Hi I just want to check the advice given by one of Openrent’s staff, might be right but even if it is I don’t think it should be this way.
Basically I made a massive error in listing a property with no pictures, just the front of the house. I knew it was the wrong thing to do, I won’t listen to my mum’s advice on this again!
Anyway I received email from Openrent suggesting how to get more enquiries as the uptake was poor. One of the suggestions was pictures. So now I have pictures.
What I wanted to know is if Openrent were able to provide statistics on views (not necessarily enquiries) from the likes of Rightmove, so I could compare pre photo and after photo. I was told they were unable to provide these figures but I would have thought Rightmove would supply these figures? I know they can when you are selling a house.
Just something I’m interested in to be honest, gives me an idea what the impact of the photos has been, because more views should translate to more enquiries.
Hi James, I’m afraid we can’t tell you have many people view your property on Rightmove. We don’t have access to that info.
Incidentally, even if you could get it, you would still not be able to compare pre- and post-photos with any scientific rigour, because listings get the bulk of their attention in the 48 hours immediately following their publication. This is because new listings appear at the top of Rightmove searches, and they are emailed out to tenants with saved search alerts.
Therefore, if even with bad/no photos, the property could receive most of its views during this period. Your property could have received far fewer views afterward, but because of the photos, those views could have generated more enquiries.
It is for these reasons that:
we recommend making sure you listing is as good as it can be from day 1 of being live
we don’t track views — it’s a misleading (or ‘vanity’) metric. What matters is good quality enquiries.
However I strongly disagree with what you say about comparisons if the information was available. As you would clearly be able to see the date when the photos went on and see if there was a bump in views or not. I would say knowing viewings even without enquiries is useful in the same way knowing the footfall outside a shop is. If more views on the right track, in my opinion.
Which means your advisory emails (which I think are a little patronising in their tone) about getting more enquiries with pro photos is kind of pointless if you have no evidence that photos increase enquiries, after the initial listing.
I agree that the best time to get it right is the beginning and with that I have to hold my hands up I shouldn’t have listed pre-photos but I have and I just need to decide on best options going forward.
That been said generally speaking Openrent much better than using an agent, so you guys are travelling in the right direction!
Hi, James,
I hope this information helps you with your renting. This is from my experience of renting for 30 years and only this year going on Open-rent. Since starting with Openrent I’ve had 3 properties to rent out. I do the best photos I can, my wife does it sometimes as she’s better. I do little videos of the rooms then put it all together on a YouTube video which I also talk over and have some free music in the background. Note all the software is free and once you’ve done a few it’s not too time-consuming. By the time I rent out I expect about 60+ views on the video.
It’s hard this time of the year as I’m still trying to get a contract signed. Had 39 inquiries and 15 views. Now I’ve dropped the price to move it.
I do have problems with organising so many inquires and especially when they do not put their mobile number on. Could we ask Openrent to make this happen? Could I get rid of the ones that are a waste of time as it clogs up the area or put them into special folders? Many don’t have names, don’t reply to your replies and are very difficult to distinguish from others especially if you have auto-reply on. When you talk to tenants, who have always been rejected, it’s not good to ever openly reject tenants as it does very little for their esteem. Let us all try to get these people back to work keeping the UK going. We’re going to need it!!
Hi thanks for the response. Thankfully it has gone now. Funnily enough though it looks like you have hit on my other bugbear with Openrent, been sometimes (although not on this occasion), large numbers of unsuitable enquiries. I think they could do more in terms of vetting out unsuitable ones through a relatively simple questions as there current filters of no DSS for example are fine but it doesn’t help people know whether the property is affordable. I think the only people who benefit from this rather vague system are the referencing companies who get paid good or bad. I think it would be better if tenants had a kind of letting permit that they could purchase and produce on request that would increase their chances of been successful in their letting. Rightmove have a product that I saw advertised online but for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to have gained much traction yet.
Hi James
I glad to hear it’s gone. Well done and good luck long term. I can see the designers of Open rent need to talk to us and the problems we have. I do agree with you and I’d even pay another £5 to have it sorted. Many tenants need to see this. Rent Affordability Calculator.
The below table is a breakdown of what the minimum salary our referencing company asks for each bracket of rent.
Monthly Rent
Applicant Minimum Salary
Guarantor Minimum Salary
£350
£10,500
£12,600
£400
£12,000
£14,400
£450
£13,500
£16,200
£500
£15,000
£18,000
£550
£16,500
£19,800
£600
£18,000
£21,600
£650
£19,500
£23,400
£700
£21,000
£25,200
£750
£22,500
£27,000
£800
£24,000
£28,800
£850
£25,500
£30,600
£900
£27,000
£32,400
£950
£28,500
£34,200
£1,000
£30,000
£36,000
£1,050
£31,500
£37,800
£1,100
£33,000
£39,000
£1,150
£34,500
£41,400
£1,200
£36,000
£43,200
£1,250
£37,500
£45,000
£1,300
£39,000
£46,800
This does give everyone a guide and make them realise they are going to have to show clearly, for their own sake, how they can afford the rent. Unfortunately, advertising/TV make people dream they can afford more than they really can and this is wrecking society. Sorry, must get off my soapbox.
Nick
Ha ha no stay on the soap box I’ll see you up there! Below is very useful, like I said before I think whatever systems Openrent have in place at the moment to filter tenants are pretty poor, as from what I can see is it doesn’t really do firstly what you are showing below which is affordability calculator, then I believe it should factor in other issues such as employed/self employed as this creates another headache. I just think it could be done in such a way where your budget and affordability are linked.
This is the Rightmove Passport thing that I think seems good but just doesn’t seem to have achieved much fanfare, but if it works how it was advertised would create less wasted time for all sides. I don’t think it’s there necessarily to be used instead of referencing but it provides everyone with at least a snapshot to see if there is going to be any point even referencing or applying. Which part of the world are you n by the way?
