How estate agents REALLY market your property

How estate agents REALLY market your property

Many people believe that all estate agents are the same. I can assure you we are most certainly not.

Yes, in principle, estate agents use the same methods to sell your property, but this is where the similarities end. Most estate agents will tell their clients that they employ bespoke marketing campaigns and some specialised techniques to sell your homes.

Usually it's utter rubbish.

If you were to visit Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location etc and pick out a few properties that the agent is selling and then go and ask the sellers how good these bespoke campaigns and techniques are, you'd find a withering response. In fact, tell the agent you'll be doing it and watch their face drop.

It's common knowledge within the industry that around 95% of all properties are sold via the internet and ‘For Sale’ boards are the best form of advertising for an estate agent. The old method of press adverts died many years ago, despite what many agents would still have you believe.

So how does an estate agent sell your home?

Contrary to popular belief, there are only three principle elements to achieving a successful property sale.

1) How your property is presented and marketed

2) Getting your asking price right

3) Demand

Presentation of your home is crucial to achieving the top price. If you're not prepared or able to invest in making sure your home stands out in the marketplace, you'll struggle for a long time to sell it.

Equally, how your estate agent markets your home and the amount of exposure to potential buyers is equally, if not more so, as crucial. For example, luxury homes for sale in Cheshire aren't found in the local papers, free door to door magazines or via social media. Those looking for luxury homes in Cheshire will either look on the big property portals, have an estate agent that keeps them “in the know” or remembers seeing a tweet, photo, branded car, business card of an estate agent that sells luxury homes.

If your estate agent doesn’t list on the portals or have a strong web presence and or both, my advice is to drop that agency. If you’re already on the market with an estate agent that doesn't do the above, I would advise you to seriously consider switching estate agents.

The reasoning is simple. If your estate agent cuts corners by not exposing your property on the property portals, doesn't have a strong presence on the major social media portals and a high quality customer service attitude they are not maximising your property to the majority of potential buyers.

It’s hard enough trying to sell your property in today’s tough market, without employing an estate agent that cuts corners and the irony is that these agents usually still charge the same level of fees as us better agents.

Is the price right?

We all think we know the value of our property but fact is we haven't a clue. A home is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, anyone that says or thinks differently is a liar or a fool.

At Britain's Best Home, if a potential client thinks their home is worth considerably more than we've valued it, we are willing to walk away and recommend the home owner seek a different estate agent. We're not in the business of passing over clients but we'd rather have a home we know we can sell quickly than a home sat on our books with a vendor screaming that we're doing nothing to help sell and wasting precious man-hours.

A good estate agent will know property values in your area and have an understanding of the local market forces. At Britain's Best Home, we give an honest valuation based on the local market, location, size, fixtures and fittings and most importantly, demand.

Demand

If the homes in your price range aren't moving, there's absolutely nothing you can do to stimulate a sale. The luxury home market is trickling along outside of the major cities and so it's about location, location, location.

We know of country home that was on the market at £5 million for over two years without a single viewing. Then, owing to a luxury home development and the sudden influx of “celebrities” renting and or buying the properties, the viewings went skywards and it was sold circa £6 million within six months of being relisted.

Gimmicks such as a free holiday, car, school fees etc are great for getting the attention of potential buyers but let's be honest, if you're in the market for a luxury home costing £2-3 million would a another car in the garage or a cheap holiday to Florida really sway your decision? I think not.

Oh and that’s it. That’s all there is to it!

Estate agency branches, what are they REALLY used for?

Estate agency branches, what are they REALLY used for?

Since we started on the road of selling homes in Cheshire, we have realised that the popular misconception amongst the public is that all estate agents have branches in order to help them sell property. Who started this myth and why is unknown but I can say, with absolute certainty, is that branches do not really help to sell homes. Branches play virtually no part in the selling process and haven't done so for many years. In fact, branches are a massive drain on an estate agents finances and one of the many reasons they fail.

Why?

