It's no great secret that real estate marketing in 2023 has moved almost completely digital. Not only is that a consequence of the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's simply a reflection of how most people now consume media.

What The Seller Had To Say About The Experience

"A professional experience - I wholeheartedly recommend Leo's Openn Auction method to both buyer and seller. It was a clearly communicated open and transparent process based on Leo's broad knowledge of marketing based on trends, statistics and provable results. Leo delivered with a high degree of integrity, honesty and charm. Thank you Leo."

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What The Buyer Had To Say About The Experience

"Knowledgeable and always available: Leo was a perfect agent. Presented the property giving us enough time to look and observe the property. Never pushed us into anything, just pointed out the positive aspects and even gave us some great tips on what could be done as well as relevant contacts for the future in terms of builders etc. Always responded to emails and calls and made all efforts to accommodate to our needs. Highly recommend and would you him if selling or buying."

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We Built A Custom Website For The Property

You do not sell your home in isolation. When your property hits the market you are competing with every other property for sale in your price range, properties that may offer a better location, better finishes, and any number of variables, and you can bet that your buyer is looking at every one of them - because the real estate portals like realestate dot com and Domain are showing them to them - every single property. They are advertising revenue businesses and do not care about your property specifically.

We give your potential buyers a better experience when viewing YOUR property and do not bombard them with every other property for sale in their price range, as a result, they will spend more time and attention on just YOUR property with a single focus. A place where they can not only experience more imagery but also Virtual Tours, videos, view all the documentation for the property and revisit 24/7, share with friends and family members all with just one click.

These results are also measurable and what can be measured can be improved. By creating a custom domain we can see the locations and postcodes that are interacting with your website. This allows us to target our online marketing to specific suburbs. We can see exactly where traffic and clicks are coming from. We can see which devices people are viewing from and which age groups are responding - all of which allow us to create data-backed campaigns to reach the right buyers. Click HERE to view the stats for this website.

We Used Digital Staging To Generate More Online Interest

Today, prospective buyers spend a lot more time doing their research online, rather than visiting properties in person. Homes photographed empty can be deceiving due to rooms either looking larger or sometimes much smaller than they really are. There is no reference point for the eye. Therefore, digital Staging is a great option, because it provides potential buyers with the opportunity to see all aspects of the room, such as air vents, power points, and light switches, in addition to the room perspective. It is important to make your images stand out online, with research suggesting that now 9 out of 10 buyers start their property search online - it's more important than ever.

You will see in the examples below from Dixon Street that all our in-house production team has done is add select pieces of furniture digitally that could be picked up and removed from the property as with real furniture - the fabric or size of the space is not changed. The result? Much more online engagement, which leads to more enquiries and physical inspections.

We Created Custom Signage To Produce More Traffic

A lot of people say when we sell their home " We don't want a sign-out front". If our signs were like most other agent's we'd be inclined to agree with them. Think about it. If all a real estate sign in a front yard has on it is the Agency logo and an office phone number that can only be reached during business hours how effective is it? Very effective at advertising your agent's business, but it's not doing a great job of helping to sell your home.

In 2023 people buy property differently. Let's say a buyer from Melbourne has driven down to Inverloch and has shortlisted half a dozen properties online, more often than not they will drive by these properties first to check out the street appeal/location long before they pick up the phone and contact the agent.

If the property just has a generic "For Sale" sign the potential buyer can't learn anything new about the property but is forced to call the agency office effectively advertising their brand and business, not so much your home.

We design and build custom signage for every property we sell, and everything is designed for a specific reason. You will notice a lot of our boards carry an aerial lead image. In this instance, most people who already live in Inverloch know where Dixon St is in relation to the town and the water. People down for the weekend or just visiting may not - so why not show them?  We are also selecting three other key images of the property that cannot be seen from the street - that highlight the property's appeal and unique features, in this case, the vaulted ceilings, expansive windows and stunning brickwork. We are also giving potential buyers multiple options to reach out:

• Call the agent's direct mobile directly at any time about the property
• Scan the QR code to instantly land on the dedicated property website - check it out HERE
• A memorable URL in this case the street address 55dixon

Does this approach work? You bet it does. In the 30 days this board was outside the property it produced 339 direct hits to the property website. That's people who either walked or drove by, scanned the QR Code or entered the URL. That's 339 potential buyers who would not have discovered or viewed the property otherwise.

