Property section

I have a flat to rent, wondered what section it should go in? Commercial? or a new section?
Many thanks
Ed

Could I ask you pop this in commercial for the time being while I discuss with the team.

From my own perspective I think Rightmove and Zoopla are probably better geared up for property listings.

Thanks Chris. Will do. I know the East Dulwich forum has quite an active ‘Residential Property’ area for people requesting accommodation and landlords offering to rent. For me it seems a bit more personal finding a Tennant on a forum who is obviously interested in the area rather than faceless property site. I’m new to this though

“Property” could make a really good candidate for an opt-in category, for people that are specifically looking to buy/sell/let/rent. What do you reckon, @anon64893700, @RachaelDunlop and @thirstforwine ?

I’m happy for us to have a property section. And happy for private LOCAL landlords and sellers to advertise. Can we make it a requirement that they get verified, to make sure they are local residents and not estate agents or absentee landlords? It might be a good idea in fact for anyone offering things for sale.

Good thinking - we need to have clear ground rules for this category. If it’s an opt-in category, we can enforce these ground rules by “opting out” anyone that breaks them

Surely this isn’t a section of its own? More “offered /wanted”
It’s a nice idea to somehow be a forum based property agent which is what it would become if it became popular, but not sure it demands it’s own section at this stage.

Again, an opt in category isn’t really suitable for out of area folk to stumble across when looking for somewhere to live locally.

I’d argue that if out-of-area folk are looking to stumble on property, then Rightmove is a better place for doing so. But if out-of-area folk are looking to genuinely connect with our community first, as @hareandgoose did last week, then they’ll find their way to the opt-in “property” category (note that I promote opt-in categories in the welcome PM, the pinned welcome topic and in our regular weekly updates).

Bear in mind that every topic in the “wanted/offered” category is public and therefore imposes a “reading cost” on all forum visitors on their small homepage.

I’d like the choice whether I see property requests on my homepage which is why I’d vote for it to be an opt-in category.

The lack of flexibility about property ads was one of the reasons I stopped using TOSS. I have done advertising in the East Dulwich forum as a result (which has proved very successful) but its hardly local.

The section could also cater for people looking for flat mates

I think that would be excellent.

I’d vote to keep it an open category and see how it goes. If there is a lot of activity and it is hogging people’s feed, we can look at changing it to opt-in then.

That’s a good idea. Perhaps let’s start that way, and see how it goes?

And, in fact, if it’s an individual category I’ll be able to mute it when I’m not looking for property.

Putting it to the vote:

Strong support for creating a “Property” category (82% of voters support this).

19% of voters say it should be opt-in and 63% say it should be public.

So I have created a new category and made it public, albeit with some controls on posting:

• Posts in this category will be visible to all (unless you choose to mute the category).
• Only trust-level-2 and above will be able to create topics there. Verified members are trust-level-3 so they’ll be able to create topics.
• Everyone will be able to reply to topics.

The rules around private property listings are pinned using an intro topic for the category:

https://se23.life/t/about-the-property-category/893

Love how fast things move here and democratic it is. Quick question how do you check your own trust level?

Hi @Ed.H - you are currently trust-level-1. If you continue using the site, spending time reading and replying, and getting positive feedback, the site will automatically raise you to trust-level-2 in time.

Alternatively, I can electronically verify you. In fact I just sent a mail to your address at whatwhat.co.uk - if I get a reply to this I’ll verify your account and you’ll be boosted to trust-level-3 straight away.

Thanks @anon5422159 woo verified!