What Are Buyers Looking For?
It's wonderful to acquire the perfect listing, one that buyers will flock to the minute the for sale sign goes in the yard. But perfect listings can be elusive, so a good listing agent must carefully analyze each property to uncover the features that buyers are seeking. There's something unique and desirable about every listing you'll sign a contract to market. It's up to you to find out what the property has to offer a potential buyer.
Once you've worked in real estate for a while, you will understand what buyers are looking for and instinctively know which features to promote most vigorously in your advertising copy. New agents don't have experience to draw from, so they must do a little detective work to determine which features are most popular in their towns.
The first place to look is in ads written by seasoned agents. Those are the people who usually know what to say to attract buyers. Which features do they mention most prominently? The list will differ for every area but you can bet that if an amenity is mentioned frequently and by many agents, it's something that local buyers find desirable.
Search the sold listings in your MLS, paying close attention to the number of days the properties were on the market before selling. You'll find out right away which neighborhoods are most popular. You might also see a trend in the types of properties that are selling best. Are they two-story homes, single-story ranches, homes with split-bedroom plans, houses with basements, or perhaps houses with large yards? Pay attention to land sales too, and try to determine what makes land attractive to buyers in your area.
Fact
Your Chamber of Commerce can probably tell you what type of buyers are most plentiful in your area — first timers, senior citizens, young professional couples. Fair Housing guidelines prevent you from mentioning specific demographic groups in your ads, but you can and should mention the features that are attractive to people in those groups.
Analyze your listings to determine which amenities to mention most prominently in your ads. Query your sellers to find out if popular features might be hidden. Are there wood floors under the carpets? Would a little tree-trimming open up a view? Have the sellers made desirable updates that aren't immediately visible, such as plumbing and wiring upgrades? What did they like best about the house when they purchased it?
Your ad-writing tasks will be much easier — and more productive — once you know which features are most popular and how that popularity ties in with your listings.
