About our sources
A thousand websites.
But how many homes?
A big number sounds reassuring, especially if you don't want to miss a home. Yet a list of web addresses does not tell you how many different rental homes are behind it.
What you come across along the way
The promise in pictures.
Big source counts. Exact counters. Sometimes even the promise that you will always be first. These are examples of how services present what they offer.
A big number should come with answers.
What is being counted? How many different homes does it add up to? What does a fast alert mean for your reply? The promise is where those questions start, not the answer.
“Always be the first to reply”
Clippings from promotional copy. The numbers and promises shown belong to the providers concerned.
What counts?
More addresses do not
automatically mean more homes.
An estate agent can have its own website, be on a property portal and share listings on Instagram as well. Count those places separately and the list of sources gets longer. The number of different homes does not have to grow with it.
That is why we look beyond the web address. Are there actually homes for rent? Can they be found elsewhere too? Does this source add anything for someone looking for a home?
One home on ten sites is still one home. One with an excellent PR department, mind you.
What we came across
We have a list like that too.
We went through it.
Well over a thousand entries. There were useful rental sites among them, but also referrals to platforms already on the list, websites with only homes for sale and sites that no longer worked.
We even came across a domain that had since become a casino site. Exciting as well, but it won't get you a viewing.
In our check we saw homes for rent at about six in ten entries. Two dropped out. Two needed a closer look. That is what we found at the time of checking; it says nothing about how many homes are available today.
So a long list is a start. The value lies in checking, following and making it useful.
What it comes down to
You don't need to know every site.
You want to know when something comes up.
Even a few hundred providers are more than you can keep up with yourself all day. The tricky part is that you don't know when something new will appear. That is where OpenSein helps.
We do not count social media as extra sources. In our check, what was shared there had usually appeared earlier with a provider or on a platform. We would rather follow where the listings come from.
On our status page we show how many requests our system makes per day. That is how we make the activity of our technology visible. The number of requests is not a count of unique homes.
An alert that is actually useful to you.
That is what we build OpenSein for.
