With the property market still struggling, and sellers having to work harder than ever, Christian Braun, an internet entrepreneur, has found an unusual way of attracting potential buyers to his home in Barons Court, west London: he has made it the star of its own blog.

Launched just over two months ago, rememberthewindow.com has received nearly 10,000 hits, with many contributing thoughts of their own on the house and the area. The site takes its name from the most striking feature of the property, a former artists’ house: its large windows that overlook the Talgarth Road, near Earls Court.

“It’s quite an unusual house, with an interesting story, and there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye, so I decided blogging would be better than relying on an estate agent,” says Braun, 40, who lives with his wife, Ekaterina, 35, and children, Nikolai, 2, and Daniela, two months. “I also wanted to stress that the house is actually very quiet, and tell people more about it and the beautiful garden, so I took lots of pictures and posted them on my blog.”

Braun first put his home on the market last autumn for £1.75m through an agent, but with few viewings, even after cutting the price to £1.395m, he began to despair of finding a buyer. So, in April, he set up the blog. As well as describing the house — which has four bedrooms and a studio-turnedreception room with a high barrelled ceiling — it tells the story of the neighbourhood and some of its residents — among them, [Dame Margot Fonteyn, who lived a few doors away.

While blogs devoted to a single house remain a relative rarity, property websites are multiplying at a prodigious rate, even if the number of houses and flats being sold is close to historic lows. They are also becoming more sophisticated: once little more than shop windows for estate agents, they now offer a wealth of add-on features, many borrowed from the world of Facebook and Twitter. One of them, Mouseprice.com, has even introduced the concept of “property flirts” — owners can gauge interest before formally putting their house on the market, obviating the need for a Home Information Pack.

“We take a broader view of the property market. It’s not just about transactions — people want to learn more about an area before they buy,” says Alex Chesterman, chief executive of another site, Zoopla.com, which has just launched a feature called Ask Me! Q&A, which allows buyers thinking of moving into an area to post questions about local schools or traffic.

Other sites, such as Rightmove, Prime Location and Globrix (which is part owned by News International, the parent company of The Sunday Times), offer a range of tools that enable you to search properties by particular feature — a sea view, perhaps, or wooden floors — or to track their prices over time.

Largely under pressure from estate agents — who provide much of their revenue and are understandably reluctant to be bypassed — most of the big sites do not allow private individuals to advertise their own homes.

Those hoping to sell without an agent can already use classified sites such as Gumtree or even eBay, but they are also being wooed by Sarah Beeny, presenter of the Channel 4 series Property Ladder. Alongside all the now usual add-ons, her site, tepilo.com, to be launched later this month, will allow buyers and sellers to interact — for free.

“Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to buy a two-bedroom flat in Pimlico, you’d go to an estate agent, but now people will start by googling it,” Beeny says. “There will always be a place for estate agents, but people like using the internet to get value for money and will be happy to save £10,000 in commission by going online.”

Agents are naturally hoping that such websites don’t catch on. “Internet technology has obviously increased flexibility for consumers across sectors, but achieving the right pricing level takes years of experience,” says Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents. “Selling and negotiating does not come naturally to everyone.”

Braun, meanwhile, is happy with the interest generated by his blog — even if it has yet to translate into a sale. “I’ve had two or three viewings arranged by the estate agent and seven from my blog, so I’ll keep blogging,” he says.

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