Portal, agency or your own channel
The three do not do the same job and they do not rule each other out. This page compares what each one controls, without declaring a winner: almost every development that sells well uses all three at once.
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None of the three is a mistake
A portal puts your development in front of people who are already looking for a home. A brand new website does not replace that in its first month, and anyone who says otherwise is selling you something.
An estate agency with a book of foreign buyers brings viewings no advert brings, because it brings trust and it brings language. A website does not replace that either.
The question is not which of the three is best. It is whether your development exists anywhere that belongs to you, or only inside channels you can lose the day their terms change.
What each channel controls
The boxes do not measure quality or results: they measure control. Who decides what gets published, who receives the data, and what is left when the channel is switched off.
| Portal | Agency | Own channel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visibility | PortalYes | AgencyYes | Own channelYes |
| Buyers already searching | PortalYes | AgencyYes | Own channelNo |
| Direct relationship with the buyer | Portalvariable | Agencyvariable | Own channelYes |
| Domain in your name | PortalNo | AgencyNo | Own channelYes |
| Data behind each enquiry | Portalvariable | Agencyvariable | Own channelYes |
| Control of the content | Portallimited | Agencyvariable | Own channelYes |
| Search visibility that accumulates | Portallimited | Agencyvariable | Own channelYes |
| Something left when the development sells out | PortalNo | AgencyNo | Own channelYes |
The «variable» boxes are not a dodge: they depend on what you signed with each portal and each agency. Before deciding anything, those contracts are worth reading.
What does selling this development cost you today?
Type in your numbers and the cost comes out in order. We calculate no saving and there is not one figure of ours in here: only yours.
Value of the development
No dataIntermediation cost
No dataCost per unit
No dataAgainst the value of the development
No dataTotal cost of selling
No dataThis tool does not replace a commercial analysis: it puts the figures you already have in order so they can be compared with other channels. It calculates no saving, promises no result, and nothing you type here leaves your browser.
What an own channel solves, and what it does not
It solves
- That the development exists online under its own name and domain
- That a German buyer finds it written in German
- That every enquiry arrives knowing where it came from
- That the legally required information is published where it can be read
- That what was built stays yours once the development sells out
It does not solve
- Bringing visits in the first month with no advertising spend
- Replacing an agency book of buyers
- Selling without a sales team to answer the enquiries
- Making up for a price that is off the market
- Bringing the completion date forward
This is not about removing channels, it is about not depending on one
A development that sells well through a portal carries on selling well through that portal. What changes, once there is an own channel, is that it stops being the only place the development exists.
And a second thing changes, less visible: when it is over, the domain, the copy, the languages and the enquiry history are still there. The next development does not start from zero.
What the infrastructure is made of
Each piece of the own channel, explained on its own page.
Digital marketing of new build
The full engagement, what it contains and the order it is built in.
The development website
What a development website that works contains, and whose name the domain is in.
Reaching international buyers
How a foreign buyer arrives, and how the enquiry is tied to its source.
International property marketing
Why translating the site is not the same as selling abroad.
What we are usually asked here
Do we have to drop the portals?
No. The question is not whether to drop them, but whether they are the only place your development exists.
And the agencies?
The same. An own channel does not compete with an agency: it gives that agency a site to send its client to, in the client language.
How long before an own channel contributes anything?
The paid side brings enquiries as soon as it is switched on. The search side takes months and no date can be promised: it depends on the competition in each town and in each language.
What happens when the development sells out?
The domain, the copy, the languages and the enquiry history are still there, and they serve the next one.
Can the three channels coexist?
That is the normal case, and the one we recommend. The own channel is built to add, and it finally lets you see how much each one brings.
Let us look at how your development is sold today
With the project name and the town we can see where it appears today, who advertises it and what is missing.
15 minutes · No commitment