And sometimes the buyer group an agent predicts will fawn over a home doesn’t.
It was the latter situation Place New Farm Lead Agent Ann-Karyn Fraser experienced when she listed 115 Dell Rd, St Lucia, a popular riverside suburb in Brisbane.
Initially, Ann-Karyn thought young families would snap the four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1960s home up, given St Lucia is in a highly desired school zone with Ironside State School, St Peters Lutheran College, the University of Queensland and more.
The home, set on 1200sq m, had been in the one family for the past 56 years and while it was still very liveable, Ann-Karyn notes a renovation was needed.
“It wasn’t a big fancy house, but it was a good one,” she says.
“We were thinking, ‘Yes, a family will snap it up’, but that wasn’t the case.
“We had more interest from developers, because the cost to renovate or rebuild isn’t something many families can afford to do at the moment.”
A strategy to drive results
Ann-Karyn says the marketing campaign was crucial to generate interest and extract a top price for her elderly vendor.
They opted to run a four-week ‘top offers’ campaign, which is where interested parties have a set date to complete their due diligence by and submit their best offer.
“Then I sit down with the owner and present all of the offers at the same time,” Ann-Karyn says.
“We’re always open to selling the property on day one, of course, but this is a strategy that works really well because buyers see that competition and don’t want anyone else to see it and put in a great offer early on.
“This one did go to the closing date though and we received four offers on the closing date.”
Ann-Karyn credits a strategic marketing plan, and the ability to swiftly target a new buyer demographic, with the great sales result.
The marketing campaign kicked off with letterbox drops and followed with stunning photography, a video tour, a floor plan, a signboard and targeting warm buyers already in the Place database, especially those who may have missed out on nearby or similar properties.
Ann-Karyn notes that video walkthroughs are amazing for interstate or international buyers who are unable to see a property in person.
“They’re able to watch them over, and over, and over,” she says.
“We also work really closely with buyers agents we have strong connections with.”
Digital marketing for further reach
The property was also listed on the property portals, including view.com.au, and social media marketing was another key tool in Ann-Karyn’s toolbox.
She says as well as posting the home on her own social media pages, it was also pushed out wider on social media, including Facebook and Instagram, through their Place Pulse Performance Package.
The Place Pulse Performance Package extends and increases audience engagement through social, display ads and native ads to find buyers and sellers whenever and wherever they are online.
It also leverages the Place database and targets the right buyers through social media and digital display channels.
This helps increase demand for vendors’ homes and aids in delivering an optimal sales result.
The platform is powered by view.resi’s off-portal performance product called Acquire, which can be customised to any agency’s brand to keep its presence at the forefront of its marketing efforts.
Ann-Karyn says after working closely with the potential buyers she discovered it was developers, not families, that were the main contenders for the property and the marketing campaign needed to be retargeted to that group.
“It’s very strategic and you really have to track everything, every day,” she says.
“After our weekend open homes we call the buyers, see how many we had through, and ask ourselves if we need to increase the marketing, is the backend wrong, do we need to change the photos around or push it out on other platforms?
“You have to stay on top of everything because the last thing you want is for that top offer closing date to arrive and you think, ‘We got this so wrong’.”
Targeting a new audience
Ann-Karyn says the Place Pulse Performance Package was instrumental in retargeting the marketing campaign to developers.
“It doesn’t just target our local buyers or active buyers, it targets out of area buyers or passive buyers that may not have even entered ‘St Lucia’ as one of the suburbs they’re interested in,” she says.
“It targets buyers that are looking at similar homes, or bigger blocks or properties close to really good schools.
“It exposes our properties to a much larger audience.”
Sydney developer seals the deal
Ann-Karyn says, in the end, the four offers on the property all came from developers, with the eventual Sydney buyer coming through a buyer’s agent she had spoken to briefly in the past but had never done business with.
That buyer was a cash buyer who eventually plans to build two homes on the large St Lucia block.
“When we started retargeting to developers a lot more, we also really pushed to buyer’s agents as well because they’re talking to developers all over Australia and overseas,” Ann-Karyn says.
“I really feel that View, with their reach, helped us find that interstate buyer.”
Ann-Karyn notes that online and offline marketing need to work hand-in-hand with a real strategy behind them to generate the best results.
“It’s not as simple as just putting up a signboard,” she says.
But she also now frequently hears from potential buyers at other properties that they’re seeing marketing campaigns on multiple channels.
“I’ve had clients turning up to St Lucia, but normally they look in Chelmer or Graceville, which is over the bridge, but they say, ‘It popped up on my Facebook so I thought I’d pop in’,” Ann-Karyn says.
“It means you don’t miss those buyers.”
