If you’re looking to buy a house in the UK the chances are that you’ll use Rightmove to help with your search. When I was looking to buy a new home after my divorce I spent a lot of time on the Rightmove website and mobile phone app. I spent so much time using Rightmove, I became a bit of a Rightmove expert; here are my tips on using Rightmove to help you find a new home.
Instant Property Alerts
When a new property meeting your search criteria comes on the market, you can get Rightmove to send alerts by email.
I recommend that you set the alerts to be ‘Instant’. This is because if a decent property comes on the market, it will soon get an offer and be taken off the market. You want to make sure that you’re one of the first people to view the property and be one of the first to make an offer.
On a number of occasions when I was looking for a new home, I saw a property appear on Rightmove, and within 24 hours, that status had changed to ‘Under Offer’ or ‘Sold STC’
Property Search Criteria
Once you have determined all your property requirements, set up a search in Rightmove and apply the appropriate filters.
Don’t set the filters to match your requirements exactly.
- If you have a maximum budget of £300,000 to buy a house, then set the filter with a range between £250,000 and £350,00.
- If you’re looking to buy a detached house, I recommend including other property types that you might consider, like a semi-detached or bungalow.
- If you’re looking for a property with 4 bedrooms, include properties with 3 bedrooms.
The reasons for not having strict search criteria are:
- Estate agents make mistakes when adding properties to Rightmove. On a number of occasions, I saw detached houses under bungalows or semi-detached.
- You might be pleasantly surprised by properties that don’t perfectly match your requirements. Initially, when I was looking for a new home, I was looking for a detached property, but the house I ended up buying was a semi-detached property that I spotted in the Rightmove search results.
- A property can be changed to meet your requirements. For example, a property listed as having three bedrooms might have a study room that can easily be made into a fourth bedroom or a loft space that can be converted into another bedroom or two.
Read The Property Description
Usually, the photos and floor plans were the first things I looked at on Rightmove. However, it is worth reading the detailed description of the property as well. The description often includes things that aren’t obvious from the photos and floor plan.
Save Favourite Properties
As you look through the Rightmove search results, save the properties you’re interested in.
To save a property, click the heart icon and select the favourites list to add the property.
One feature of the saved properties I used quite a bit was the notes section (found at the bottom of the property page). I mainly used the notes section to add notes about the property after viewing it. Noting what was good, what was bad, any additional information the estate agent gave me, etc.
Note: To save properties in Rightmove requires that an account is created
Draw A Search
When performing a search for a property in a particular area on Rightmove, it is usually done by postcode. But thanks to a nice feature called ‘Draw A Search’, it is possible to manually select the area on a map you’re interested in searching.
In the image below, I have drawn out a custom area (blue shading) using the Rightmove ‘Draw A Search’ tool. I can adjust the area if I want and can also select the ‘View Properties’ to see all the properties in the selected area.
Property Research Tool
Rightmove includes information about the local area in addition to that directly related to properties, which can be a useful research tool if you don’t know the area.
Rightmove often includes the following relevant information on the property’s main page:
- Council Tax Band
- Nearby Stations
- Nearby Schools
- Broadband Speeds
- Property Sale History
- Info On Nearby Recently Sold Similar Properties
Misleading Photos & Information
Estate agents upload all the photos and information to Rightmove. This means there can be a big difference in the quality of the photos and the reliability of the details.
Property Photos – Some estate agents have amazing cameras or amazing photographers who can make properties look much larger, brighter and generally more desirable than they are in real life. I’ve also seen some estate agents’ photos where the complete opposite is true.
Property Description & Information – The written description of properties on Rightmove is often a bit of a sales pitch, generally just bigging up the property.
What I often found most misleading on Rightmove was the approximate property size. Some of the properties I saw were nowhere near as large as the approximate size shown on Rightmove.
It’s worth noting that the total square footage \ square meter size seems to include outbuildings like a garage and home office, which can make a house seem bigger than it actually is.
Conclusion: Tips For Using Rightmove To Find A New Home
Rightmove is a really useful UK property portal for finding and managing properties you’re interested in. Hopefully, the tips I have shared will help you get the most out of it.
If you have any tips of your own, feel free to comment below or contact me, and I’ll update the article.
FAQ: Using Rightmove
How much does Rightmove cost?
Rightmove is totally free for home buyers to use. Just register and start searching for properties without any costs.
How does Rightmove make money?
Rightmove generates revenue primarily through subscription fees from estate agents, letting agents for property listings on its platform.
Rightmove also provides various business services to property professionals, including market data and valuation tools, and earns through commission-based consumer services like broadband comparisons and moving services.
Which estate agents are not on Rightmove?
Every estate agent in my local area had properties listed on Rightmove when I was looking for a property.
Which is better Zoopla or Rightmove?
As a buyer, I would recommend signing up for both Zoopla and Rightmove. I found that Rightmove had considerably more properties listed than Zoopla. However, Zoopla has better additional tools that Rightmove doesn’t. I also found that sometimes properties were listed on Zoopla before appearing on Rightmove.
If I had to use one or the other, I would say that Rightmove is better than Zoopla
Is Rightmove an estate agent?
No, Rightmove is not an estate agent. Rightmove is a property portal that estate agents use to list properties that they have available to sell or rent.
Rightmove makes it easy for buyers and renters to see all properties that fit their criteria in one place. Before Rightmove and similar property portals existed, buyers and renters would have to visit each individual estate agent to find a property.
What does guide price mean on Rightmove?
On Rightmove, a “guide price” indicates the seller’s or estate agent’s current expectation for the price at which a property might sell. It is not necessarily the price the property will sell for but serves as a ballpark figure to guide potential buyers.
What does under offer mean on Rightmove?
On Rightmove, when a property is listed as “under offer,” it indicates that a potential buyer has accepted an offer, but the sale has not yet been completed.
