Rent out your property without venturing down the high street

I was doing some research today - how I could rent out my property without going down to a high street estate agent.

Well, there are some options for those who want to keep it an exclusively off-street affair. This list goes down according to effort (top is most and bottom is least).

1. You could painstakingly upload your property to all the property portals like rightmove, findaproperty, zoopla, etc. Then you can take all the enquiries and then conduct all the viewings yourself. There are online services that help you produce all the right documents should you find a tenant. You'd save a lot of money (an estate agent's fee) but then it's a lot of work - you might even have to give up your work just to do this, hmmm...
2. There are some online agents that you give them a small (compared to what you'd give a high street agent) and they take all your property details and upload it to the portals for you. They even arrange the viewings for you - I don't think they conduct them, not for that price anyway. Still, it sounds like a lot of work for me. I think the hard work lies in the viewings, running around doing them is exhausting. Only slightly less effort than option 1.
3. Sign up with Property Leaders UK - they will call you and take the details you would give to an estate agent. They will find the agents for you. The agents will call you to confirm the details and the instruction. You don't have to visit the branch to sign contracts if they find you a tenant, they can post or email it all to you and you can post it back. So you didn't save yourself any money compared to the online agent way, but you saved yourself a lot of effort and you didn't pay more.

One thing I don't think people realise is that high street agents can be quite accommodating if they want your business and are happy to go out of their way to close the deal. The last time I rented my flat out I got the estate agent to move a sofa bed up 2 floors because it was needed to complete the deal. I also had estate agents offer to pick up keys from wherever I am so they can do viewings, offer to bring me the contract so I can sign it. After all, they do make a reasonable sum on commission.

In combination with Property Leaders UK, you pretty much don't have to leave your front door to let your property out, and you don't have to pay more than what you would if you went trawling down the high street. Actually, it could be less as we also negotiate lower rates of commission for you.