Genuine Review Of Online Estate Agent Visum (+ Discount Code)

1 out of 5 rating2 out of 5 rating3 out of 5 rating4 out of 5 rating5 out of 5 rating 1 people have rated Visum - The Online Sales & Lettings Agents | Leave your Comment / Review

Visum Online Agent Review

Quick fact: Visum.co.uk was the first ever online agent to launch (when they started off as LetMatch) – they initiated the entire concept of offering a dirt-cheap alternative to traditional high-street estate agency services. They have been around for donkeys. Not many people realise that.

Wait, another quick fact: Visum.co.uk was actually my very first affiliate partner. I started endorsing their online lettings services after using their tenant-find service over a freaking decade ago (that seems mental to me). The first iteration of this blog post was cobbled together in 2012, and here we are today, in 2024. Again, mental!

Yup, I may have just given away the punchline – that they’re a legit operation that has stood the test of time – but for those that want to know more about Visum and their online estate agency services, including the following, then I’ve got you covered:

  • How Visum’s cost-effective online Sales & Lettings service work
  • The Sales & Lettings packages Visum offers
  • Why you may want to consider using Visum to be your online estate or letting agent

In case you didn’t know, Visum is an Online Sales & Lettings agent!

Since I don’t know how far down the rabbit hole you’ve fallen (i.e. whether this is your first rodeo or whether you’re familiar and experienced with how online agents operate), I’d be remiss if I didn’t start by briefly clarifying the difference between Visum (and online agents in general) compared to traditional high-street agents. Otherwise, you might just end up in one gigantic and miserable mess.

It’s often the case that landlords and/or regular home sellers come across the alluringly cheap price-tags associated with online agents; in Visum’s case, they “Sell a property from £129 or let from £59”

That’s a captivating sales pitch for just about anyone, especially when you consider how much traditional high-street estate and letting charge. The comparison is night and day (we’re literally talking £1000’s), which is precisely why so many of us have transitioned to using online solutions, and why there’s a growing number of believers!

However, I still firmly believe there is a place for traditional high-street agents and their comparatively lofty fees.

Simply, if you want a managed and personal service and you’re willing to pay for it, I don’t believe you need to look further than a reputable local high-street service. However, if you’re willing to pay less for a scaled-back online solution, then using an online letting or sales agent like Visum is a no-brainer. Personally, ever since I made the transition from high-street to online I haven’t looked back, and I’ve saved thousands and thousands on agency fees in the process. Even though I was an early adopter, it still haunts me for not making the transition sooner.

If you’re not fully aware of how online agents work and how they differ from traditional high-street agents, I must insist that you:

How Visum’s cost-effective online sales and letting services work

Like every other Online Letting & Estate Agent, Visum will market your ‘vacant BTL property’ or ‘property for sale’ across the biggest property portals online, most notably Rightmove and Zoopla, giving your property the largest advertising reach and the best chance of creating enquiries from prospective buyers and tenants.

The process is simple:

  1. Register for an account.
  2. Choose a Sales or Lettings package that tickles your pickles.
  3. Add on any optional services that you may require e.g. Professional Photography, EPC etc.
  4. Upload your property details (including photos) onto Visum’s website, and they once you’re ready, they will then distribute the details across the UK’s most popular property portals.
  5. Once your property goes live (which is usually within 24 hours), watch the enquiries role in.
  6. Schedule viewings with applicants

Visum’s Customer Support

One of the biggest fears with using online agents is their customer service, or lack there of to be specific. The misconception is that one of the trade-offs you have to make when using an online agent is that you have to kiss customer-service goodbye, because you don’t have the luxury of being able to walk into a physical branch and talk to (or scream at) an agent.

Truth is, while you won’t receive a physical or in-person customer support experience, you will still have access to customer service. It would be silly if you didn’t.

Visum, in particular, manages email and telephone enquiries for your property every day of the week, all year round. On weekdays, their staff handles phone calls from 8am to 8pm, and their computer system takes over during out-of-hours periods.

