Secrets to Selling Property Revealed
Selling property isn’t as simple as putting up a for sale sign, listing online or telling friends and waiting for buyers to run to your doorstep. It’s a process, and any good estate agent will tell you it takes time and smarts. If you’re a landlord looking to sell on your own, you should consider using a real estate agent. Successful estate agents and developers use the below industry best practices which reward them with continuous property sales and good name as professionals.
1. Consult With Seekers
Consult seekers
Before you start bombarding seekers with all the great features your property has to offer, it helps to identify their needs, what they could do without, and above all, their budgets. It makes no sense to pitch a half million dollar home to a seeker with a $100,000 budget in the hopes that s/he might reconsider and magically take you up on your offer. Property seekers find this deceitful, annoying and infuriating. It also doesn’t help to offer them property that doesn’t match their criteria. At best, offer them just what they want and then suggest all the great options you have. You should know who you’re selling property to and the best way to do this is to have an in-depth consultation with them first.
2. Treat Your Leads Well
a. You know that thing about customers always being right? It’s no myth at all. True, they can be unrealistic sometimes, but remember, no matter the request, they are your potential clients and deserve to be treated with care. Seek to understand the property seekers that contact you, empathise with them, tolerate them, educate them and encourage them. Make them your priority and even if you don’t close a deal with them, you can bet the universe your good service will earn you stellar recommendations that will translate into better deals with their friends and family. It helps to think of long term possibilities in your interaction with all clients.
b. Another tip to remember is to not assume too much about your leads. Just because you think a lead looks incapable of purchasing property doesn’t mean s/he can’t. There are countless people with inexhaustible budgets who care very little about their appearance or your assumptions about them. Treat them just as you would anyone that steps out of a Range Rover, for instance. Remember, your lead might not buy property immediately but might extend rave reviews and stellar recommendations to their network of ready buyers. Never turn a potential buyer away. Some transactions may not translate into large commissions, but they might send great business your way. Again, think long term in your efforts at selling property.
3. Be Responsive
This isn’t so hard to grasp but it’s alarming how many agents fail at it. What kind of service do you most prefer: A — being attended to 3 days after you’ve made a request; or B — being attended to same day? Home seekers are the same. Your property isn’t the ultimate point in their house hunting journey and finding better is just a click away on classified websites like meQasa.com. If you wait two or three days before answering requests, then expect a more serious estate agent to get ahead of you in sales. Successful agents get a lead and don’t let it go. They immediately make contact and follow up. Slow response to a lead can be the deciding factor in whether you strike a deal or not. It reflects badly on your agency and on you. Be like Usain Bolt: quickly respond to those emails, SMS and calls by checking your meQasa.com dashboard at least morning and evening daily. Match your leads’ preferred mode of communication and leave your potential clients feeling very important. They’ll love you for it and it’s great for your brand.
4. Collaborate
Being a real estate agent can be tough and time consuming. You can’t always have the kinds of property your leads are after and sometimes when you do, it might be outside their budgets. This is where Henry Ford’s quote, “coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success” comes in handy especially for agents just starting out. Rather than turn away prospective clients, you should reach out to fellow estate agents and share your leads with other agents though they are competitors. By this you are saving yourself time, gaining mutual benefits from split commissions, getting a tour into other agent’s backyards, and above all, setting yourself up as the go-to person for any kind of property, even if you don’t have it. This is also a step in curbing mistrust among agents and incidences of other agents stealing your listings. In Tanya Dzhibrailova’s words, “fifty percent of something is better than 50 percent of nothing”. Collaborate and stay connected to other industry players.
5. Take Excellent Photos
A Pulitzer-worthy description will, indeed, turn gears in people’s imaginations but can only do so much to drive interest in your listing if there aren’t photos to match. It’s innovative to list your property on meQasa.com but pretty futile if there aren’t great photos. Serious seekers, the kind that are likely to close deals, will skip your property if they can’t see what you’re offering in about 5–6 pictures at a minimum. “Show and sell, not show and tell” should be your guiding motto in selling property. If you’re wondering how you can take fantastic photos, here are some tips we put together just for you. Ensure your photos show the outside of the property and key areas including a bedroom, the kitchen, living room and a bathroom at the very least.
6. Price Right
Selling property that’s valued at GHS 200,000? Don’t inflate it to GHS 400,000 just because that’s some dream amount of money you desire in your pocket. Reasonably priced property is what the majority of home seekers are after. Placing ridiculous price tags on your property without justification will earn you an equally ridiculous lack of interest. While seekers are not professional valuers, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to see through a sham. Instead, price your property so it can be found within the range of others just like yours. Doing this could help stimulate interest among multiple buyers who’ll find your property competitively priced, helping you generate solid leads more likely to close as sales. Also, be sure not to price your listing too high — which may drive away potential customers — or too low — which may leave customers second guessing your listing. Unsure how to go about selling property that’s priced right? These strategies can aid you.
It’s important to remember that, selling property (and sales generally) requires patience and adopting these tips will ensure you close more deals as an agent. Getting a handle of these tips in addition to being diligent and having a positive work attitude will slingshot you into the league of stellar agents who sell property just as quickly as it is listed.
Did we miss anything? Share with us in the comments section below.
Originally published at meQasa.com on March 10, 2017
