A Great Blog

Landlord focused property matchmaker launches

2010-07-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

u-rooms ltd is set to spearhead the revolution in rental property market with launch of its website www.u-rooms.com. u-rooms will create and define an entirely new online customer experience in lettings market and aims to connect people with properties in an intuitive, easy and a refreshing way.
u-rooms is dedicated to making the process of renting and finding a property as simple and inspiring as possible. The website enables users to link the property hunt to their favourite social network site and search for homes or find a flatmate that matches their unique attributes and preferences.
u-rooms offers latest properties to rent across the UK from landlords, agents companies who develop and manage student apartments. Website also covers Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) as it enables landlords to find multiple tenants, who can connect with each other and with the landlord. The advanced personality matching software will reduce the number of arguments and fall outs as it will ensure that house-mates get the mix of personalities that they want.
The brainchild of Mike Peirce (former CTO of LastMinute.com) and Mark Davies (former Head of Online at the Unite Group), u-rooms is an easy-to-use website aimed at the growing rental market of students and young professionals. With their strong and proven track records in user experience and online marketing, founding members are confident that u-rooms will transform the lettings market in the UK.
Mike Peirce comments: “tenants, landlords and agents now have a place where they can connect, share best practice and create their own marketplace. Lettings market is the last bastion of the high street that hasn’t been disrupted as other verticals such as travel, retail and music have, and we aim to change that since we have experience in all of them”.
The team has secured contracts from numerous national lettings agents including Martin & Co’s who have agreed to list their properties on www.u-rooms.com. u-rooms has also partnered with STA travels to leverage the synergies between the two brands and give students a great deal on their travel as they search for their next home. Every new user who registers at u-rooms will get £50 STA travel voucher*.
So what are you waiting for? Visit www.u-roooms.com to find your perfect house or a tenant!
* Terms & Conditions Apply
- Ends -
For further information please contact Vibha Sridhar on 020 3178 8025 or mail at vibha@u-rooms.com

u-rooms Announces Partnership with Martin and Co

2010-06-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

u-rooms.com (www.u-rooms.com) and Martin & Co (www.martinco.com) are pleased to announce a partnership to list Martin & Co’s properties on www.u-rooms.com
This agreement will enable students and young professionals to benefit from Martin & Co’s abundant selection of national lettings in the local market through u-rooms.com empowering them to build a highly personalised search profile, that can be linked to popular social networking sites, to facilitate finding a perfect flat mate.
Mark Davies, Sales & Marketing Director of u-rooms, comments: “We are delighted to announce our agreement with Martin & Co. Both of our brands are committed to creating an exceptional customer experience and this relationship will ensure that users not only get a great online experience, but the overall process of renting is made as hassle free as possible”.
“Partnership with u-rooms will give us an opportunity to break down the corporate barriers and guarantee a window into the student, keyworker and 18-34 property markets. This is aligned with our overall growth strategy and we are excited about it” commented Mark Burdge, Sales and Marketing Director at Martin & Co.
About u-rooms
u-rooms.com, a new property portal tailored to students and young professionals, has been developed to meet the needs of this fast growing sector of rental property seekers. u-rooms.com offers services to young professionals and students that reflect their ‘always online’ lifestyle, enabling them to link their property hunt to their favourite social network site, to search for homes, flatmate or houseshare that matches their unique attributes and preferences.
For more information visit: www.u-rooms.com or contact vibha@u-rooms.com
About Martin & Co
Established in 1986 and launched as a franchise in 1995, Martin & Co now has over 175 franchised offices throughout the UK. In terms of geographical spread it’s already the largest lettings network.
Martin & Co have been recently shortlisted for a national award along with twenty-six local Martin & Co offices who have been shortlisted as one of the best letting agents in their region as part of at the Estate & Letting Agent Awards 2010 (ESTAS awards).
For more information visit: www.martinco.com
u-rooms.com, a new property portal tailored to students and young professionals, has been developed to meet the needs of this fast growing sector of rental property seekers. U-rooms.com offers services to young professionals and students that reflect their ‘always online’ lifestyle, enabling them to link their property hunt to their favourite social network site, to search for homes, flatmate or houseshare that matches their unique attributes and preferences.
For more information visit: www.u-rooms.com or contact vibha@u-rooms.com

An easy way to advertise your property

2010-05-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

The last thing landlords want is for their property to be empty and un-let. There are a few simple steps landlords can take to market their house or flats for rent to potential tenants.
Identify your rental market… Who are you trying to target? If you are after the student market you can list your house or flats for rent with the local university or local letting agents. Your property will need to meet certain safety and room size requirements, and students will prefer it if it has desks and beds.
However, you may also want to consider using one of the numerous on-line student accommodation websites. These have become and increasing popular way for landlords to advertise property. And, this type of website has the advantage of promoting property to a national, or even international, audience.
Another target market is young professionals who have move to an area because of work. Known as “inward locators” these individuals often don’t know much about the town or city they are moving to, so the best way to advertise property to this market is to list your flat or house on a property website.
Advertise your property online
It is thought that more than 85% of potential tenants looking for property use the internet to find accommodation – so it is vital that your property is advertised on-line. Ideally, you should list your property with a specialist website for your target market, as it will already be popular with the type of tenant you’re after.
You will also want a website that is large enough to offer a good selection of houses or flats for rent as potential tenants may not bother with websites with only a handful of properties on their books.
You should also be aware that the rental markets can be seasonal. This is especially true of students who will look for property during the summer months, as they prepare for the next academic year. So, be sure to list your property on-line at the most appropriate time of year.
By choosing a specific market and targeting them online landlords can easily market their property and get a steady supply of tenants.

Making life easier for the accidental landlords

2010-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

It may sound like an option for opportunity, but renting your property rather than selling poses a whole host of issues that need to be thought through. Many of those ‘accidental’ landlords are facing long and quite expensive vacant periods and are in need of a concise approach to the entire lifecycle of letting their property in order to reduce time of vacancy as well as cost associated to finding the ideal tenant.
The demand for rental properties is set to remain strong over the next few years as the aspiration of home ownerships drops from number one as well as the continuing difficulty in obtaining mortgage financing. With this in mind, renters are also becoming increasingly more demanding in their requirements as renting is no longer a short-term bridging option to buying a home. The property must be priced well, close to local points of interest and offer amenities that are no longer considered a luxury such as a fast internet connection. Additionally, landlords are increasingly marketing their properties to the wrong demographic with many leads being lost through marketing campaigns targeting the wrong sector.
A good example of demand and supply not connecting is in the student accommodation sector, where at the start of term there are 1000s of students looking for homes and 1000s of available student flats but neither can find one another.
u-rooms allows landlords, letting agents and property managers across the UK to list properties on its website and informs landlords on the legal requirements placed upon them. Landlords can detail the type of person they want to let to and tenants create profiles to share their unique requirements. Creating a market place where all parties can come together to improve consistency and to connect demand. u-rooms connects to Facebook and other social networks to communicate in a way that this demographic demands. Moreover, the website offers agents unique dashboards and tools to manage their listings and prospects and improve on enquiry to let ratios. In summary, it is about minimising the time of vacancy and ensuring the best match between property and prospective tenant.
Mike Peirce, CEO of u-rooms ltd comments: “tenants, landlords and agents now have a place where they can connect, share best practice and create their own marketplace. Agents are also pleased as they can help opportunity landlords to better understand the complexities of housing law and all parties can save time, money and hassle by connecting the right person with the right home”
For more information visit: u-rooms.com