So rest assured, you WILL be talking to real people if support is required.

Available packages

Online Letting Services

Visum has 3 letting packages available for landlords, the ‘Basic’, ‘Plus’ & ‘Premium’. Pick your poison…
Visum Lettings Pricing 2022

Online Sales Services

Visum also has 3 Sales packages available for vendors, ‘Basic’, ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’.

* There is a setup fee of £80 payable with the first block of marketing, so add £80 to the following prices…

Visum Sales Pricing 2022

Don’t forget… you have been given an FREE Exclusive £15 Discount code, which can be used on any of Visum’s packages! You won’t find this offer anywhere else!

I’ve already plonked the code slap-bang at the top of the blog post, but here it is again…

Important: Which package?

This is where people often make the wrong choice and end up bitterly disappointed.

For most people, the natural option would be to immediately eye-up the cheapest solutions, which is the ‘Basic’ for both Sales & lettings. However, I’d personally ignore the ‘Basic’ like the plague, because it doesn’t get your property listed on Rightmove, which in my opinion renders the package as useful as a chocolate teapot! Yes, the ‘Basic’ will get your property listed on Zoopla, which is a hugely popular portal and needs no introduction, but if I had to make a choice between where I want my property listed, it would be Rightmove every damn time. Historically, I’ve just had much better results on Rightmove, but that isn’t surprising, because it is the most popular UK property portal… by a long shot.

Rightmove is where the majority of enquiries are generated for most agents- it’s by far the best marketing tool because it’s so damn popular. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: I don’t care how you do it, Just Get Your Property On Rightmove if you want to find tenants quickly or sell your property quickly.

In my opinion, the price difference between the Basic & Plus is minimal when taking into consideration the difference in value, so it makes no sense to go cheap! Essentially, the Basic package is junk!

Positive Feedback / Happy Customers

Well, I ‘spose I’m Exhibit A, because I’ve used Visum’s service in the past and I was extremely satisfied. They did exactly what they said on the tin. No complaints.

But other than that, I have received plenty of positive feedback from fellow landlords in the past (ranging from newbie single property landlords to hardcore portfolio landlords that know the industry like the back of their toe, and they usually have high expectations), and many of them used Visum’s service off the back of this blog post. So that’s super cool.

Of course, you can never escape the permanently disgruntled loony-bin professional complainers that will literally kick-up a fuss about practically everything, but they’re far and few between.

I’d say 99% of the feedback has been positive.

Most recently, I randomly received an unprovoked email, from a landlord that was singing Visum’s praises. To quote,

Visum is one of the very best online agents for letting properties. I always use them when renting my houses in [location removed].

They give loads of space for photographs, descriptions etc and offer lots of other little sweeteners helping with the letting.

And incredibly reasonable prices.

As said, I’m not sure what provoked her to send me the glowing review, but it was appreciated, because it’s always reassuring to receive positive feedback for affiliate partners of mine. Needless to say, I’m not afraid to drop affiliate partners like a cold if the feedback starts to get a little frosty.

I don’t believe she was a paid stooge, or an internal member of staff deploying cheap tactics to hype up their own product (believe you me, I’ve caught out so many ex-affiliate partners trying to pull that shit on me, it’s ridiculous). I’ve worked with Visum for far too long, they know they don’t need to do that.

Make of that what you will.

So to conclude, Visum is legit, and they’ve received very positive feedback from many folk I’ve spoken to. So once again, let me prompt you to go ahead, sign-up for their online letting services or online sales services if you’re in the market.

Why choose Visum to be your estate or letting agent?

Visum is one of about a thousand Online Agents to choose from, that offer online property sales & online lettings services. Over the recent years, online agents have been emerging thick and fast, like hairs sprouting from my nan’s facial moles, so the confusion of which one to use isn’t terribly surprising.

I can’t tell you which online agent is definitively the best, and that’s the truth. What I can tell is that I have personally used Visum’s services, and I have worked with them for over a decade, and based on that experience, I have no reservations in wholeheartedly recommending them.

