The internet has undoubtedly revolutionized the way that property is bought, sold and leased all over the world. While in the past potential renters and buyers would pore over the property supplements, forced by the brevity of the estate agent's blurb and the blurriness of accompanying photographs to travel to the flat in question, today it is possible to make a reasonably informed decision to rent without ever setting foot in the advertised apartment.
This seismic shift in the world of real estate, which chiefly affects prospective buyers and leasers, has been informed fundamentally by the effulgent popularity of blogs and internet message boards as means by which to disseminate information. In the past, the advertisement of real estate was solely the province of the estate agent. Now, however, with property blogs and message boards littering every corner of cyberspace, anyone can post reviews of flats to rent.
This, it might appear, is to the advantage of the prospective property buyer. While advertisements written by estate agents with a vested interest in the sale or lease of property may be prone to sugar-coating and bias, blogs typed up by other prospective buyers and ex-leasers are, some might say, more likely to present a well-rounded and accurate picture of the apartment at hand.
In this sense, it seems that the property review, written up by 'ordinary' real estate enthusiasts, is something of a godsend to the flat hunter, and undoubtedly property blogs giving no-nonsense breakdowns of flats to rent do come in handy when a property advertisement is a little on the vague side or seems too good to be true.
However, flat seekers tempted to take bloggers' comments absolutely to heart should not do so unwarned. Remember that there is, ostensibly, no such thing as an objective review. Those who post pieces on message boards might not be motivated by the prospect of commission, but they nevertheless write according to individual criteria of personal taste.
In the past, prospective leasers were driven to check out their potential homes by the inadequacy of photographic representation and by the scant and selective nature of details posted in estate agent'’ windows, and in truth, little has changed. Today, there is more information available, there are better and myriad pictures, however the fact remains that one cannot rent a flat without going to it, combing meticulously through it, and, ultimately, making up one's own mind about it.