We Engaged The Most Powerful Marketing Platforms On Earth To Promote The Property

By creating over 27 ads and harnessing the combined power of Google, Facebook, Instagram to reach passive and active buyers beyond the property portals we attract buyers beyond the property portals, casting a wider net. By understanding the location, demographics and behaviour of people online (leveraging Facebook and Google data), we can choose to be very broad or very specific with who we advertise properties, finding buyers in suburbs nearby, across town, or even across the globe. Our fully automated multi-channel digital marketing platform (The 3996 Engine) allows us to cost-effectively break our dependence on the portals, delivering sophisticated ad campaigns to attract more buyers ensuring your property is seen more often, in more places, online. The campaign for 55 Dixon Street produced 112,945 social views to targeted buyers at a fraction of the cost compared to the 3,390 views the property received on Australia's largest real estate portal.

We Shared The Property To Our Private Facebook Group

As well as our curated social media audience of over 30,000 people who either love or would love to live in Inverloch we gave early access to the property to members of our dedicated private Facebook Group "Inverloch Hot Properties" Join today to find out what's really going on in your local property market.

We Created Immersive 3D & Virtual Tours

With over 2,000 people taking a virtual tour of this property in just 30 days we KNOW that virtual tours are must-have in 2023. We can't believe that other local agents have omitted this critical piece of the marketing puzzle! Virtual tours are like a permanent open house. Potential clients can access the tour 24/7 from their office or while on the road. This technology helps create an instant sense of ownership. Those who take the tour can easily imagine themselves living in that house. Below are just a few reasons why your property marketing should feature a virtual tour in 2023!

• 95% of buyers are more likely to call about homes with 3D Virtual Tours
• Drastically boosts online engagement
• Allows potential buyers a real sense of location if they don't know the area
• More than 70% of buyers would love to take a virtual tour before going to an open house
• Only 3% of listings in Australia provide a virtual tour
• Cuts down time on market
• Attracts more motivated qualified buyers by enabling a 24/7 open house
• More qualified buyers at open homes ( reduces tire kickers and nosey neighbours )
• Allows buyers to revisit the property again and again in the comfort of their own home

Openn Negotiation For The Win

Agents who aren't familiar with Openn Negotiation obviously won't tell you this but there is a way to ensure that you completely eliminate the risk of underselling or overpricing your home and in this market - it's never been more important.

When there are 2 or more offers at the same time, an agent that doesn't use Openn will give the buyers a document explaining that there are multiple offers, and inform the buyers that they need to submit their best and final offer. But, the buyers obviously want to get the property for as little as they possibly can, and they have no idea what the other offers are.

So they will put in the price that they'd like to get the property for. They'll often miss out, and they'll call the agent and offer more, but of course, it's too late.

The agent obviously never tells the seller about this, but it's a really common situation in Inverloch.

When we use Openn, we never have this problem, the extra money goes to you and it could literally be a huge difference - in the case of 55 Dixon Street, it was $20,000. See the timeline below or download it HERE

Is Your Home Worth More With Openn?

• Do you feel as though your property has been on the market for a while?
• Are you looking to be sold ASAP and still want a reasonable price?
• Do you need an alternative, rather than another price reduction?
• Potential to sell your property in 3-4 weeks
• Secure contracted, competitive buyers approved by you
• Achieve your best price by allowing buyers to improve their bids in a transparent environment

Buyers expect to pay less for properties the longer they sit on the market - In Inverloch there are now close to 100 properties that have been on the market for over 90 days! The process means fewer days on the market and the best price achieved for you.

We are proud to have been named one of Australia's Top 20 Digital Agents For 2022

Australian real estate agents have demonstrated exceptional resilience this year, as the market shifted rapidly from its March 2022 peak.

A combination of rising interest rates and declining buyer demand brought new challenges. Frenzied levels of offers made to secure a property slowly reduced to a soft simmer, leading to longer days on market and declining prices. Despite the changing market conditions, the industry as a collective responded remarkably well.

On behalf of Openn, I would like to particularly commend all the agents who qualified in our 2022 Top 20 rankings for using market-leading digital tools to build client trust and deliver excellent sales outcomes. As digital property transactions become more entrenched in the fabric of the real estate industry, those who master these processes will undoubtedly cement themselves as The agent of choice in their market. Congratulations again to all our agents on another fantastic year, we look forward to continuing to help you succeed in 2023.