I was sent an email this morning notifying me it was my turn to write the weekly blog: Usually my stomach turns and I sit pondering for a while desperately trying to think of a topic to write about, but after carrying out a ‘viewing day’ last Saturday, I knew exactly what my focus could be!
John Simpson, Senior Negotiator
Back in January our Property Marketing Manager, Liam Byrne, went out to visit a 3-bedroom end of terrace Victorian house on Ebury Road in Rickmansworth Town Centre. The property featured an en-suite shower room, which is not common for this road, a modern kitchen with granite work tops and a south facing garden. Due to the fantastic location properties for sale in this road are always extremely popular, in fact, the last 3-bedroom cottage achieved more than the asking price because of interest generated from a viewing day.
Liam and the vendors discussed different marketing approaches and decided a ‘viewing day’ would be the best option for all parties. We agreed to market the property from 14th January, with the 2nd of February scheduled for the viewing day, with no appointments going ahead sooner. This gave the owners time to prepare for the day, where they organised a professional clean and gave the property a de-clutter ensuring that the house was looking brilliant on the viewing day. It probably would not have been possible for a family home to remain in tip-top condition if a traditional marketing approach had been used, whereby appointments were scattered over a few weeks and the family had to continue living a normal life at the same time! Likewise, having the viewing day booked for a few weeks ahead gave us time to fully market the property and contact our extensive database, generating the majority of appointments. Other viewing requests came as a result of advertising in the papers and online portals such as Rightmove & Zoopla.
We configured our office diary to allow for two members of the team to be dedicated to the property for the entire viewing day, ensuring that all viewings were accompanied, so that the property features could be pointed out and their benefits to the client highlighted. Moreover all viewers were registered onto our systems to avoid any security concerns.
We had a great response from our marketing and advertising of the property so that when the day arrived we had 20 appointments secured. Prospective purchasers are often concerned about ‘putting out the owners’ and often do not like to arrange a viewing unless they feel the property is absolutely perfect so the viewing day scenario helps overcome this, and the knowledge that other people are also viewing and the owners are out for the day means buyers are much more inclined to take a look and spend enough time at the property to make an informed decision on whether to buy or not.
The open day scenario also helps to create excitement and encourages viewers to offer quickly in order to secure the property and not miss out to somebody else. Applicants can clearly see that there is other interest in the property, which forms social proof and helps to justify an offer to themselves: If they like the house and there is other interest, it must be a good and desirable house to choose. Of course, there is no guarantee that a viewing day will command a higher selling price, but if there is more than one interested party, it can result in strong offers being made to secure the property.
After our viewing day, this particular house had three interested parties on the following Monday, so it was a great success and a sale was agreed Monday afternoon to a chain free purchaser.
Ebury Road, Rickmansworth
If you have any questions or would be interested in marketing your own property give Sewell & Gardner a call on 01923 776400.
All the best,
John