CREATIVE MARKETING – GENERATING GREAT RETURNS FOR OUR CLIENTS

No matter if you are trying to sell your home or rent out your investment property, one thing is imperative.  That is having a great marketing campaign. The best marketing will help to ensure that you get the best price for your property.

One way that the property management team has been generating higher rental returns for our investors is through the use of “virtual furniture”.

Virtual furniture is where furniture is placed into the property photos to style the room. (see examples below).  This means that the images appear to be perfectly styled rooms and simply look amazing.

In some recent examples of properties, we have re-let in the last few months using the virtual furniture marketing strategy. By waiting until the tenants vacate, and having fresh, high-quality photos done with a selection of virtual furniture edited into the images, the advertising has really stood out against the competition in the market and drawn huge levels of interest right off the bat.

In some cases with a less innovative marketing strategy, where current photos are taken with tenants possessions in place (not necessarily the best style or presentation), and viewings scheduled while the tenants are packing, if there is a lack of interest then listings can go stale before the current tenants even vacate, leading to rent reductions to rekindle market interest.  This is not beneficial for investors.

Instead, each of the Hicks Real Estate examples below were photographed vacant, and two to four images with Virtual Furniture were used. Two of the properties were advertised with a $25 per week rent increase compared to the previous tenancy, and one was advertised about $20 higher than or property manager honestly believed it would achieve, but each of the Hicks Real Estate clients had agreed to “just try” and drop back the price a little if we hadn’t found a tenant in the first week or two.

The results were that two of these properties were rented to people who inspected at the first open house, and the third was rented to someone shown by private appointment before the first open house.

The idea that the property must be advertised weeks before the current tenants move out is not always the best strategy, if the presentation and marketing is going to be below par. Where appropriate, some patience and a small investment in fantastic images will have explosive results, and these images can be re-used for each change of tenancy in the years years to come.

Our most common suggestion is two images from different angles of the main upper level kitchen / lounge spaces, as well as the main bedroom. I firmly believe that creates strong market interest and a stronger rental proposition.

The same approach applies when selling your home as well and has been used successfully in the past.

So if you would like to learn more about the innovative ways that the Hicks Real Estate team can market your property contact us now for a no-obligation conversation.