Positioning your property for the right buyers

Perhaps one of the most important yet undervalued components of marketing a property for sale is positioning. What do I mean by positioning?

Positioning is the process of 1) understanding WHO the potential buyers are for your property type and then 2) speaking their specific language. When you speak to the right buyers in the right way, you maximize exposure, you maximize interest, you maximize the number of offers, and finally, you maximize your sales price and terms. 

Let me give you an example of how positioning can go wrong:

I knew of a multi-family property that came up a year ago that was a great investment property. The ideal buyer is what I would call an “owner occupant investor”. In other words, they would live in one unit and rent out the other two units to offset their mortgage. In this case, one unit was clearly designed for an owner because it had higher grade finishes and a layout that was more conducive to a primary home buyer. 

This property was great. It had tons of parking, nice unit layouts and it was well-located in a desirable part of town. It had move-in ready conditions with minimal updates needed. 

But how was the property positioned? As a HISTORICAL HOME. The entire description and slant of the listing was all about its history. It was full of fascinating details about its construction in the 1800s, the history of its previous home owners and the history of the neighborhood.

The only problem is that for this particular home, the most likely buyer by far would want answers to questions like this:

  1. If I bought this home at asking price, how much would my mortgage be after I rented the other two units for market rent?

  2. If I decided to leave the primary residence, could I rent out that unit too? And if yes, would the property cash flow?

  3. Why is this area desirable from an investment perspective? What is changing in this area in the next 10 years that will lead to increased property or rental values?

Now imagine for a second that the listing agent focused on these questions above. My guess is they would have a lot more buyer interest. 

So the next time you think about selling your home, you want to ensure your seller’s agent has taken into consideration WHO they plan to market your property to and HOW they plan to position it to them. Don’t skip this step!!! If you have questions about who the market is for YOUR property, give me a ring!