In such a competitive market it can be difficult to find that marketing edge but can something as simple as a floorplan make all the difference?
In a recent survey of their buyers online habits a leading real estate agency found that one of the simplest and cheapest products on the market, a floorplan, could hold the key to success.
They found that house hunters browsing online, drawn in by the photos on a particular listing, would review the floorplan (if one was available) before even reading the property description.
Buyers reasoned that while the photos whet their appetite for a particular property it was the floorplan that gave them the hard info they desired.
It gave them instant access to the important requirements they sought in a property, for example how big are the rooms, how do the living spaces interconnect, how are the bedrooms laid out, and how big is the yard.
Anecdotally though few agents use floorplans on all their property listings, most use them selectively but a large percentage of agents don’t use floorplans at all. Are they missing out? Buyers trends are suggesting yes.
Are floorplans only useful on websites though? Again, research says no. Where a floorplan is available at open homes, either as a print out or on the back of a double sided brochure, prospective buyers are gathering these up to review at the end of the day.
So imagine a potential buying couple, spending Saturday after Saturday hunting for that perfect property. On a good weekend they may attend upwards of 6-8 properties and by the end of the day they are probably struggling to remember one from the other.
Feedback has indicated that buyers in this position will refer to the floorplans they collected at the open homes, not only to recall details but to start mapping out the potential of the home for example marking out walls on the floorplan for potential removal and renovation.
Floorplans therefore, as simple as they may appear, are proving to be a powerful tool for agents and vendors to hook buyers by giving them the information they require in a easy format.
But if you haven’t used floorplans before there are some tips to learn along the way.
The first would be if you’re going to use a floorplan showing everything. It seems odd to give buyers a beautiful layout of a 5-bedroom family home, but not include a siteplan of the outdoor space and land.
And following close behind, providing a scan of a builders or architects plan might make initial sense, but if an average buyer can’t read what is usually a highly detailed mass of measurements and lines then they’ll give up in frustration and move onto the next listing.
So what should you be aiming for with a floorplan then? Clean, easy to read and understand layouts of the interior spaces matched with a basic overview of the land the property sits on, with a clear measurement scale, north point and room labeling. Simple!
By Ryan Lahiff I IMAGEination.tv