Questions

About Property Site Review

How did Property Site Review come about?
This site came about as a result of research done by the author prior to advertising his own property online. With the sale of his house at stake he wanted to pick the service that would be most likely to sell his house and so started looking at all the available options. Once he had made his own decision he noticed that all the notes he had made could be useful to other, and so set about turning them into a website.

Who is the author?
The author of Property Site Review is just a private individual who happens to be involved in online selling for a living. He has, in the past, helped develop sites for estate agents, lettings agents and several services related to online property selling which has provided him with much of the knowledge that this site is based on.

How is the site funded?
If you can design websites yourself, the costs involved in setting up a site like this are surprisingly affordable. The site includes a small amount of advertising which provides enough income to cover the running costs.

What does the author hope to achieve through this site?
The site has two main goals: To help people make more informed decisions when choosing a private property selling service and to promote higher standards in the industry. By showing where some services could do better it is hoped that some of the sites will improve their packages and improve how they deal with important issues like spam prevention, secure payments and the proper handling of personal details.

About the review process

How are the scores determined?
Each property site is tested on a number of objective criteria and given a score or 1,2 or 3 points for each criteria. The total score achieved is then converted to a percentage and shown for each category of criteria and also as a total score.

What do the colours represent on the results page?
Red scored denote a score of under 40%, Amber under 60% and Green for 60% or more.

How were the criteria decided
Many of the criteria came from the authors original notes of things that he was looking for in a private property selling service. Others were added as a result of looking at all the available sites and considering what was important in helping you achieve a sale.

Will more criteria be added?
Yes! Unfortunately this takes time, but the current plan is to add more criteria as sites offer more services.

You don't just make up the scores then?
Certainly not. The idea from the outset was to be as objective as possible. If you aren't sure about any of the scores feel free to check them yourself as the full test criteria are included on the site.

So, which service did the author use in the end?
Plainly the author choose the one with the highest score!

Accuracy of Reviews

How often is the information updated?
It currently takes about 45 minutes to do each review - which means that it takes a considerable time to update all 45 sites. This means that, for the time being at least, each site will only be updated 2 or 3 times a year.

You've marked one of the sites incorrectly
Chances are that we marked it correctly, but the site has changed since. Property selling is a competitive market and any good site will be continually updating to offer their customers the best service. As we only update details periodically they can change between updates. If you notice such an error (or even a genuine mistake - it can happen!) please use the contact form to inform us about it.

You've missed a site
New sites are springing up with amazing frequency now and people rush to fill this new market. If you know about a site that lets you advertise your property privately then please use the contact form and we'll take a look.

Other Questions

Do the sites pay to be listed?
No. We include all sites for free.
Some of the sites offer a scheme where by they pay for introductions. We may participate in such schemes in the future, but this will not affect the objectivity of reviews in any way.

If some sites pay you later on how will you stay objective?
Simple. All scores are based on objective criteria that are published on the site and anyone can check these at any time (or even do the whole review themselves!). As we can't claim that Site A offers (for instance) virtual tours when they plainly don't this transparency ensures that our reviews remain objective.

I don't like the way that you reviewed my site and I want to set my solicitors/dog on you!
If we have made an error in your review, or if the details of your site/service have changed since we reviewed the site please let us know using the contact page. We will try to get the information updated as soon as it possible.
If however you simply don't like the fact that your site did not score as well as your competitors then we suggest you take a look at the review in full and use our criteria as a checklist for ways that you may improve your site. If you make any changes we will happily re-review your site and update the reviews accordingly.
If you really do not want to your site to benefit from the free targeted traffic that appearing here can generate let us know and we will remove the links to your site and the review. We do however reserve the right to explain the reasons for the omission.