Looking for a new rental property can be a daunting task; chances are good that if you are searching for a property online you may be looking to move to a new area of the country for work or family reasons. Even if you are not moving to a new area but are looking to move to another property in the same region it can still be a big task.
What methods are there to help with the search?
There are still the more traditional methods open to rental house hunters which will include the local papers (if you are in the area to receive one) or visiting the letting agents offices directly. These are still valuable methods but can be time consuming or impossible depending on your situation. To visit the local letting agents may take a whole day or even worse a whole weekend, depending on where you are living and where you are moving too, plus there are no guarantees that you will find what you are looking for. If you set out a weekend to look for a property it could be likely that a knee jerk reaction could happen if you become desperate to find a property during the time you are there.
One of the most important things to remember is that you need to take your time, don’t leave your hunt to the last minute, this could result in you having to accept a property that is not ideal for your requirements. It is important to remember the more time you leave for your search the more selective you can be when choosing your rental property.
How do the Property Portals/Directories Help Me
In days gone by the portal sites and directory sites that advertised property were often found to be frustrating to use, you may have found the house or flat that you would like to take a look at, make contact with the agents only for them to announce that the property had already gone and the site was out dated. The portals have now become much more sophisticated and are as up to date as the agents own websites. Taking feeds automatically from the agents own databases on a daily basis often the property found is current, OK, so you may be unlucky and have selected a property that had already gone that day, however more often than not this wont be the case.
The Available Information
The information on these sites is good and provide full property details, location maps, landlord requirements (ie/ no smoking, dss, pets) and even have the facility to download the property details so you can review your top selections in your own time offline. The rental market has always been a step behind the sales market when it comes to particulars and advertising documents, this now is not the case and you will find that rental property online is documented as well as sales. The good sites will also provide agent profile pages which outline their services and also give you a link through to their company website so you can check for further information.
Are Rentals Still Second Behind Sales
A lot of sites are focused on sales and estate agents and have the rentals as a side issue. The rentals market is an entirely different market and is aimed towards a different sector of people, it is important that the marketing online and offline is aimed towards the correct demographic group. There are specialist sites which are aimed purely towards the rental market of which it would make sense to use these services first. As always there are some better sites to use than others and it makes sense to research each one and check as many properties as you can (online) first.
Reviewing the Information be Prepared
As stated in the earlier part of this article remember to take your time in searching for property, decide on what is important for you. Don’t go into this blind; be prepared as you would if you were buying a house, a bad decision at the beginning of the process could mean you spend 6 months (usual minimum tenancy agreement length) in a house/flat or an area that you would rather not be in.
Rentright is a dedicated rental property portal site and there are a number of different articles which can assist you in making the right decision about your next rental property, along with a whole host of other interesting information.
View The Rentright Articles.
Chris Courtis is the co-founder of the Rentright Rental Property Portal and is dedicated to residential lettings within the UK.
Introduction
The Pocono Record is a small community newspaper with a website to match. For years, the newspaper focused entirely on operations - getting news stories onto the website as quickly as possible. As a result, the stories on the site were the same as those found in the newspaper, and there was little additional content to make the website unique. The website’s design and layout were, quite simply, awful, and the site did little to extend the newspaper’s brand.
PoconoRecord.com needed a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, this is not unusual. As companies focus on keeping their websites - and the rest of the business - running, the website’s design can become dated. Something else is always more important.When this happens, the website’s neglect becomes more and more evident. Over time, the need for a redesign, even a complete change, becomes more important and more complicated. In these cases, though, small businesses are forced to invest more time and money in the website than they realized would be necessary.
PoconoRecord.com, even though it is a small daily newspaper, has many of the same problems as small business websites.Like the Pocono Record, you have to work hard to keep your website current and operational; it is easy to neglect the strategic changes to your website that will yield substantial online growth. After a while, your current website, with a dated design, no longer serves your business. It may even detract from your image. When this happens, an overhaul is in order.
The Problem
PoconoRecord.com’s website design themes were neglected for years. From the website’s inception, more effort went into ensuring that content got onto the website than into improving the design, layout, and navigation. Operations were cumbersome and fraught with manual processes. With the emphasis on operations, continual improvement was not possible. As a result of the bias toward operation instead of growth, PoconoRecord.com did little to extend the newspaper’s brand. The website did not drive significant new subscriptions, and it did not generate a meaningful revenue stream.
The Pocono Record recognized the limitations of its website and decided that a substantial commitment was necessary to turn this ancillary cost into a revenue center for the newspaper. The website needed fresh content and a new layout. The latter, especially, was a salient problem. PoconoRecord.com was characterized by clumsy graphics and technology that had become obsolete at the turn of the century. PoconoRecord.com needed new graphics, increased functionality, and a more efficient layout. Ultimately, the newspaper decided that PoconoRecord.com needed to be enhanced to the point where it could make a sufficient contribution to the business.
Given the new role of PoconoRecord.com - from being a web version of the newspaper to a resource that could contribute to increased readership and revenue growth - the Pocono Record decided to make a substantial investment in the website. Despite the fact the Pocono Record had a competent internal technical staff, the newspaper simply did not have the resources to dedicate to a complete website overhaul. Consequently, the Pocono Record elected to make a large investment in its website, which entailed engaging outside help.
To complete the website overhaul quickly and without too large a price tag, the Pocono Record needed a plan. Pocono record developed a comprehensive blueprint for a fundamentally new website. The logo changed, the color palette and design theme were altered radically, and the functionality offered by the website changed. Instead of merely offering the stories that had appeared in the newspaper, the new PoconoRecord.com was designed and implemented to foster a sense of community with its readers. Visitors to the website now could comment on a story, leave feedback, and communicate with the newspaper and with other readers directly.
The newly redesigned PoconoRecord.com fundamentally changes the Pocono Record’s presence on the web. Instead of being a clumsy extension of the newspaper, PoconoRecord.com has positioned the newspaper company for growth. The newspaper can extend its current print readers into online consumers, and the company also can cultivate a new generation of news readers on the web. Further, as the newspaper industry continues its decline in the United States, PoconoRecord.com provides a strategic direction for the newspaper company, facilitating alternative growth.
Key Lessons for Small Businesses
Newspapers may not seem like a likely source of lessons for small businesses. They tend to be old-fashioned and resistant to change. New ideas are eschewed in favor of a zeal for tradition. Despite these industry tendencies, though, the website overhaul executed by the Pocono Record provides some substantial lessons for small businesses in any industry who have neglected the design and layout of their respective websites. While newspapers traditionally have offered little for small businesses to emulate, PoconoRecord.com is a refreshing exception.
Consider your website an extension of your company’s physical presence. If you meet with customers or clients in an office or store, you ensure that the appearance of your facility is aligned with the image of your business. You keep a clean waiting room or office, a well-organized store, and sufficient inventory. Further, you encourage your employees to dress appropriately. If you run a financial office, for example, you wear a suit. If you sell building maintenance services, on the other hand, your staff will dress differently - in a manner appropriate the operations of your company.
The Pocono Record had a substantial need for a new design - a fundamentally reconstructed website. The project required extensive work, as the Pocono Record had not invested significantly in its web presence for five years. Instead of continuing to invest as little as possible, the Pocono Record elected to invest heavily and make PoconoRecord.com an important part of the newspaper’s growth strategy. This is a model for other small businesses. Sometimes a large investment in web capabilities is necessary, especially if your website is important to your business. The cost of the project may seem overwhelming, but ultimately, the investment will pay off.
Copyright 2006 Daniel Scheff
Dan Scheff owns and operates a custom website design firm in Massachusetts.