Property overall, and particularly estate agency, is an odd business in many ways. But one of the ways in which it is unusual is its topsy-turvy way of working.
In most businesses, the buyer is the customer. But in estate agency the seller is the customer. Even though it is the buyer who makes the purchase and holds the money.
That means that the buyer’s needs and wants can easily be overlooked in the transaction process. But a good way to help a property sell more quickly, and maybe even for a better price, is to think about what buyers want out of the whole process and not just the seller in isolation. Think of the buyer as a customer too .... just a type of customer who doesn’t pay your bill!
So let’s think in a little more detail about what buyers want in the house (or flat) buying process and so how to work with them better.
Buyers want great choice. Having a good choice of properties is one of the best ways to attract buyers in the first place. Yes, buyers only (usually) buy one property at a time. But the more properties you have, the more chance that they will buy one of them.
Good estate agent software makes it easier to list, present and promote more properties in less time.
Buyers want good information. With so much pre-research done online, before even deciding to view, buyers today want good information about a property. In fact, it’s almost impossible to have too much information in a house listing.
As well as information about a particular house or flat buyers appreciate information about the local area, and local property news, too.
Buyers want to see what they’re getting. Images are a more important part of the buying process today than ever before. Buyers are more likely to shortlist a property based on the first images they see of it, rather than the description they read, or perhaps even the price.
Again it’s almost impossible to have too many images of a property in a listing.
Virtual tours and live video viewings are other ways of offering the best possible service to buyers.
Good estate agent software makes it easier to provide large amounts of information, pics and videos, quickly, easily and accurately.
Buyers want fast service. Let’s face it, when you see a house you really like you want to move into it immediately. It’s the same for most buyers. However, the whole house buying and conveyancing process isn’t very conducive to moving fast.
The more that an agent can do to speed up the process – everything from handling calls and emails quickly, to scheduling viewings quickly, to issuing documents in a timely way – can help to cut days and sometimes weeks off the sales process. And that not only means better service to buyers and sellers, but it brings the fees and commissions rolling in sooner too.
Buyers want everything to be made easy. Buyers want agents to make their life easier .... even though they’re not the customer. Agents can help to make everything easier with appropriate help and advice along the way, bearing in mind that many buyers are newbies and/or new to an area. And they can make things easier and better by ensuring any extra services they provide, like financial, are top notch.
Good estate agent software can help streamline the entire process, make it much more efficient and make everything happen that much quicker.
Buyers want the best price. Which is a snag of course. Because the best price for the buyer is probably not the best price for the seller (nor the agent for that matter).
The secret here is to identify and promote every single feature and benefit of the property for sale, so that it looks amazing value for money.
Once you start to look at what buyers want from a property transaction, and not just sellers, you realise what a difficult task it is and the huge amount of work that can be involved.
Fortunately there is a solution!
Using an estate agency software package like Apex27 can make providing all this (and more) quicker and easier than you probably thought possible. Apex27 is an agency software package that makes it easier to follow up on leads, create property listings, manage viewings and other milestones and progress the entire property transaction from beginning to end.
Not only does Apex27 enable agents to provide better service to their sellers, it enables them to provide great service to their buyers too.
There is, however, something that Apex27 can’t help with. Something that most agents will come across more often than maybe they would like. That is ....
Buyers who don’t know what they want. Or buyers who want the perfect house .... that doesn’t actually exist.
However, at least Apex27 can help make dealing with these and in fact all buyers a whole lot easier!
