For the most part, house hunting has become an easily digestible, digitalised process tailored to suit the needs of busy individuals who scroll through property portals on their mobile devices while on their way to their next business meeting. This means that sellers have about three seconds to grab a buyer’s attention before losing them to the endless sea of property listings.
“These days, a striking online listing can give sellers an edge over similar properties that are being marketed alongside their own. Sellers should do what they can to ensure that their home stands out among the thousands of other listings competing for buyers’ attention,” advises Adrian Goslett, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa.
To make sure that your online listing is a cut above the rest, RE/MAX of Southern Africa provides some helpful tips on how to prepare your home to create an appealing online listing:
Stage your home for online viewers
Before taking high-quality listing photos, sellers ought to prepare their home as they would if a buyer were coming to view the property in person. This means that all laundry should be packed away and there should be no unwashed dishes in the kitchen sink. To ensure maximum appeal, sellers should make use of a professional photographer and have a qualified home stager decorate the property before the photographer arrives.
Read more: Tips for taking photos that will get your home sold
Don’t neglect the listing description
Make sure that all your property’s selling features are listed in the description. For example, if you’re selling a sectional title, mention whether there is secure onsite parking for residents and for visitors. Other features worth mentioning is fibre availability, security features, and high-quality fittings such as Caesarstone counter tops.
Partner with a reputable brand
To give your listing credibility, be sure to partner with a broadly recognised and reputable real estate brand. For personal safety reasons, buyers are more likely to interact with your listing if they know that the sale will be handled by a trusted real estate professional and not by a stranger who might have hidden agendas.
“As important as an online listing is, sellers should remember that an appealing online listing is just one component of an effective marketing plan. A real estate professional will make use of multiple other avenues to attract buyers, such as social media advertising, email marketing and traditional advertising techniques such as show days, word of mouth networking and newspaper ads. Sellers who enlist the help of a real estate professional will have all of these marketing techniques (and more) at their disposal and will therefore have a higher chance of securing a sale in the shortest amount of time and at as close to full value as possible,” Goslett concludes.