We looked at opening a flagship branch in Alderley Edge, Cheshire and were shocked at the estimated cost of just opening the doors.

An annual rental of £48,000 plus business rates etc push the annual cost to over £75,000. We have to use fibre optic internet for the website, led lighting for the office, shop fitting and office equipment would have pushed the cost to £100,000 in our first year. Marketing and branding exercises in the community was estimated at £30,000 and then we have salaries, NI, taxes, company cars, stationary etc and so putting £200,000 as a starting figure is a realistic sum.

Putting that into perspective, we would need to sell a £1 million home every two weeks just to open the doors, something not even our biggest competitor is doing and they're more established that we are!!

It's actually cheaper to advertise on the local radio station or regional TV adverts than open an estate agents in Alderley Edge in Cheshire. I dread to think the cost of doing the same in Weybridge, Esher or Virginia Water Surrey.

Estate agent branches are used primarily as admin centres that deal with buyer enquiries via the telephone and Internet. They also deal with all back office tasks and their principle purpose is to function as a sales and marketing tool to sell the actual agency to new property sellers. The idea is that, if people are passing the branch every day, the agency will be at the forefront of their minds when they decide to sell, hence the agency will be invited to 'value' their property and pitch for the right to sell it.

This tactic works extremely well for some agencies, which is fair enough. The problem is that many estate agents still preach, to potential vendors, that their local branch is an excellent sales tool for selling your home, which they're not.

What evidence do we have to prove this?

Most estate agents can't fit every single property they are either selling or renting into their window displays, unless they have a very small stock and or are selling/renting properties so quickly that there's no time to display them. Therefore, if your home isn't displayed in the window how is it helping to sell your home.

Next time you have an estate agent claim their branch helps to sell property, ask them how they manage to fit all their properties into their windows?

What a good quality estate agent looks like

What a good quality estate agent looks like

Firstly, there are a lot of very good estate agents, some very mediocre ones but most are poor quality. Some estate agents will dislike my comments and they are the ones that are uneducated and serve absolutely no benefit to the property industry and are, in fact, a drain on the good name of those of us that are.

Despite what these estate agents claim, we found it extremely difficult finding a good quality estate agent to recommend to our clients, hence the reason for us coming to the market and looking to provide a high level of service to our clients.

Poor quality estate agents often cause more problems and stress then required and some property sellers would actually be better off without them. They also have a tendency to mislead sellers and fleece them at every opportunity. This is often down to the fact that the poor estate agents attitude is all wrong and they see the property industry as an easy way to make money for little effort.

Good quality agents on the other hand are extremely useful and provide sellers with lots of invaluable benefits.

So what function does a good quality agent actually serve? What do they bring to the table?

The good ones such as ourselves, Britain's Best Home, aim to be the glue to your whole property sale. We bring all the elements together and provide you with honest, frank advice and guidance throughout your sale.

We work hard to earn your trust and build a mutual understanding that enables us to work as a team. This is absolutely crucial for a successful working relationship, it also makes the whole sales process more successful and less stressful for you.

From the outset, Britain's Best Home listens to your needs, advises you on the correct asking price and sales format. We also advise you on how much to expect your home to sell for. This is usually painful for sellers to hear, however, our honesty at this stage will help build up trust and prepare you for the real world, rather than build up your hopes, only for you to be let down.

Good agents possess great presentation skills, maximising the appeal of your home by taking good quality photographs. A good estate agent will also maximise your property's exposure to the correct buyers. Undertake regular market reviews and keep you regularly updated with the sale progress.

Most importantly, good estate agents employ high quality experienced negotiators who can negotiate the highest possible sale price for your home, potentially for tens of thousands of pounds more.

A good estate agent, such as Britain's Best Home, will also take care of you, protect you and be there for you throughout your sale and beyond, right through to your completion date.

Good estate agents are worth their weight in gold, but unfortunately, they are extremely rare and difficult to find!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
No matter how good an estate agent is, if a property owner isn't realistic about their selling price and insists on marketing it at an inflated price, then, we're afraid, the property simply will not sell.

