Residential People – the free-to-list property portal

We established Residential People after constantly hearing about the growing costs of some of the existing portals. During our initial research, it transpired that it was not just a UK problem but an international one with agents in the UAE, India etc all saying the same things. We recognised that a privately owned company could, therefore, come in and disrupt the current status quo with a free listings model. We want agents to list with us and receive enquiries free of charge as our model is not built on charging agents simply to list.

How could we be so naïve to think we could possibly succeed with the two biggest portals already so dominant?

It’s no secret that the UK property sector is dominated by Rightmove, Zoopla and to a lesser extent, OnTheMarket. While we admire their market dominance, we aren’t simply a copycat looking to ride their coattails. Unlike the aforementioned established portals, our model is well and truly global with AI and property data insights in each country coming soon.

At Residential People we are targeting both emerging and established markets alike, so alongside the UK, we are currently operating across South Africa and India, as well as the UAE, and in fact despite our brand infancy, we are already the third biggest portal in the region in terms of listings.

 Considering the upcoming ban on tenant fees in the UK, what agent wouldn’t want to reduce their monthly outgoings with free listings?”

On the face of it, the prospect of ‘free listings’ is an easy sell, after all, considering the upcoming ban on tenant fees in the UK, what agent wouldn’t want to reduce their monthly outgoings with free listings? especially at a time when so many agencies are struggling with difficult times due to the combination of the upcoming Tenant Fees Act and established portals constantly raising their fees.

As a result, we were always convinced that agents would support us in our mission to deliver a globally recognised free to list platform. If you think about it if we are successful, then agents in return will be successful. They will have another outlet for marketing their properties at no cost, so really, what is their not to like?

How did we know that agents would like the concept?

We have a background in the property industry having previously been involved in finance and property for over 30 years, as a result, I was in no doubt that agents would buy into the concept and give us their support. Ultimately, we were proven right as we have registered over 1,600 sales and lettings agents in the last few months alone. With Residential People being completely free to list our ‘sell’ to agents has been simple, we are free – so whether you generate one lead or 40 leads per month, you have no outgoing monthly costs to worry about.

What’s the catch – how do you make money?

When we first set out we wanted to build something that was going to add real value to agents and anyone else involved in the property market. So while we offer free listings to every agent on board, the difference with us is that agents have a choice to take advantage of our optional marketing features to help market their properties and increase their exposure. These features are completely optional but offer a fantastic marketing suite including real-time video generation which we believe will help agents to boost their exposure on social media and Google rankings. In addition to this, we also offer featured advertising if they want their listings to stand out a lot more on our site.

What’s unique about you as a property portal?

Our USP is simple. Every agent complains about the rising costs of property portals, Residential People is a free to list global property portal that helps to eliminate some of the expenses agencies face.

One of our key selling points is that we are international. It is a fact that thousands of properties -especially commercial and new build apartments- in certain areas are not being bought by locals but international buyers. In the UAE for example after only a few months, we have a 75% market share of all properties and our audience is intrinsically linked to our UK site.

In addition, we also have marketing tools at a very competitive rate enabling an agent to reach out to a far greater audience and make them stand out from their competitors; this includes being able to generate great property brochures, individual microsites for properties and automatically generated videos.

Do you only do residential property?

No, we also have another portal called Commercial People that focuses on commercial properties, and just like Residential People, it is completely free to list as well. 

Extra prominence on our site.

Advertising your agency and featured properties is true value for money, and can ensure you really get a bang for your buck. Unlike other platforms, we allow an agent a whole year of advertising not just on the top of the first page, but all the property pages and category pages of a chosen search area. Once you have the advert, it will be exclusively yours and locked out for a year. Other portals may charge weekly, monthly and even have you as a carousel with other agents on the same page!

Let’s look at the cold light of day and let me ask you why would you not list with us?

Ask yourself if you were working with a Listed company on the stock exchange are prices likely to go up or down. What makes a portal is the agents that support it. We want to support you with our free listings model, and if you the agents support us we will show you what can be achieved in the next 12 months and we will show you a new dawn.

Now watch the Residential People two-minute demo video