Free service allows agents to advertise listings 'before leaving appraisals'

A new PropTech platform is providing a service to help agents market their new listings instantly across portals and social media.

BestAgent says it can help agents to advertise properties before they 'have even left an appraisal'.

The tool allows agents to publish new instructions to portals whilst on an appraisal, providing what it describes as a 'speed-to-market advantage'.

It also provides the opportunity to publish on a website and share across social media at the same time. 

For a single-branch agent, BestAgent says advertising a newly-instructed property could take 'seconds' using a few simple steps from a mobile device.

BestAgent says its platform, which is available online via a URL, has been built by a team with over 20 years of UK PropTech experience to cater to ‘mobile first’ and incorporates 'microservices' and 'serverless architecture'.

The tool is free to use, however agents 'pay for their usage' by giving BestAgent permission to access their data to analyse market trends and regional property prices. The company says it will make money from referral commissions when it introduces BestAgent users to its partners.

BestAgent is being supported by some well-known industry suppliers, including Legal4Landlords, Kremer Signs, The ValPal Network and BriefYourMarket.

"Even with BestAgent in its infancy, it is already a must-have for agents who simply want to get on with the job in hand," says Annemarie Proudfoot, BestAgent's sales manager.

"There’s more to come to ensure agents are fully compliant with GDPR, as it helps agents in sorting through contacts without the risk of auto-deletion.” 

Nat Daniels, chief executive of Angels Media, publisher of Estate Agent Today and the owner of The ValPal Network, adds: “We're always keen to hear about the latest market innovations and bring these to the attention of our 4,000+ members."

"BestAgent certainly fits the criteria of a PropTech solution which helps agents to improve the online marketing of their new instructions." 

BestAgent says that the PropTech movement has provided agents with the 'bells and whistles of technology', but that with so much innovation there is now a 'blur' and what agents really need are tools that help them to do business seamlessly and fuss-free.

Earlier this week, BestAgent announced that Claire Connor, formerly of Zoopla Property Group, has joined to oversee its marketing.

"I have seen every way there is to upload a property into a software platform for uploading to portals and websites, although I have never seen a faster or easier way to get a property online," says Connor, who left ZPG in December to start a family. 

"[BestAgent] effectively allows even the smallest agents to pay for their tech tools with their data." 

"That's really clever, because it allows small agents to gain value from their customer information, while at the same time as saving money on software they perhaps don't need." she says.