi Wylie, take a look at this website. I am not associated with service, but found out about it a few weeks ago. They are currently offering a free service and in future are charging $20 for 4 wks advert. You can include 4 pictures on your ad also of your property. www.psire.com.au

 

[wylie]

Thanks Hagel. I just had a look and there are no properties available for rent in Queensland.

This is the biggest problem. There are other sites where we could advertise, but I want to be able to advertise on the "big" sites that I use when I do a search.

Personally, I use realestate.com. I think they are missing out on a lot of business and I don't really understand why. The only thing I can think of is that maybe they believe private owners will put rubbish photos on, but, let's face it, some agencies are guilty of that.

I know that if this company becomes a conduit to getting an advert on the "big" sites, then I think they will be able to tap into a big market.

The house my mother rented a month ago made it onto realestate.com because a local rental agency (not attached to a real estate agency) came round, took photos, listed it that afternoon, found a tenant and took one week's rent for it. But that cost also covered them doing reference checks and the initial reports and lease, so I would think that unless this company was doing reference checks and initial forms that the agencies do that they would have to price their service at similar to a newspaper advert, or people would not use them.

Personally, I would think that pricing similar to newspaper advertising would be the maximum I would be prepared to pay, because we always find a tenant from the paper, but we obviously would have a bigger pool to fish in if we could get on the net. In fact, I am gobsmacked by how expensive advertising in the newspaper is, for a little three line advert - it is highway robbery, so if they made their service cheaper, they would gain the newspaper business.

Wylie

 

[hagel]

Yer, I know what you're saying Wylie and I also find it frustrating that I can't advertise via realestate.com. I took a look at the above site I mentioned and it looks like they are operating in WA only (WA based) then possibly going to other states. It's a new company, hence why it's free to advertise with them now. They've been running adverts on radio this morning and newspaper so shall be interesting to see if they take off. I advertised in West Australian for new tenants a couple of weeks ago and used psire.com.au for potential tenants to find out more info and view photos of the property inside, and then to call me back if they were still interested. The service may have cut down my workload but the 40 odd phone calls I received were from people responding from the advert in the paper.

 

[Pushka]

Yup, have to agree with you Wylie. I do know that domain.com.au lets you put private ads (and pictures) and it is really easy to do. Cost me $167 for 1 month's exposure.

 

[alexlee]

I was wondering, how much does www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au charge the agent to be able to list properties?
Alex

 

[Pushka]

I was wondering, how much does www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au charge the agent to be able to list properties?
Alex

I am betting that RE Agents get charged half of what we get charged by the RE when they list on our behalf!

 

[steveadl]

I was wondering, how much does www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au charge the agent to be able to list properties?
Alex

Not sure what the exact annual fee is Alex, although from REA's financial figures, you can hypothesize somewhat:

$86.5M revenue from Aust. operations (although this includes software sales, banner advertising etc.). Average 84% of which is from residential = $72.6M
7,600 agents
= $9,500 average per agent.

I heard a figure a while back of $4-6k pa though, so I assume it's much less than the $9k figure above. But even at the $9k figure - that's 211 listings at $45ea (from memory that's what my agent charged me for REA.com) to get their investment back. At $6k it's 133 ads per year.

Some REA's on SS may be able to give you a better idea.

 

[Mike F]

What do you self-managers think of lobbying them to show your support for the idea. Wylie

I would rather lobby RE.com.au to accept private ads. There is no reason that they can't - domain accept them.
My idea is to ask the question at the REA (listed company) annual general meeting - would be a good platform where would have to answer I reckon. They have so far ignored my emails.

Cheers
Mike F

 

[Rixter]

I have emailed them asking them if they would look at doing a similar thing for privately managed rentals. We advertise in the Courier Mail in Brisbane but would love to be able to get an advert on realestate.com.

Wylie

I advertise on Rentfind.

Its great & its FREE!

Hope this helps

 

[wylie]

Thanks Rixter.

I had a look and there are 19 houses listed when I type in Coorparoo which is better than some sites.

I will give it a go, nothing to lose.

My gripe is with realestate.com is that it is probably the first site that people look at (at least it is the ONLY one I ever look at) and I think they should take private ads.

But I am going to have a go at Rentfind and see how many enquiries I get.

Thanks again.

Wylie

 

[urban cowboy]

I am betting that RE Agents get charged half of what we get charged by the RE when they list on our behalf!

if you are getting charged by an agent to put a property on RE.com - walk away and find an agent that will actually work for you...

you shouldn't get charged anything - we pay per month for access, not per property listed.

 

[Prakman]

As an owner of a RE company, I can confirm the prices for the websites for fellow forumites. Realestate.com.au charges ~$800 per month, domain.com.au about $500.00 and reiwa.comau ~$400.

At the moment only real estate agents can use RE.com.au, while private LL can use domain. In January next year, private LL would be discouraged from using domain as they will increase their fee to $400 per property for rental or sales. RE.com.au will unlikely take private sales/ rentals ads as they are 20% own by Ray Whites.

I hope that this helps.

 

[wylie]

This is where a company who will charge a small fee to list private rentals will do well.

If I was going to list a rental for $400 next year with Domain, I would be better to give it to a local REA who will list it PLUS do the checks and forms involved for about the same amount (one week's rent).

Wylie

 

[urban cowboy]

exactly...

casual let's are becoming very common - we do them regularly...

for one weeks rent we'll do all the checks and vetting, sort out all the applications and get them in - then you take over as your own PM.

on cheaper rentals, its works out better for you than going through the rigmarole and paying 400 quid for a one off listing on the net