Top Level Buttons (A-D)

These buttons give you access to the basic controls of our new search.

A: Polygon

Click this button to set the search area as a six sided polygon with 6 adjustable points which can be individually moved about to create a custom search area. This is the default search shape.

See below for a detailed explanation of how to use the polygon search

B: Circle

Click this button to set the search area as a visual representation of our radius search. The central point allows the circle to be moved about on the map, and the point at the edge of the circle allows the radius to be increased or decreased.

C: Clear

After you have performed a search click this button to clear all the properties from the map (the search area will not be affected)

D: Search

Does exactly what it says on the tin. Click the search button to start the search after you have set your desired search area.

Coloured Area

This area indicates the region in which you will be performing the search. There are three possible colours that the polygon area can be, which are described below. The radius search is only ever one colour, blue.

By default this area is centered around the postcode you provided when registering, you can change this at any time here. If you do not supply a postcode we will center the map in the Midlands.

Red Polygon

When you first reach the advanced Area Search page the polygon will be red in colour. This indicates that it is deformable in shape, i.e. if you click and drag on any of the corner points, you will change the shape of the search area.

Blue Polygon

Click within the polygon and it will change to a blue colour. This indicates that if you drag one of the corner points now, you will move the entire area, keeping it's shape, to wherever you want on the map.

Yellow Polygon

The search area goes yellow when a search has been performed and the results returned. (for more information on the search results please read this)

Corner Points

Click and drag the point to wherever you want on the map. Depending on the colour of the search area, the corner points perform different tasks. See above for what effect the colour of the area has on the way the corner points work.

Performing a Search

When you have set the desired area for your search, using either the polygon or circle search areas, simply click the search button and after a moment or two you will see a whole bunch of "for sale" signs pop up. Each of these signs represents a property listed on our site.

If you click on one of the signs you will be taken to the property in the listings below the map (the selected property will "flash" or "blink" in and out a few times to show you which one it is). These listings are shown after you click the search button so if you prefer you can simply browse through the listings.

An Example Search

We will now run through a quick example search to get the hang of how the system works.

Desired Locations

In this example I am going to be looking for a new house around my current home town, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, but I also want to search for properties towards Nottingham, as I work near there. I do not want to go further away than Chesterfield, so I will use a polygon to create a shape around the area I am willing to move into.

Step 1: Set up Search Area

Using the polygon search with movable points (red background) I negotiate to the area of the country I want to search in, zoom in and begin to create the shape.

By clicking on the anchor points around the edge of the polygon I can drag them around to make a shape that covers all the areas I want to search. I can fine-tune my shape by zooming in and dragging again.

Remember you can make any shape you want, as long as it has six sides, and any area under the coloured area will be searched for properties.

Step 2: Performing the Search

Now that I have my shape set up the way I want I click the search button and wait a moment. The search area turns yellow and a bunch of little "for sale" signs appear on the map. I can now zoom in and move about as normal, but I can see all the properties on the map in their approximate locations.

Once I have found a property in a suitable location I simply click on the "for sale" sign and I am taken straight to that property in the listings below.

Step 3: Browse results

I can see immediately when I have clicked on a property on the map that the listing shows the property title, location and price. If I want to view the full details for that property then I can simply click on the property name, or the "full details" button and a new window will open with the normal property details page.

The details pages open in a new window so that you can always go back to the same search, without having to set up the polygon again.

Limitations of the System

PropertySell are now offering this unique way of finding properties, among other new features such as our bias search and directions. These are all unique to property sell, and all provided free of charge. Because of this we cannot guarantee that the system will work perfectly, there are bound to be bugs that regular use will find, but we do not have the budget to test as thoroughly as we need.

You can help us by providing feedback on the system, reporting any bugs and just letting us know how we can improve the system.

Currently the system can only cope with 6 points, we will hopefully be improving this feature in the future to allow you to add and remove points.

There is a limit of 100 properties per search, which are randomly pulled from the database. This is due to limitations applied by Google for their mapping software, but don't worry, if more than 100 properties are shown in your results, just click the search button again and you will get a new random selection.

Occasionally properties will be found slightly out of the boundaries you have given, this is due to limitations on the way we can calculate shapes efficiently enough to allow thousands of users to search simultaneously, without waiting 10 minutes for the results to come back.

We can only search properties that have valid Post Codes, the more accurate the Post Codes given for properties, the more accurate the search, we cannot include properties that have not provided a Post Code, so these will not show up in the listing. We recommend you utilize our other search systems as well to make sure you have thoroughly searched each area for all available properties.