There are many sayings in Real Estate, I’m not going to sit here and recite them all as I think you know what I’m talking about, just have a look at the title of this blog. One of them is that there are three things that are required to get you the best possible outcome – Price, Presentation and Marketing. But what about location? How important are schools, shops, cafés, sporting venues and so on to the overall outcome of the sale of your property? Are there ways that you can leverage the location in your marketing to your target audience?
One simple answer, of course you can. That doesn’t mean that Real Estate Agents get this right every time, however, when done well it can make all the difference to the campaign.
What I am not talking about here is mentioning that it is “near shops” or “close to public transport” in the editorial write up and just leaving it there – this couldn’t be further from what I am saying. I’m talking about “selling the sizzle, not the steak” (oops! There’s another one of those sayings). If done well, the overall marketing of the property will take into consideration the buyer’s senses, emotions and feelings and will get the buyer thinking of the lifestyle and benefits of living in that particular property/street/suburb.
I recently read an article (or maybe I saw it on TV?) where the agent actually shot a video of her and her husband “living” in the home for a day! They slept in the bed, got up and brushed their teeth at the glamorous double vanity in the ensuite of the enormous master bedroom and enjoyed cups of coffee in the matching bathrobes on the deck overlooking the ocean – paints a pretty good picture, right?
There are many tricks of the trade that can be used to showcase the location of the property. Photos are the obvious one. This can be from the standard shot of the park down the road, to a series of shots from the house to the local park or CBD (I’ve done this recently with some great results), to drone shots which can show multiple different areas of interest in one photo. The editorial writing is also extremely important when you want to sell the lifestyle of the home. This needs to appeal to the buyer’s emotions and be informative at the same time – too long and the buyer will switch off, too boring and you’ll lose them and if it doesn’t actually tell them anything about the property then you risk them not going any further with their inquiry. In addition to photos and the editorial, I’ve also already touched on video being one of the most recent and effective ways real estate professionals have decided to show off their new listings. Do yourself a favour and Google “Dan Lee Real Estate” – then call me and tell me you didn’t want to buy one his properties.
What does the future hold for marketing location? 3D tours of homes are already a thing and will continue to grow as technology advances and becomes more accessible. Virtual Reality is also something that we are already talking about too. Imagine being able to view the whole property from the comfort of your own loungeroom? I then can’t see why you couldn’t then “attach” to that listing a virtual tour of the beach or bushwalk down the road, the local café or anything else which might excite the buyer in regard to location.
One thing is certain – nothing will stay the same and we will always be looking for the next best thing to market your property and achieve the best possible outcome for our clients.
I’ll leave you with one more saying in Real Estate that you would have all heard before; “buy the worst house in the best street – location, location, location”.
