I want to determine which sites are the most effective.
My various previous agents have used from 2-4 websites plus their own excluding my current which only uses RE.com. (not sure if their own website needs an IT doctor or they can only list a limited number of properties - either way it needs an IT doctor)
Browsing older threads on the issue there has been comments from PM's that RE.com captured 95% of people, but there are many posts suggesting that Gumtree has been more effective - particularly those who get directly involved or self manage.
My experience - with last agent who did list on many sites I decided to list privately on Gumtree as well to see what happened. Most seemed to be no hopers - I would receive emails or text messages from people asking me to phone them - obviously so little money they can't afford to phone me - therefore would be likely to get behind in rent after 2 weeks. Some were in such a weird situation that alarm bells rang as far as a desirable tenant. I had one guy who had potential and was shown through the house but agent thought him a bit whacky.
As I discovered my current agent only uses RE.com I decided after a couple of weeks of vacancy to list on Gumtree as well - however no phone number was provided and where I needed to supply my name I inserted "contact may agent" and at the bottom of the add I advised to contact my agent for further detail or to inspect and included the link to the agents RE.com add. I posted add under the category of "agent" listing.
I know from previous experience (in various areas) that even some sensible, professional and successful business people don't bother to read beyond the second line of anything, or just ignore instructions. I have had people email me with everything from sob stories to "Bonn". I don't know how many my agent may have picked up from the referral to their RE.com add.
My question is - for agents, where do you find most success. For self managers - where do you find yours. For me, and due to an overall interest real estate and as an investor, RE.com is the first I turn to, however I have come across some listing on Domain which are not on RE.com. But for a tenant who has no other interest in real estate, they may not have heard of RE.com!!
As for Gumtree, some posts suggest that some "good" tenants won't go near a real estate agent. Why? Obviously some dodgy characters are trying to avoid the scrutiny of an agent, but why would decent tenants avoid them? You don't need to convince me there are some crap PM's about, but I would expect this is more obvious from a LL point of view rather than from a tenants. Why would a good tenant want to avoid a PM - the only thing I can think of is slow response to repair/maintenance issues, but generally the tenant would blame this on the owners slackness rather than agents.
Funnily, a couple of days ago and being aware that I was not impressed with their lack of advertising my PM advised that the agency was about to set up an account on Gumtree and asked if I would allow them to list my property there. I replied that I was one step ahead as I already had done so. I realise it costs money to subscribe to RE.com etc but I have only ever had one agency try to charge me advertising, other agents have told me it is a joke that agents try to charge as they pay one subscription fee whether they list one or 100 properties and therefore not on a per listing basis.
So, where do you find you get most success?
My various previous agents have used from 2-4 websites plus their own excluding my current which only uses RE.com. (not sure if their own website needs an IT doctor or they can only list a limited number of properties - either way it needs an IT doctor)
Browsing older threads on the issue there has been comments from PM's that RE.com captured 95% of people, but there are many posts suggesting that Gumtree has been more effective - particularly those who get directly involved or self manage.
My experience - with last agent who did list on many sites I decided to list privately on Gumtree as well to see what happened. Most seemed to be no hopers - I would receive emails or text messages from people asking me to phone them - obviously so little money they can't afford to phone me - therefore would be likely to get behind in rent after 2 weeks. Some were in such a weird situation that alarm bells rang as far as a desirable tenant. I had one guy who had potential and was shown through the house but agent thought him a bit whacky.
As I discovered my current agent only uses RE.com I decided after a couple of weeks of vacancy to list on Gumtree as well - however no phone number was provided and where I needed to supply my name I inserted "contact may agent" and at the bottom of the add I advised to contact my agent for further detail or to inspect and included the link to the agents RE.com add. I posted add under the category of "agent" listing.
I know from previous experience (in various areas) that even some sensible, professional and successful business people don't bother to read beyond the second line of anything, or just ignore instructions. I have had people email me with everything from sob stories to "Bonn". I don't know how many my agent may have picked up from the referral to their RE.com add.
My question is - for agents, where do you find most success. For self managers - where do you find yours. For me, and due to an overall interest real estate and as an investor, RE.com is the first I turn to, however I have come across some listing on Domain which are not on RE.com. But for a tenant who has no other interest in real estate, they may not have heard of RE.com!!
As for Gumtree, some posts suggest that some "good" tenants won't go near a real estate agent. Why? Obviously some dodgy characters are trying to avoid the scrutiny of an agent, but why would decent tenants avoid them? You don't need to convince me there are some crap PM's about, but I would expect this is more obvious from a LL point of view rather than from a tenants. Why would a good tenant want to avoid a PM - the only thing I can think of is slow response to repair/maintenance issues, but generally the tenant would blame this on the owners slackness rather than agents.
Funnily, a couple of days ago and being aware that I was not impressed with their lack of advertising my PM advised that the agency was about to set up an account on Gumtree and asked if I would allow them to list my property there. I replied that I was one step ahead as I already had done so. I realise it costs money to subscribe to RE.com etc but I have only ever had one agency try to charge me advertising, other agents have told me it is a joke that agents try to charge as they pay one subscription fee whether they list one or 100 properties and therefore not on a per listing basis.
So, where do you find you get most success?
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