Advertising property can be an expensive business. Online portals have helped to change that, allowing estate agents and developers to reach international audiences. Now, though, real estate lead generation company Lead Galaxy have introduced Nubricks – a portal that advertises property completely for free.

What’s the catch? Who can sign up? And does free real estate advertising actually work?

In this month’s podcast, TheMoveChannel.com’s Property Inspector quizzes Lead Galaxy’s Account Manager Kim Roberts about an unusual approach to property marketing.

Click here to listen to the full investigation. An abridged transcript of the interview follows.

“There isn’t one. You can advertise your property on Nubricks for free.”

Well, Nubricks started life as an overseas property investment blog, with lots of tips and advice for investors. At first we planned to use Nubricks as a portal for new build property, but as everyone tries to recover from the global recession, what people need as much as information is something that won’t cripple their bank account. So we decided to reinvent Nubricks as a portal where everyone in the world can advertise real estate listings for free to an international audience.

Yes. There are several free property portals that will advertise your property in the UK, but even on certain popular classified sites, if you want to advertise a home to an international audience, you will be charged. Nubricks doesn’t do that: you can be seen by everyone in the world at no cost. After all, if you’re selling a house in London, someone in Russia may be just as interested in buying it as someone in Norfolk.

Nubricks has visitors from around the world. UK buyers account for a third of visitors, but one-fifth comes from the USA, followed closely by Australia, Germany, Canada, Italy, France and the United Arab Emirates. Overall, Lead Galaxy´s network has more than 10 million buyers around the world, but while some sites are targeted at particular countries or sectors, Nubricks covers all types of property and an international group of investors.

No, we have a range of services that are designed to be flexible for everyone´s budget. Advertisers can pay for every lead they receive – except for spams and scams, of course – or list properties on a fixed fee basis, but what we´ve been seeing from buyers this year is a major shift back towards the eurozone, not just from opportunistic investors but from budget bargain hunters – people are clearly still tightening their belts. Private sellers and estate agents are strapped for cash too. There are people who want to buy that struggle to buy, but there are also people who want to sell that struggle to sell. So we’ve introduced a service to help them.

It could, but this isn’t a new site. Nubricks was an early-stage dotcom business. Because the domain has been active for a long time, it has a really strong SEO base and an existing, developed audience. People are already looking to the site as an authority on real estate: these are engaged users who are interested in buying property.

No – their listings can stay on Nubricks for free, although they will only be displayed on Nubricks. If they want to go on other portals within the Lead Galaxy network they will have to pay for one of our advertising packages, which are also affordable, starting from just £1 per lead. If they ever find they have money, it´s then easy for them to step up their marketing activity.

Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with more than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world.

Nubricks is part of the Lead Galaxy network and advertises property around the world on behalf of agents, developers and private owners for free.

The website address is http://www.nubricks.com and the office address is 24 Jack´s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.

Contact Dan Johnson on 0207 952 7650 for further information.