Adding a new property and searching for properties

Adding a property record onto Alto is a key task you’ll need to do. It’s vital that the property record is set up properly, both to make the lives of you and your team easier and also to ensure everything feeds through to any property portals you use correctly.

Outlined below are the steps involved for adding a property that's for sale or to let onto Alto, and how you prepare the property record to go on the market. We'll also point you towards the next steps you need to take.

This article includes: 

• Search for an existing property record
• Adding a new property
• Preparing the property to go on the market

Search for an existing property record

Before adding a new property record, you should first check that the property doesn't already exist in Alto.

1. Click Properties on the main toolbar
2. If you've recently been on the property record, you can select it from Recent & Favourite Properties. Otherwise, find the property using the Search Properties bar in the top right. You can enter the:

• Address (or any part of the address)
• Vendor or Landlord name
• A combination of the two

Adding a new property

If you are unable to locate an existing record for the property, you will need to create a new property record. You can do this via the Properties tab.

Our new enhanced method of adding a property allows you to look-up property information, view the information we hold about it, and then save it - auto filling the information into the property record without you needing to manually enter it.

The information you can view includes:

• Insight from Zoopla data to determine if a property is on/off the market. If it is on the market, there will be a link out to the listing.
  (This will allow you to have more insight into a vendor/landlord’s current position)
• An image of the property from the last time the property was listed on Zoopla. The image used will be the primary one from the listing, so will normally (but not always) be the outside of the property.
  (This should help you to get more insight into the property you’re discussing)
• Bedrooms/Bathrooms/Reception rooms
• Floor area
• Energy efficiency rating
• Year built
• New build - yes/no
• Tenure - Leasehold/Freehold
• Property Type
• Mapping, enabling you to view the location of the property being added.
  (This will be helpful in situations where the appraiser doesn’t recognise the street, or wants to know what end of a street a property is located at)
• Sale/Rent Estimated valuation.
  (This will remain unchanged if you make amendments to the data that you save to Alto) 
• Property timeline, with the full sales history from HM Land Registry.
  (This will help gain at a glance information about the estimated valuation in relation to the last sold price)

1. Click Properties on the main toolbar
2. Click Add a Market Appraisal or Property
3. The Add a Property page opens. Within the Find an existing contact field, enter a name, address, email or phone number for the relevant vendor or landlord. Then, click Search contacts
4. Select the relevant contact from the list below, and click Use selected contact 
   1. Alternatively, if the contact hasn't yet been created, click Create a new contact
      For more information on Adding a new contact and searching for contacts, click here
5. If there are address details held on the vendor/landlords contact record, you can now click Look up property, or, you can Add a new address
   1. If you are adding a new address, enter the Full UK postcode, select the Address and click Look up property. If we cannot locate the address or postcode via the Look up property option, you have the option to enter details manually 
6. With the property looked up, you can now review the Address and Enquiry Type details, the Property Details, and the Energy Efficiency Rating. Any of these details can be amended, and more details entered if you click the relevant Edit section option
   (For example, you might want to make corrections if work has been carried out to change a 3 bedroom property into a 4 bedroom property)
7. In the Notes section, enter any Appraiser notes as you see fit
8. Once you've reviewed all the details, click Save property
   

After saving the property, the property Overview page will load.

Any Appraiser notes you added are visible from within the Post-Appraisal top tab, accessed via Appraisal on the side menu.

You're now able to move on and using the Actions dropdown menu, either Book a Market Appraisal (if applicable), or, Instruct the property (as long as a Proposed price has been entered).

Preparing the property to go on the market

Once you've won the appraisal, you will need to add further details to the property record to prepare the property for going on the market. The following articles may be useful to you in doing this:

For lettings properties, there are additional settings you may need to consider such as setting your commission or management fee, or adding multiple landlords for joint ownership.
For more information on Initial settings on a lettings property, click here

Related articles: 

Adding a vendor

Adding a landlord

Initial settings on a landlord