Fed up with letting agents? This is how to do it yourself.

Fed up with letting agents? This is how to do it yourself.


When you’re letting out your property, you don’t have to pay a high street letting agent hundreds, or even thousands of pounds to find tenants and manage the tenancy. Half of all landlords carry out their own tenant find and self-manage; saving themselves a small fortune and taking back control.

Some landlords can find tenants by putting an ad in the local newspaper or by advertising on social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter. But there’s an alternative: a new breed of online agents, like Upad, who enable landlords to advertise their properties on the major property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla: all at a fraction of the cost of using a bricks-and-mortar agent.

Online agents offer landlords the tools to get their property seen where tenants are looking and own the selection process- deciding who will live in their property. Even the most diligent high street letting agent won’t care about your property as much as you do; which is why many landlords prefer to take control of what is most likely their biggest investment.

The property and technology worlds have collided. As we increasingly target modern tenants, it is more important than ever that landlords are marketing their properties in today’s world. With 92% of tenants only searching online for their next property, there’s no need to rely on a tenant walking into their local letting agent to let a property.

As such, landlords will soon be measured on how they can craft, manage and optimize listings for authoritative online property portals to stand out amongst the competition. Upad research found that, overwhelmingly, 91% of Upad landlords’ tenants placed photography as the most important part of an online advert. It’s conclusive: grainy, blurry, poor quality photos just won’t cut it anymore.

Along with good quality photos, here are Upad’s top tips for advertising your property online;

Consider your copy. It’s important that you are able to comprehend the key selling points of your property and mould them into a succinct advert. Don’t use needless “letting agent speak” as property descriptions must be informative but snappy. The photos should speak for themselves but point out what they can’t see; how much storage space is there? What exactly is included in the ‘fully fitted’ kitchen?

Dress your property. Even if you are letting your property unfurnished, take photos of the property dressed using a few key items of furniture such as a bed, wardrobe, rug; or even decorative items like a vase of flowers or candles. You only need to dress an unfurnished property once but you can reuse professional photos every time.

Lead with interior shots. Tenants are looking for somewhere to fit their lifestyle, so internal shots are far more important to tenants compared to buyers. Lead with a picture of the kitchen or living room on your online advert to maximise tenant interest.

Why are you different? If you’re one of the small percentage of landlords who accept pets, shout about it. If you’re charging a ¼ of what the local high street agent is charging then make it obvious. In an ever competitive market, you need to tell tenants why they should rent your property, and not the one down the road.

Get free advice. To build a truly modern understanding of how to optimize your property listing for key websites, join our free webinar. You will gain a practical understanding of how to digitize your approach to listing properties. Visit: https://info.upad.co.uk/propertyhelp

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