Realtors of luxury homes must have the right plan in place to achieve a swift sale.
1. Presentation is key
As impressive a villa might look from the outside, it is ultimately difficult to sell an empty house. Buyers tend to be visual in nature and their decisions are based on what they see in front of them. From the condition of the house to the choice and layout of the furniture, staging is a fantastic tool to create the right first impression of a home and help buyers imagine themselves living there. The look of a property also sells the lifestyle associated with that neighbourhood, which in turn helps draw the attention of the right kind of buyer.
If you really want to get more people looking at your property, you need professionally shot images and videos. Market surveys show that over 80 per cent of homebuyers want to see pictures of the property they’re interested in and about 73 per cent of homeowners prefer to work with realtors who offer video services. Yet at present, barely 10 per cent of realtors in the market emphasise video content. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is easily worth 10,000.
3. Price it right
Perhaps the toughest part of selling a home is agreeing on the right price to entice buyers and satisfy sellers. Understandably, sellers will want to get the most out of their investment, while buyers will be looking for the best value for their money. A diligent realtor will perform a comparative market analysis to understand the average selling price of similar properties in similar areas, and how the price might change with current trends. One must also take into consideration the desired speed of a sale, as this can significantly impact the pricing strategy.
4. Understand your buyer
Know who you’re selling to in order to devise the right marketing plan. Are you selling a family home or a space more suited for single professionals? Is it a holiday getaway or a pied-a-terre? Will it appeal to a European businessman or an Indian ultra-high-net-worth individual? Once you know who will be likely to buy the property, you will know how to properly market it.
5. Marketing plan
Gone are the days when selling a home was as simple as putting up a “for sale” sign and just waiting for the offers to start pouring in. Marketing a property is a complex operation, with multiple channels to consider. Of course, traditional marketing methods won’t completely fade away anytime soon, but today’s world is all about digital destinations. A smartly planned online campaign can get you a much broader reach than even the most well-designed brochure.
6. Go social
Social media has become an essential tool for many of the world’s leading brands, but the real estate industry seems to be lagging behind in this area. Less than 10 per cent of realtors use social media to market their properties and the ones that do connect with less than 1 per cent of their intended audience. If you want to get the largest possible reach for both your property and your brokerage, a solid social media strategy is a must.
7. Effective networking
While growing your online network is more important than ever, you should complement that with effective use of your offline network. Partner with other reliable real estate agents or speak with other contacts you may have who can help to spread the word about your property portfolio and generate buzz in the local market. Your next client might be closer than you think and the right kind of networking could potentially save you both time and money.
8. Good, old-fashioned brokerage
No matter how good your marketing strategy is and no matter how good you make the property look, people buy from people. If you present yourself as a professional, qualified real estate agent with expert market knowledge and a thorough understanding of both the buyer and the seller’s needs, you will be five steps closer to making a successful sale.
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Collected and published by Arms &McGregor International Realty® editorial team. Get in touch with us at [email protected]