The proof of this fact is demonstrated by the number of properties that have been on the market for over three months. If your property hasn't sold within three months, it's overpriced.

What sells a house?

What sells a house? The top 10 crucial elements and how to manipulate them!

When selling your home, the following elements all play their part in a successful sale. It’s worthwhile knowing and understanding them, as this will place you in a much stronger position when discussing your sale with your estate agent.

Before appointing your estate agent, why not ask them for their opinion on each. Their response would be a great indicator of their ability, confidence, quality and attitude.

We've not put them in any specific order because they're all just as important as each other.

1) Price:

No matter a property's location or condition, if it's priced right, it will sell fast. Lowering your price can stimulate demand but that's just an indicator that it was either overpriced in the first place and or you're desperate to sell. Unfortunately, once your property is on the market, this element is usually the only tool you have to manipulate demand and enhance a sale.

2) Location:

Location, location, location. As the saying goes, location is everything. However, you have to remember that not everyone desires the very best locations. The most desirable areas will always receive the greatest demand and highest prices, but some buyers wish to purchase a property in the area in which they grew up or a property that needs a little work on.

3) Demand:

Demand is based upon the number of active buyers looking to buy in your area. It is closely linked to both location and available funding. Fortunately, you can stimulate demand by lowering your asking price, but this rarely works if the potential buyers aren't looking in your area.

4) Supply: (Housing Stock)

This has to do with the availability of, or lack of, housing stock for sale in your area. It also has a direct bearing on the success of your sale and how much you sell for. It dictates price.

5) Available Funding:

Funding availability (mortgages) or cash availability has a profound effect on demand. It’s the lack of funding that is currently keeping the housing market 'on its knees'. Funding is fundamental to the property market. Without it, we have no buyers and therefore, no sales. Those with cash are waiting to get the very best deals and will often sit and watch from the wings before snapping up a property.

6) Value:

Your asking price is the major factor here, however, many other factors come into play too. Your property's location, it’s size (sqft, number of bedrooms, toilets etc). Size and quality of your kitchen and bathrooms. It's overall condition. The number and condition of outbuildings, plus the size of the gardens, all contribute to your property's perceived value to individual buyers.

7) Presentation:

The better your property is presented, inside and out, the more desirable and appealing it will be. This will have a profound effect on how quickly you sell and at what price. If you cannot or will not invest in staging your home it will be sat on the market for a long time.

8) Exposure:

The wider the exposure a property has on the market, the more potential buyers will see it, hence the faster it will sell for the most money. Good estate agents will have strong social media presence and be at the forefront of the keywords on the internet where potential buyers will look.

9) Correct Target Marketing:

Targeting your property to the correct target market will also enhance a quicker sale and a higher sale price. Easier said than done but a good estate agent will know how and where the target market is and reached.

10) Good Sales Negotiation Skills:

This element is crucial. Don’t underestimate it. If your negotiator at the estate agent hasn't had proper training in sale negotiations (most don’t), this could easily cost you thousands in lost sales revenue. Don't underestimate the importance of having a good negotiator on your side. Don't fall down at this final hurdle.

As you will realise, all these elements work together in determining how fast your property sells and at what price.

The first four elements listed; Price, location, demand, supply and funding are elements that you have little or no control over. They are dictated by the overall market conditions. A good quality estate agent should explain all these elements to you and how they will impact on your sale.

The remaining elements can be manipulated to your advantage. This is where a good quality estate agent comes into their own. In a nutshell, a good quality estate agent will advise you honestly on each of these elements and maximising your chances of selling your property quickly and for the highest possible price.

Before signing with any estate agent ask yourself “did they volunteer to explain any of the above elements to you”. Where their explanations clear and concise or did they rush over them and mumble something about how irrelevant they are. This is your chance to identify a good quality estate agent.

If you can't sell homes, teach.