Out of interest though, I did ask the head-honcho at Visum why they think the punters’ should use their service. Here’s what he had to say:

Time tested and proven: We were the world’s first online agent: starting way back in 2004 and innovating constantly since then. Every other online agent out there has copied our model to a greater or lesser degree, knowingly or otherwise. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery then we’re flattered out!

We are the only “pay as you go” agent: our unique pricing model offers more savings versus traditional agent fees (and other online agents’ fees too) the more quickly your property sells. Our customers tend to be switched on and motivated to do their research, which is one of the reasons why we sell properties in less than half the national average time.

We never close: our advanced systems mean we can handle enquiries 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so if someone enquires about your property at 3am on Christmas morning then we’ll let you know about it. don’t worry – we won’t phone you up at that time, we’ll send a discreet text and email!

Extreme flexibility: We don’t have a one size fits all package that forces you to pay for extras that you don’t want. Our menu pricing allows you to hand as much or as little of the work of letting or selling your property over to us as you wish to.

Total control 24/7: Tweak your advert in real time, manage enquiries, purchase add ons and more using our custom built, simple to use admin platform. Managing your property listing has never been easier.

Help when you need it: Our directors are extremely experienced letting and estate agents, and also private landlords with twenty years of experience too. There isn’t much we haven’t seen, so if you’re stuck with something then drop us a line.

Reassurance and peace of mind: We’re members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme and adhere to their code of conduct, giving you powers of redress in the extremely unlikely event of a dispute.

Right, I’m done.

Regardless of your decision to use Visum or explore other options, I hope this has been informative and has addressed some of your questions.

If you do decide to use their service, please feel free to share your experience! I’d love to hear about it, good or absolutely shockingly dog-shit.

Landlord out xo

8 Join the Conversation...

1 out of 5 rating2 out of 5 rating3 out of 5 rating4 out of 5 rating5 out of 5 rating1 people have rated their experience with Visum - The Online Sales & Lettings Agents.5 out of 5 Stars.Leave your Comment / Review
Guest Avatar
Claire 10th May, 2017 @ 10:42

Please can you advise if Landlords are vetted? Also what is the stance with requesting cash deposits.

1
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Benji 10th May, 2017 @ 12:11 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

@Claire,

They are vetted in that their ID and proof of ownership is checked.
Which is as much or more than a high street letting agent would do.

Cash deposits are up to the landlord and tenant to negotiate between them- but without very good reason, I'd be very wary handing over or taking cash whether landlord, tenant or letting agent.

Used Visum for years and very happy with their service.

2
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Benji 10th May, 2017 @ 12:14 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Only real problem I have with online agents is they are seen as a direct way for tenants with 'issues' to make contact direct with landlords. My checks and criteria are a lot more stringent than lettings agents and it is time consuming to weed them out. I would like to see the option of a very basic screening service from Visum.

3
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Mark 10th May, 2017 @ 12:28

Hi Claire,

I work for Visum. Yes, all landlords are vetted - we take a copy of a valid form of ID (generally a passport or driving licence).

We don't take cash payments, but some of our client landlords do, so if it's a situation where a tenant is dealing directly with the landlord (a 'let only' situation rather than a property managed by us) then the landlord may choose to take a cash payment.

Kind regards,

Mark.

4
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jan 19th August, 2019 @ 16:50

I have used visum but unfortunately they do not keep up the latest changes.

5
The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 19th August, 2019 @ 17:26

@Jan
What changes are you talking about specifically? Can you provide an example, please?

6
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Jon G 29th October, 2021 @ 15:51

Found Visum to be professional and responsive.
Shame the discount code doesn't work as it's time to use them again!

7
The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 31st October, 2021 @ 11:08

Hi Jon,

I think the issue is that it only works once per user/property. You could try creating another account, and it may work then... :)

In any case, thanks for the feedback regarding their service, good to know!

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