Estate Agency Tools
Floorplans - In-house or Outsource?
Virtual Tours - How well do they work?
Digital Location Maps
Overseas property
Marketing ideas & products
Floorplans - In-house or Outsource?
Floorplans can be a useful addition to property particulars and in addition to helping applicants visualise layout, they also help your colleagues who may not have seen the property, describe it with more confidence. There are many different ways to create floorplans and numerous software programmes available for the purpose. In short, the options are: -
In House
Completely outsource the floorplans to a specialist provider such as E-House www.ehouse.co.uk, www.photoplan.co.uk, contact the owner, visit, then email you the floorplan in electronic format. Prices around £50.00 to £70.00 per floorplan.
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Virtual Tours - How well do they work?
Virtual Tours have been around for over seven years and there are many providers of Virtual Tour software and services. Virtual tours can be excellent for companies dealing with very large properties, or whose client base is mainly overseas but using them purely for impact is often not very cost/time-efficient and many agents regard them as 'old-hat' now. Here are some providers that serve the Estate Agency sector: -
www.smartpanorama.co.uk - VR Tour software providers
www.ipix.com - VR Tour software providers
www.easypano.co.uk - VR Tour software providers
www.ehouse.co.uk - VR Tour outsourcing company
www.property-review.co.uk - VR Tour outsourcing company
www.villavideo.com - Streaming videos of properties
www.0-360.com - One-Shot Panoramas!
Often it is better to invest in a good quality digital camera with a wide angle lens and take higher quality still photographs. See our article on cameras at: - www.technicweb.com/article.asp?id=6
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Digital Location Maps
Location maps of each property are very popular with applicants and most websites we create include this feature, with the actual maps being provided by companies specializing in mapping services. There are a number of companies that provide digital location maps that indicate the location of each property based on the full postcode. The standard service is provided free of charge by the mapping companies because they derive revenue from advertisers whose advertisements are shown each time a map is displayed. (For a demonstration please visit www.multimap.com enter a postcode where indicated)
The mapping companies also provide a premium service which allows agents to display maps without the surrounding adverts however, they charge you each time anyone views a map! Prices are approximately 2.5 pence per map view so most of our clients opt for the free advert-sponsored map service.
If you require high quality maps on your property details there is an excellent service provided by a company called StreetsAhead www.emapsite.com/streetsahead region you wish to cover but generally range between £300.00 and £400.00 per year for an unlimited licence.
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Overseas property
Technicweb can provide an overseas property module that enables you, or an overseas partner to add properties directly into your website. It can also add attachments to any listing such as a PDF of the developer’s brochure.
This works in a similar way to the main property listing system, whereby you (or an overseas partner) upload the properties & photos to your site. We then create a 'Home' page specifically for your overseas section and your properties can also be searched in a similar way to your UK website.
In time, overseas property companies will get their act together and realize the potential UK Estate Agents’ websites present as distribution outlets. We are currently in discussion with a number of large overseas agents to see if we can set up a professional data portal system for our UK Estate Agency clients to place on their websites. We hope that this will include major property selections from Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Turkey, France and some emerging countries like Bulgaria.
The aim is a ‘white label’ solution. You would have thousands of overseas properties searchable from your website and as far as your customers could see; all properties would be direct White Estates instructions. All enquiries would come through your agency in the first instance so you could track their progress.
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Marketing ideas & products
Is your corporate identity looking a little tired? Technicweb works closely in conjunction with corporate branding experts Cream & Co www.creamgroup.co.uk property sector. Everything from logo design to a full glossy magazine, mailers, corporate brochures, advert designs, distribution and much more. Your customers may never look at you the same way again!
Another very useful resource is Management Consultants Adam J Walker associates who specialise in training Estate Agents - www.adamjwalker.co.uk
House Price Data
It is now possible via the Internet to obtain the selling price of every property sold since the year 2000, courtesy of H M Landregistry's database. There are a number of companies providing this service and one of the most popular sites is www.nethouseprices.com the on-screen instructions.
It is also now possible to obtain a copy of the title deeds and boundary plan of any registered property directly from Land Registry for just £4.00. Go to www.landreigsteronline.gov.uk and click 'property enquiry'
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Virtual Tours - How well do they work?