We get emails every day from various companies selling their SEO or marketing services and we read almost every one of them, I immediately delete the ones that claim instant success etc. The other day I was sat at my desk when two emails came through. Both made me laugh.

It appears that a lot of “specialist property, estate agent, SEO, bloggers” are scrapping the barrel for content. They seem to be churning out the same old tired messages of “How to sell your home” through to “Get you page on the front of Google...FAST”.

The ones that had us laughing are the ones written by "experts" in the field of selling homes but with absolutely no idea of the luxury property marketplace. They extol the virtue of advertising on Facebook as a means of reaching our target audience. Come on and get a grip, how many millionaires do you know that read Facebook and actively seek out luxury homes for sale. Say that in my office and my PA will call for a doctor to help me stop laughing at you.

If you've the time to write 1,000 word diatribes about how to do it, that tells me you're not doing it and stuck at home or in the office scrapping about for work. If you're marketing worked you'd not have the time to blog..... I'm writing this as I wait for a flight to Manchester from Nice.

I can say with absolute certainty, no luxury home owner is remotely interested in having their home advertised for sale on Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social media portal you care to mention. I can most definitely say that luxury home owners will ask one simple question....... Will you put it on Rightmove? Failure to nod or look disgusted at the mere thought of not doing so will have you out the door in moments.

Home staging doesn't work, ever, and is a complete waste of time advertising it to an established home owner. Talk to new home builders, property developers etc and it's an absolute must do and no-brainer. We've spoken to over 20 home stagers in the past 18 months and 15 have gone out of business or converted to a part time affair.

The email that had us rolling around the floor in fits of laughter, did exactly what is was intended to do, have a headline that got most people to open the file and read it. Great marketing strategy. Not.

I can guarantee that it didn't get one single referral for new business. It ruined all the respect and credibility we had for the author. Why?

If you're going to email a headline that's inflammatory, best back it up with substance and fact and in this case it didn't. Instead this 1,054 word blog offered nothing but suggestions, the obvious advice and was more a poor mans attempt at selling their services than actually doing anything meaningful. Surprise, Google no longer works on word count and there were no backlinks to the main website. So no web crawling bots will know you've written anything.

The premise that estate agents over do it on social media is not a new one. I agree, people don't care if you've just sold a mansion, caravan or that you're scoffing lunch at the Ivy in London. Those estate agents that place their listings on Twitter do so because they lack the content to tweet or they've given the job to a 12 year old office junior.

I wholly agree that most vendors and landlords have no interest in knowing an agent's tie in period, their cheap fees or accompanied viewings. They want to know you can do the job and that you've done what you say you can.... plain and simple.

As a marketing professional, I wholly agree that having the company's URL plastered all over the estate agents car, business cards, leaflets etc is a total waste of time...... unless you're targeting those that live and breathe using their smartphone, Blackberry or tablet. When I'm watching a TV programme and they show the Twitter handle or hashtag, I very rarely look it up...... unless I've got my phone in my hand or I'm on my laptop. I wonder how many people are like me in that regard?

The comment “So how can you be interesting?” is when the red mist started to descend at Britain's Best Home.

It was followed by nothing...... absolutely nothing. Show me a property marketing person that can simply convert a branding exercise into a sale and I'll be looking at a very, very rich person.

The burning question from us is how do you engage wealthy clients and the answer provided was “talk to them”..... No Shit Sherlock. Ever tried talking to a busy, successful businessperson about property? No, didn't think so.

The ones we know talk about anything and everything and unless you're a walking Trivial Pursuit game, you've no chance of engaging them in meaningful conversation. Then the advice is to write to them about the subjects you spoke about. Show me a template of an email that's proven to get their attention and has them picking up the phone and calling you and I'll work for you free of charge for a year, in fact I'll pay you to work for you.

