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House prices fall or rise (take your pick)
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Knight Frank stay quiet after conman is jailed
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A tenant who faked his identity when renting through Knight Frank has been jailed for three

Rich overseas buyers keep prime London market aloft
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Chinese buyers are expected to replace Russian investors as major players in the prime central London

Moving occasion: today's the day!
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The most popular moving date is today, September 1, the Post Office has revealed. The two next

Prospective first-time buyers sink to new low
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The proportion of buyers expecting to buy for the first time in the next 12 months

Housing market 'edging towards double dip' claim
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Net lending plummeted in July to the second lowest monthly figure since records began in 1993,

Henry Pryor Blog
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Welcome to a new monthly blog by Henry Pryor, estate agent turned entrepreneur, inventor and expert

Rightmove profits climb 39% as more agents sign up
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A rise in the number of agents and an overall willingness to pay more to Rightmove

Portal creates new 'check out your competition' stats
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Property portal Home has created some new statistic pages on its site which we reckon will

Six in ten mortgages are now for house purchase
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The proportion of mortgages being taken out for purchases, as opposed to remortgages, is at its

News Story

Ex Ask Jeeves boss wows the industry

Wednesday 8th October 2008

Internet start-up FindsYou has today announced that it has signed up more than 1,000 estate and letting agents across the country.

Up to 50 agents, in both sales and lettings, have been joining per day. Currently the site is free to agents to use.

Boss Guy Walker was the former European and UK chief executive of Ask Jeeves.

He said the site, which launched three months ago, allows agents to reach the maximum number of potential homebuyers without incurring heavy costs.

The site allows searchers to specify property criteria such as location and size. This information is then sent direct to all relevant agents, allowing those with matching properties to make direct contact with the applicant.

Walker said the site allows all agents to use it, irrespective of their size, brand or the scope of their marketing budget.

“Equally, agents are not required to spend time uploading and amending property details, and we do not allow any advertising. This means that all agents get to compete for business on a level playing field, thus exposing the homebuyer to far more potential properties than traditionally available on the web.

“Many suppliers of online services still ask too much of their clients, given that agents don’t have cash to burn and need to justify every investment.

“They’re saying ‘pay us for the service and trust that it will work’ when really they should be looking to prove their worth before they start demanding money,” said Walker. “Ultimately, the latter approach could prove key to building profitable long-term relationships that will help both parties weather the storm, and aid further marketing activity once it has passed.”

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Posted By Mike Carter on Thursday 9th October 2008 12:27:11

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I think this site is just a copy paste of Email 4 Property. Where is the innovation here? And why do services like this continue to ride the free-mium model when it's clear that there are big questions behind a free model and it's longevity in a tough financial climate.

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Posted By Chrishoper Bell on Thursday 9th October 2008 03:32:20

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I've used findsyou.com and actually had some pretty interesting leads from it (we're based in North London).

The poster of a wanted advert was somewhat surprised, but pleased to hear from us as he had one or two properties that [she] liked

Still negotiating and you never know!!

Not sure what the comment about email4property is about as it's nothing like that at all.... anyway...

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Posted By Lou on Wednesday 8th October 2008 12:47:48

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Or of course you could join the NFOPP and get PropertyLive.co.uk for free (and always free!). The only property search site that's regulated, protected and run by a professional body of fully accredited agents.

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Posted By John S on Wednesday 8th October 2008 12:08:59

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Why not join a TRULY FREE property portal such as PropertyFoyer.com? We did and are getting business from them. It is FREE to advertise and FREE to receive responses via phone or email directly from prospective buyers abnd tenants.

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Posted By Richard H on Wednesday 8th October 2008 11:38:04

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Have you seen what they are offering. A fixed fee of £999 plus VAT. That looks a nice simple route to ruine!!

No doubt they will provide a cut price service to follow.

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Posted By Stonehenge on Wednesday 8th October 2008 09:20:16

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I have to agree with Lou as this portal will sort out most of the chaff

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Posted By mike chambers on Wednesday 8th October 2008 07:15:16

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There is a lot of free sites out there but i always worry about the quality of the information supplied to our business. If its good quality homemovers i don't mind paying a finders fee. The fairest i've found is a site called propertyindex, we advertise our full lisitngs for free but pay £1 for unique qualified homemovers that are interested in our properties. Worth a look.

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Posted By HomeHelp on Wednesday 8th October 2008 05:22:21

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Home.co.uk also offer free property advertising to agents and is the most established of all the property search engines.

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Posted By brightmove.co.uk on Wednesday 8th October 2008 01:15:02

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How about a property web site that pays agents to join. Now that would be cool!

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Editorial Contact Details - Rosalind Renshaw | rosalind.renshaw@estateagenttoday.co.uk | 01252 843 566.