Is this the future of property? Rob Ellice on why you should let your home online

We ask Rob Ellice, CEO of easyProperty why it's a good idea to rent your home online.

easyProperty wants to make selling and letting properties as affordable, convenient and transparent as possible. We help landlords list their properties on the big online property portals Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation, where the vast majority of people looking for a house to rent are searching.  Instead of charging commission on finding tenants, fees are upfront, fixed at very reasonable price points, and people can choose optional extras such as hosted viewings and floor plans. 

Today, people do everything online from shopping to planning holidays and even finding love – renting a home is no different. We embrace new technologies and our economies of scale mean that our services are much less expensive than traditional high street branches, with their branded cars and in-house coffee shops. People are learning that online agents can save them a lot of money letting or selling their property, while still providing an excellent level of service so the sector is naturally growing as demand increases. 

easyProperty offers comparable services to that of a high street agent, the difference is we’ve broken them out separately to allow landlords to select exactly what they require. easyProperty currently offers three packages – a basic free service, a standard package including advertising on the major portals and referencing tenants for £9.99 a week and a premium service for only £59.99 for three months, which includes tenancy agreement and deposit protection as well as advertising on the major portals and referencing tenants. We also offer property management at an extremely competitive 3.6 per cent. All our prices include VAT. 

It is clear that traditional high street agents are carrying unnecessary dead weight. Online agents offer all the individual services that landlords need but because of lower overheads, we are able to pass massive savings on to landlords. As well as cost savings, online agencies offer more flexibility for landlords to choose the services they want and to avoid being tied into lengthy contracts. 

There are a lot of myths about expertise from traditional estate agents, mostly that being local helps them to find tenants faster and that they offer better advice on rental income. The fact is that over 90 per cent of people searching for a property do so online, not on the high street. And with data available at the click of a button, it is perfectly possible to evaluate local rent patterns or sales prices from anywhere. We also have partners up and down the country providing expert skills for services traditionally handled by a junior agent, such as professional photography.

We are constantly adapting to the needs of our customers and in the last year have launched new services including furnishing options, property management and commercial lettings, all at very competitive rates. The number of properties we let continues to grow each month and short term we aim to let 1,000 homes a month. We plan to expand across Europe within three years.

Our sales offering will be launching in September and will be available across England and Wales. Our model includes something that is not currently available anywhere else in the market which we believe is exactly what consumers are looking for.

Our vision is to continue to demystify and transform the property sector by applying our ethos of choice, transparency and value in everything we do. Visit easyproperty.com for more.

 

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