Location, location, location…
the elephant in the room
‘There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.’ Although this expression has been attributed to Lord Harold Samuel, a British real estate tycoon, its origins are older and can be traced back to the Chicago Tribune, in 1926.
That’s nearly a century ago… and it’s still the elephant in the room.
In all that time, the real estate industry never really started selling locations. Instead, whilst they are dressing up the properties with beautiful photos, home staging and glossy brochures, they are yielding to market pre-conceptions on location. They might tell a buyer that an area is desirable but they are not making it so.
So how can you sell a location? Simple. Ask the seller how they live in their home: where do they buy their food, catch their bus, send their kids to school? Where do they go for a run, take a stroll, have a swim? Where do they go for breakfast on a Saturday, for dinner on a date night, for a drink after work? Harness this wealth of local knowledge that they have gathered and pass it on to potential buyers.
Sounds time consuming? It’s not. You just need a convenient platform for gathering and sharing the information. Bimble placelists are perfect for this. Not only is it quick and easy to list all the places that matter (click to see a one minute demo video) but once you’re done, the online area guide looks really attractive. Ask the seller to make their lists on Bimble and, all of a sudden, you are presenting a way of life. A less than beautiful street may well be forgiven if there is a cool coffee shop hidden down an alley and a vintage clothes store round the back. A seemingly isolated village may actually be within easy reach of everything you need. If anyone knows, the owner knows.
When your lists are ready, you can link them to any posting about the property, or any email you send to potential buyers. You can include a QR code linking to the lists on a brochure, or website.
As time goes by and more and more owners have created lists about a given area, real estate agents will be able to tap into the wealth of knowledge that has been shared and can cherry pick the best lists for any given buyer: a young family can be matched with a family list, an older couple with people like themselves and so on.
Bimble is free to use, so go ahead and give it a go. Here is a link to one seller’s lists, from London, but Bimble works for any country in the world. So let’s celebrate all the great little places that make a neighbourhood distinctive and special and use their power of attraction to promote homes everywhere.
