Using Property Bee to find a house in France

KNOWLEDGE is power, as the saying goes, and the internet has really helped people cut their costs and share information in the blink of a mouse click.

One area that's seen more information being released is in property, but there is still a vast array of detail wrapped up in these websites, and it has never been particularly easy to track changes to prices and descriptions.

This is where Property Bee comes in.

It is a little tool that you plug-in to the Firefox browser, which lets you track changes to property details across a number of websites, including Rightmove which currently has nearly 8,000 properties in France.

I first read about it on the website of Joe Gravett who used the tool to highlight how estate agents were trying to pull the wool over his eyes.

Property Bee works by following your searches on the Rightmove website and keeping a copy of its findings on your computer, listing things like price, when you last viewed it and most importantly any changes.

So when you head back to undertake another search you can see straight away if any details have been changed, not only to the description of the property but also price.

And with that knowledge comes the power to squeeze out a better deal for yourself.

Unfortunately the property websites that Property Bee currently checks is quite limited, but on the site's forum people are able to press for others sites to be included.

And just having an awareness of price changes for similar properties can be very useful to know.