The property market has been ticking along at a pretty rapid pace this year, with low stock levels helping boost prices.
It’s a great result for vendors, as well as agents (as long as they’re the one with the listings).
There’s no doubt that limited stock makes for heightened competition among agents. Even the best in the business need to formulate a plan to get their foot in the door and then quickly close it on their counterparts.
While off-market sales were once solely the selling method of choice for the rich and famous, there are four clear ways everyday agents can use it to secure listings in any market and price bracket.
1. Play the price card close to your chest
If low stock levels aren’t enough to make an agent’s job of listing hard enough, what happens when the agents that have appraised a property before you have high-balled the price to try and secure the gig?
The house might only be worth $700,000, but if the agent before you has estimated $800,000, then you’re already on the back foot. Not only do you have to sell yourself and your services, but you also have to sell what the home is realistically worth.
An off-market campaign can be a great way to help you do that. Explain to the vendors that you can market the home at $800,000 to your database, as well as locked databases such as Listing Loop, for 14 days, and if the property doesn’t get any traction at that price, you’ll know it’s too high.
The best part is, the Listing Loop database is secured behind a login, so the fact that you’ve dropped the price won’t show up in a Google search, and buyers can’t use that as a bargaining chip.
2. Save on advertising costs
If there’s one thing vendors love, it’s saving money and making a greater return on their sale. Australia is one of the most expensive markets in the world per capita to advertise property online, costing anywhere from $5000 to $15,000 on average.
Add to this that it’s almost always an upfront cost, with no guarantee the home will be sold, and it’s not surprising many vendors get a bit nervous.
But a pre-market, or an off-market campaign allows apprehensive vendors to dip their toe in the market with limited expenditure. With Listing Loop, an agent can take photographs from their smartphone, immediately upload them and then have them instantly put in front of qualified buyers.
Agents can use this method to win the listing of a hesitant vendor by reminding them there’s minimal advertising costs with an off-market campaign, and commission is only payable on success when you get the right result. So there’s not a lot of upfront costs.
3. Get the hesitant sellers off the fence
An off-market campaign can be a great way to help agents secure the listings of private, cautious vendors. Many vendors hold back on selling their home because they don’t want neighbours, friends and even family knowing it’s on the market, let alone what it sells for.
Off-market campaigns have typically been used to sell high-end, luxury or celebrity homes, but we’re seeing this strategy used more and more for properties in the $600,000 to $700,000 bracket and even as low as the $300,000 price point.
In the age of COVID-19, many vendors don’t like the idea of lots of buyers traipsing through their property at an open home. Off-market strategies can help you win the listing as only the most qualified buyers from the database will inspect the home.
4. Intelligence worth knowing
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from buyers is that about 40 per cent of online real estate inquiries go unanswered. That’s a lot of missed opportunities.
That’s why, when a potential buyer unlocks a property on Listing Loop, the agent is alerted and can reach out to the buyer via phone (only if the buyer has approved their number being released), email by or our live chat feature.
Not only can an agent take a potential buyer through that property, they can ask whether the buyer may also be looking to sell a property, which secures them another chance to lock in a new listing.
It’s a win-win.
