1. Negotiations - why there are no online auctions for flats? 2. Knowing the area - Google maps/foursquare probably know as good as the best real estate agent.

1. Negotiations - why there are no online auctions for flats? 2. Knowing the area - Google maps/foursquare probably know as good as the best real estate agent. Just embed this info in the website. 3. Viewing the flat - photos of flats are very inefficient today - why not push landlords to post Sphere views and 2d plans of the flat? It's definitely cheaper to do it than pay 5% commission for estate agent. When I was searching for a flat majority of flats I viewed could be dismissed only on online profile if it was complete enough. More informative online profiles == less viewings == less estate agents. 3. Agent searching for you - it's another problem with these real estate sites. This is one of the areas, where algorithm could do better than real person. Just specify conditions you like in the flat, or rate on a scale 1-10 flats you are viewing, or go through past 50 deals and rate them (advantage of past deals is that you know the price it went for). Then website will send you weakly digest for flats that are potentially good for you or urgent alert if something awesome shows up.