Traditional sales methods don't work any more in the world of estate agency. Modern sales methods are evolving on a seemingly daily basis. Anyone advising a business to use print to sell their services is a dinosaur. Leaflets, newspaper adverts are rarely read by those selling or buying luxury homes. It was stated that 91% of property searches begin online and I dare say 99% of those searches start at Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location et al.

So what kind of specialist property SEO, marketing, bloggers are we interested in?

Ones that blog about the new techniques to reach potential clients on social media. Ones that provide an interesting thought provoking read that actually has me coming away from the page actioning what I've just read.

So the next time you get an email from someone offering their services, ask yourself a simple question. If they are so good at what they're doing, why are they not doing it themselves?

As the saying goes “Those that can't, teach”.

Selling luxury homes

When it come to selling a luxury home, not all estate agents have the ability to sell a 10,000 square foot luxury home in Cheshire or a country mansion in Surrey. In fact, most estate agents like most of us and probably dream that our lottery or Euromillions numbers come up and we can buy one.

So the world of selling luxury homes is one that seems like an exclusive mystery. It is a shame that few of us do get to experience this world, because when it comes to marketing these stunning properties, there is a lot that that can be learnt from how luxury homes and estate agents in particular run their businesses.

What most estate agents know about marketing and sales is based on what they have had to learn from their peers who believed in the “old school” way of networking, handshaking and newspaper advertising. The internet has changed the way we sell property and none more so than luxury property.

Here are just a few of the lessons you could take from the world of luxury real estate that we've learnt:

Focus on your personal brand to demonstrate credibility
One thing that almost every estate agent does more than most industries, apart from entertainment, is focus on self promotion and branding.

They roll out their biography detailing how they made it to that point, what they are interested in and how many medals of honour or salesperson of the year awards they have won. All designed to give potential clients a sense of who they are before you consider working with them. In the world of luxury property sales, personal branding has everything to do with reputation and that reputation is a big part of how you can get deals done.

So what if you're new to the market, how do you gain that credibility? Well there are no short cuts to gaining a reputation, branding becomes even more important and knowing the luxury marketplace is absolutely paramount. If you don't know who are the top kitchen designers, luxury car dealers, watch and jewellery shops and or the best schools in the area then either learn or be left on the margins. The higher the luxury ladder you go, the tougher the competition.

Better target your communications to save yourself time
Most estate agents advertising campaigns head towards custom regional magazines, luxury publications and other highly targeted sources. One thing that estate agents understand is that hitting the wrong consumers will result in wasting their own time. So their advertising strategy is a function of selection because they only want to reach people who are real prospects to potentially purchase a home from them.

Most estate agents on social media believe, wrongly, that the more people they have following them the better they are at reaching their target market. If you want to be a market leader in your immediate area, then that's the tactic to employ. Luxury home estate agents don't care about reaching millions or even about reaching thousands. They care about reaching the right dozen people.

Use professional imagery to sell
We generally know about real porn, food porn, car porn etc but luxury property publications are an entirely different category that could almost be called house porn.

They feature lustworthy images of houses, villas and mansions that most people only dream about even walking into. The imagery sells the houses and encourages you to dream. However, you need to make sure you're in the right magazine and it's specialised.

There are loads of regional “pop up”, free through the door publications but these are not for the luxury home estate agent. Put your images on your website, social media pages and email a newsletter to subscribers, friends and family outlining what you have to offer them.

Throw in an unexpected benefit/offer
One thing I love about luxury property is that the "freebies" are often completely unexpected and sometimes irrelevant things that could sway the right buyer.

For example, I saw one property listed where purchasing it would also mean that the title of "Lordship of Frodsham" came with the property on completion. So not only do you buy a new manor house, you get to be a Lord too. Another property offered up a garage full of exotic cars along with the house.

When you are buying or selling a luxury property, these small things may not add up to a significant portion of the cost, but could mean the world when it comes to helping a customer make a decision on the right purchase.