Digital Location Maps
Overseas property
Marketing ideas & products
Floorplans - In-house or Outsource?Floorplans can be a useful addition to property particulars and in addition to helping applicants visualise layout, they also help your colleagues who may not have seen the property, describe it with more confidence. There are many different ways to create floorplans and numerous software programmes available for the purpose. In short, the options are: -
In House
- Create the Floorplan on-site using a hand-held computer (called a PDA) installed with floorplan software. Price from around £400.00 for the software and £350.00 for a PDA. See www.themobileagent.com
- Sketch the floorplan on-site using graph paper then fax the sketch to a floorplan drawing specialist e.g www.floorplanet.com www.fastplan.co.uk professionally then email it back to you. Prices around £10.00 to £20.00 per floorplan.
- Sketch the floorplan on-site using graph paper then redraw it yourself using software on your office PC. See www.smartdraw.com www.metropix.co.uk
Completely outsource the floorplans to a specialist provider such as E-House www.ehouse.co.uk, www.photoplan.co.uk, contact the owner, visit, then email you the floorplan in electronic format. Prices around £50.00 to £70.00 per floorplan.
Back to top
Virtual Tours - How well do they work?Virtual Tours have been around for over seven years and there are many providers of Virtual Tour software and services. Virtual tours can be excellent for companies dealing with very large properties, or whose client base is mainly overseas but using them purely for impact is often not very cost/time-efficient and many agents regard them as 'old-hat' now. Here are some providers that serve the Estate Agency sector: -
www.smartpanorama.co.uk - VR Tour software providers
www.ipix.com - VR Tour software providers
www.easypano.co.uk - VR Tour software providers
www.ehouse.co.uk - VR Tour outsourcing company
www.property-review.co.uk - VR Tour outsourcing company
www.villavideo.com - Streaming videos of properties
www.0-360.com - One-Shot Panoramas!
Often it is better to invest in a good quality digital camera with a wide angle lens and take higher quality still photographs. See our article on cameras at: - www.technicweb.com/article.asp?id=6
Back to top
Digital Location MapsLocation maps of each property are very popular with applicants and most websites we create include this feature, with the actual maps being provided by companies specializing in mapping services. There are a number of companies that provide digital location maps that indicate the location of each property based on the full postcode. The standard service is provided free of charge by the mapping companies because they derive revenue from advertisers whose advertisements are shown each time a map is displayed. (For a demonstration please visit www.multimap.com enter a postcode where indicated)
The mapping companies also provide a premium service which allows agents to display maps without the surrounding adverts however, they charge you each time anyone views a map! Prices are approximately 2.5 pence per map view so most of our clients opt for the free advert-sponsored map service.
If you require high quality maps on your property details there is an excellent service provided by a company called StreetsAhead www.emapsite.com/streetsahead region you wish to cover but generally range between £300.00 and £400.00 per year for an unlimited licence.
Back to top
Overseas propertyTechnicweb can provide an overseas property module that enables you, or an overseas partner to add properties directly into your website. It can also add attachments to any listing such as a PDF of the developer’s brochure.
This works in a similar way to the main property listing system, whereby you (or an overseas partner) upload the properties & photos to your site. We then create a 'Home' page specifically for your overseas section and your properties can also be searched in a similar way to your UK website.
In time, overseas property companies will get their act together and realize the potential UK Estate Agents’ websites present as distribution outlets. We are currently in discussion with a number of large overseas agents to see if we can set up a professional data portal system for our UK Estate Agency clients to place on their websites. We hope that this will include major property selections from Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Turkey, France and some emerging countries like Bulgaria.
The aim is a ‘white label’ solution. You would have thousands of overseas properties searchable from your website and as far as your customers could see; all properties would be direct White Estates instructions. All enquiries would come through your agency in the first instance so you could track their progress.
Back to top
Marketing ideas & productsIs your corporate identity looking a little tired? Technicweb works closely in conjunction with corporate branding experts Cream & Co www.creamgroup.co.uk property sector. Everything from logo design to a full glossy magazine, mailers, corporate brochures, advert designs, distribution and much more. Your customers may never look at you the same way again!
Another very useful resource is Management Consultants Adam J Walker associates who specialise in training Estate Agents - www.adamjwalker.co.uk
House Price Data
It is now possible via the Internet to obtain the selling price of every property sold since the year 2000, courtesy of H M Landregistry's database. There are a number of companies providing this service and one of the most popular sites is www.nethouseprices.com the on-screen instructions.
It is also now possible to obtain a copy of the title deeds and boundary plan of any registered property directly from Land Registry for just £4.00. Go to www.landreigsteronline.gov.uk and click 'property enquiry'
Back to top
