by Noble Land 
When your property has been in the market for months with almost zero enquiries or leads, maybe it’s time to take a look at your property and ask yourself ‘If I saw this property in the market now, would I buy it again?’
If the answer is yes, well then here’s the good news; you’re just marketing your property wrong. Read on to find out the most common mistakes you’re likely making while listing your property online and what you can do to fix them.
1. Posting Pictures Of Your Property It Wouldn’t Approve If It Was Alive
Your clients have no idea what your property looks like. They fully depend on the pictures you share to decide whether it’s worth a trip over. First impressions matter, and the better the pictures are, the more interested people would be in your property. Yes, sadly, houses can’t escape the clutches of pretty privilege either.
Good news is, you do not need the most expensive cameras or the latest gears for this. As long as the camera has a decent performance and can generate clear, high resolution images, even your phone can do a great job. Most real estate agents use their phones to post great pictures of properties online.
Here are a few tips that can drastically improve the quality of your shots :
- Lighting is key : When shooting indoors, make sure your rooms receive ample lighting. Bright, well-lit rooms are more likely to catch the attention of a viewer than dark, poorly-lit rooms. Turn on the lights or leave the window wide open to allow daylight filter into the room during your photoshoot. However, in case you want to show the view your property has to offer, turning the indoor lights down and focusing the lens on the light outside can create a striking contrast and accentuate the view outside. Most cameras automatically do this for you.
For Example, you can take a look at these two pictures we’ve taken at this 1 bedroom unit for sale at Discovery Gardens, Dubai, which is a green, gated community and has amazing apartments with serene views of trees and parkland
- Avoid taking low quality pictures : Blurred, grained or heavily compressed pictures can not only ruin the experience for the viewer, but can also undermine the favorable details of your property. According to statistics, viewers click through listings with higher image quality rather than blurred ones, unless of course, the price catches their attention. However, in order to compete with other similar listings, making sure your images are of high quality is an integral step.
- Figure out the right angle : Just like when taking a selfie of yourself, wrong angles can undermine the beauty of your property. Snapping high angles of a room can diminish the space in pictures while taking low angles in larger spaces may take away key details of the room. Use low angles to exentuate a small space and use high angles to cover a large space.
For Example, you can take a look at these two pictures we’ve taken at this 2 Bedroom Apartment at Collective 2.0, Dubai Hills Estate, which has a spacious hall but a medium sized bedroom.
2. You Don’t Know How To Price Your Property
Before you value your property, make sure you’ve done a market analysis on similar properties in the area. If your property is way higher than the market average, it should be of no surprise that no one is calling you. People want to feel that they’ve gotten their hands on the best deal, so try to price your home reasonably.
It can be appealing to set your price sky high, but practically speaking, no one would click through your property if it’s too expensive for them.
Here are a few tips that can help you price your property right :
- Perform Market Analysis : Finding the market rate of properties similar to yours in the area can help you set a realistic asking price for your property. If you’re having a hard time trying to price your property, you can consult a trusted real estate agent to help you.
- Avoid the ’99’ Strategy : Pricing a $300k property $299k may seem clever, but buyers would most probably approximate the value to $300k in their minds. The difference would barely affect the buyer or the seller. Also, avoid trying to be ‘creative’ and pricing your home with unusual values (For example, like $234,777). This may draw negative attention to your property listing.
- Avoid Over-Pricing : According to Zillow, properties should be priced within 10% of the recently sold value in the market. Over-pricing your listings may create a negative impact of you/your agency.
3. You Don’t Know Your Property’s USPs
Is your property in the heart of Dubai? Does it offer views of Burj Khalifa? Is it a waterfront property? Is it in a well-connected location? Is it in the outskirts away from the hustle and bustle of the city?
Everyone has different preferences when it comes to their dream home, whether it is to buy or rent. Making sure to think from the point of view of your potential clients and listing the features of the property that would instantly grab the attention of your target audience can put you miles ahead of your competitors. Also, a well written listing convinces your reader that you are well-informed about the property and the surrounding area. The more informative your listing is, the chances of them contacting you to know more, or to help them with their purchase is much higher.
List down all the qualities, features and amenities that make it the perfect home. Once you’ve done that, highlight the points that only your property, or similar properties in your area can provide. Also called the Unique selling points(USP), these points will help you set your property apart from the rest.
Here are some of the highly desired USPs by home-seekers in Dubai
- Views of Burj Khalifa or Dubai Fountains
- Fully Furnished Apartments
- High Floor Units
- Broader Net Area
- Spacious Balcony
- Waterfront Apartment
- Close to Metro
- Well Connected Location
- Park View
- Private Swimming Pool
etc.
When you list your property online, make sure to think from your buyer’s perspective. Our listings used to have low-quality pictures and poorly-written descriptions too. As a result, our online presence suffered. But once we realized how online property portals and social media work, we eventually started writing SEO-friendly descriptions and uploading high-resolution 3:4 ratio pictures. Now, our quality score has increased drastically and our listings are easily accessible on portals.
You can check out our listings and get a rough idea on how to improve yours. if you have any tips you’d like to add, feel free to leave them in the comments below and help our readers. Hope you found this article helpful.
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