Tom Benedict
Group Marketing Director
The BBH Group
@TheBBHGroup
@BritainBestHome

2020 – A Clear Vision of Estate Agency

It’s May 2001 and we’ve been handed a substantial sum that needed investing. Property was the decision and we went on a one year £5.8m spending spree. To most estate agents, we were the perfect purchasers. Cash buyers, quick completions and the estate agents became the letting agents.

So it’s now 2006 and boom time. Here we are with a property portfolio valued at £12m and we want to cash out.

We put five fully modernised, clean terraced houses on the market for £280,000 each. According to the estate agent, they were realistically priced to sell fast and aimed at first time buyers. The estate agent came took photos, wrote a description and sent us a two page leaflet and put the properties in the local newspaper. That was it?

Two pages to describe a home with a state of the art kitchen, wooden flooring throughout, original Victorian fireplaces etc? Six months later they sold for £250,000 each.

Our newly renovated town house was, according to the estate agent, realistically priced to sell fast and valued at £900,000. Again, the estate agent came round took photos, wrote a description and sent us a three page leaflet. Two pages to describe a £50,000 kitchen, £30,000 staircase, £40,000 home entertainment room loaded with the latest gadgets. A year later it sold for £825,000.... To the hotel owner next door!!

The old school that was converted into a single home was realistically priced to sell fast and valued at £6m. Again, the estate agent came took photos, wrote a description and sent us a five page leaflet. Two years and no viewings later, we decided to market it ourselves and sold it at full asking price six months later.

The morale of the story is that the description for a home worth £250,000 is only three pages short of being described as a luxury £6m mansion.

It was this sale that had us thinking about the future of estate agency and how we could do it better.  The main difference wasn’t a contact list or database. It was done using social media in its early form and in a very haphazard manner compared to today. It was the sole reason we were able to reach potential buyers and sell the home.

Move on nine years estate agents haven’t moved with the times. Pop into an estate agents and ask for property details and you still get two or three pages with six photos or more. Now ask yourself “Is that really how to sell property in the 21st Century?”

What is the future for estate agency in the UK?

We strongly believe that high street agents will either adopt a more pro-active approach to social media marketing or die. We can see a time where UK estate agents will adopt the same tactics as our American counterparts and hit the masses where they hang out. Online in social media platforms.

These New Age estate agents will flourish and consume the dinosaur old boys who are stuck in the Dark Ages. People are becoming savvy to the fact that estate agents need only put a property on Rightmove or Zoopla to get page views. That’s not enough though and vendors want to know what else the agent’s doing. The answer in most cases is nothing.

I recently asked a well known London based estate agent how the marketing of a client’s property was going along. His answer was “Well it’s had 5,500 views this month on Rightmove so it’s popular”. I nearly choked on my coffee. So, 5,500 views and no viewings are acceptable. When pressed to explain what else he was doing to marketing the property, his reply was “Well we’ve emailed it to our database and put it in the papers this week”. In other words, nothing.

As a marketing man, I’m dumbstruck with the way some estate agents handle clients and fob off those that are expecting a quality of service with meaningless stats that shout one thing. We’ve done nothing.

Instead of treating vendors like dumb cattle, why not offer a service that takes a bit of time and effort and maybe, just maybe you’ll reach more potential buyers faster. Rather than asking someone in the office to write the odd Tweet or Facebook status, how about employing someone full time to handle all aspects of social media. Don’t outsource it, do it yourself.

“Why not outsource it?” I hear you ask.

I’ve spoken to dozens of social media marketing businesses and none of them truly understand property and how to sell it. They quote large sums and hide behind the caveat “It’ll take a few months to start working” and estate agency doesn’t work like that. We need results in days, footfall through the door tomorrow not next week. Vendors only understand one thing, offers to purchase and lots of them.

Can you imagine the impact of providing a vendor with a level of service akin to that of a £million home? We’re in the process of starting the ball rolling and in touch with our American counterparts. We love the way they do it and feel the UK market is heading the same way and the by product of that will be higher fees and commissions.

Radical, maybe. Innovative, could be. Different, definitely and the future of estate agency.