If you’re serious about buying a new home, please indulge me for a moment. I’m going to give you some information that could get you your dream property.

The art of selling houses hasn’t really changed over the last 30 years I’ve been in business, but the habits of buyers certainly have. Significantly, more and more buyers are relying on property portals and websites to do their searching for them.

I can certainly see that there are some advantages. You have the ability to draw a search area and receive notifications from one source about all new listings. In one easy move you get lots of updates and retain your anonymity.

But – let me tell you now. You’re missing out.

 

The advantages of estate agent mailing lists

Are you aware that the agent will have had the instruction to sell a property for several days before they go public with it? That’s several days before it’s listed on a property portal and the portal then sends out notifications.

In the meantime, the estate agent is working through their mailing list, and letting prospective buyers know personally that their potential dream house is now available. That means that savvy buyers are gaining significant advantage over those that run with the portal pack, by making themselves known to the estate agent.

So, consider the downside to your anonymity. In a marketplace where there is a shortage of available properties, you’re getting the leftovers.

 

Make yourself memorable to the estate agent

 I do appreciate that getting on to the mailing lists of all the local agents can be time consuming. You’ll need to contact each one and give them all much the same information. And yes, you will probably end up receiving calls about homes that might not be appropriate, unless you’re very specific about your requirements and tastes.

But how will you feel when you get the call that counts? The real contender – your perfect home – and you know about it before it hits the market! There’s no better feeling after all that effort, than getting the reward.

Trust me, the good agents are certainly not relying on the portals to do their job for them. In just one week this October we agreed sales on £1.9million pounds worth of property from our office in Kenilworth and those homes will never appear on the internet. The only people who knew about those properties were buyers who were known to us.

And if you’re still not convinced, consider this. There are now ‘buying agents’ operating in South Warwickshire, employed by buyers who want to get the advantage of being on the agents list, but don’t have the time. Instead, they are willing to pay for someone to do the hard work on their behalf.

So, the phrase to remember is this. “Make yourself memorable.” Save the agents’ names and numbers into your phone and when they ring, take the call. Keep your eyes on the prize. A little short-term effort now could be a life-changing gain.

If you’re ready to get ahead of the pack, give us a call today and join our buyers’ mailing list. We’ll always make sure that the houses we notify you about fit your criteria, and we’ll do our best to match you up with the property you’ve been looking for, before anyone else finds out about it.