On The Market Property Portal Review

Many people have heard about OTM or On The Market, as the relatively new contender to take on the big two – namely Rightmove and the Zoopla property group.

What is the difference about OTM, why has it taken a foothold in the market and why is it being talked about? These questions and more will be answered in this educational talk.

On The Market Property Portal Review

Full transcript below:

Alex: We are discussing the property portals or the property search engines I’m sure you will have all heard of, Rightmove and Zoopla which are the UK’s most well-known, high-profile property search portals. However, there is a relatively new contender in town and its called On The Market. Now On The Market, this was launched in January 2015 by a consortium of estate agents and they have he sole aim to wrestle control from the two market leaders, Rightmove and Zoopla, by only allowing estate agents who wish to use their site to list their properties on only one other major competitor’s portal. So, in other words for a agent to advertise on On The Market, they could only then advertise on either Rightmove or Zoopla and at the time many agents gave up Zoopla. The other significant difference about On The Market is that it’s only full-time office-based estate agents that are allowed to list their properties. So, no online agents and no private listings so that’s a bit more unusual and being owned and run by estate agents their aim is to be in control of their website presence and to do this at a more modest cost then Rightmove, which is quite honestly viewed by many agents as having them over a barrel due to the very high monthly costs and arguably in turn this is passed on to you the consumer. Now, as this is an agency-owned website, the On The Market logo appears across the agents marketing materials and the offices, which is probably why you’ve seen it. Now, together with a lot of their TV advertising campaigns the site has speed and simplicity on its side. Of course, no adverts to confuse you and it’s a lot clearer on the eye. The other significant factor is that some agents who subscribe release their properties first onto On The Market and that is before the likes of Rightmove. So therefore, if you’re looking to stay ahead of the competition, which we all are when we’re buying this is a very lucrative option. Greater competition within this marketplace can only mean better news for you the consumer or homeowner as lower costs will hopefully in due course be passed on to you. The greater the online exposure when selling the better off you’re going to be. Time will tell of course if On The Market proves to be the significant challenger to Rightmove and Zoopla but so far, it’s arguable made solid ground in one of the most competitive estate agency related sectors.