Rightmove, Primelocation, FindaProperty

Primelocation.com is one of the oldest property sites in the UK. It was launched back in 2001 by a collective of over 200 independent estate agents who saw that the future of real estate would be in the internet. Over the years it has become one of the most visited property listings sites in the UK with over 1.5 million visits per month and over 3,000 contributing agents.The website itself is rather old fashioned and basic. The colour scheme is not very imaginative and the the bright, moving adverts are a distracting eye sore. However, the basic functionality is straightforward and a regular web user will recognise the standard ‘form style’ search common to property sites.An interesting feature (although rather hidden away) is the keyword search. Along with the traditional drop-down menus for price and bedrooms is free form box which allows you to search for homes which have, for example, a ’swimming pool’ or ‘off street parking’. This is a primitive ancestor to the up and coming trend of ‘tagging’ items with their features allowing them to be found easily. It would have been nice to see this functionality expanded to help home buyers to find their ideal property.Like the rest of the site, the map interface is starting to show its age. In fact, it did not work at all in this reviewer’s web browser. They include a map of the London underground which is great for Londoners who are looking to be close to a particular tube station.Primelocation.com are the third largest property portal on the web. This allows them to present a very large number of properties. It is a good place to look for your home, although be prepared to put in the time to deal with the antiquated search interface. Their listings are mainly concentrated in London, the South and the Midlands so if you are not looking in these areas you might have more luck elsewhere.