What Buying My First Home Showed Me About Marketing

A couple of months ago, I became a homeowner.

While I was never really fussed about the 'Australian dream' of owning a home, it was something my husband wanted - and over time, I became truly invested in our shared goal. A little pocket of the world to call your own...why not? I've been renting since I was 19 years old, so the mere idea of painting our walls WHATEVER COLOUR I LIKE is, honestly, very exciting.

After a few years of consistent saving and going to the odd home open, we went full throttle this year, attending multiple home opens every weekend and eventually engaging a mortgage broker*. There were a couple of near-misses with properties we liked, but we never in a million years thought our first ever offer would be accepted.

It was, though.??

I could write a whole separate article about the weeks that followed - the negotiations, the jargon, the frantic Googling, the (one and only) breakdown I had when settlement momentarily went tits up - but I won't.

Instead, I'm going to discuss our house-hunting experience from a marketing perspective. While I didn't learn anything particularly new, it reaffirmed everything I do know - which can be just as valuable.

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Make it personal

There was one real estate agent who really stood out to me. As you can imagine, we began seeing the same faces on the circuit again and again, but this dude was the only one who seemed to remember who we were?– even greeting us with a warm “nice to see you guys again.” It’s all sales, of course, but he came across as genuine, meaning his service felt truly personalised as a result.

Hit the target

Another tactic that left an impression was the targeted service we received from another agent. He took the time to ask us what we were in the market for, and then sent us weekly property reports using these metrics. He also audibly stifled a laugh when we mentioned a specific figure we were thinking of – subtle, no, but I appreciated the directness.

Tell tales

I'll never stop saying it: storytelling is my ? favourite ? part of marketing. It was also one of my favourite parts of the house hunting process.

In an example of good storytelling, the agent seemed in awe himself over the relatively low asking price. If he was going for an Oscar-winning performance, he nailed it – sweeping us up in his enthusiasm for the property.

Another example of great storytelling was the agent who remarked on the desirable qualities in each room (high ceilings, newly renovated kitchen etc.), which in turn helped us to visualise actually living in the space.

Your heart must be in it

Some agents were better at storytelling than others, of course; you could tell when their heart wasn’t in the spiel or story they were telling you about the property. In most of these cases, I was the one that had to apply the CTA: “wow, the light is nice in this room...” “oh um, yes it is – would you like a brochure?”

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Of course, marketing can only go so far. We ultimately put an offer on the property we did for its location and specs, not the marketing tactics associated with it (although the headline for its online listing is still stuck in my head, so that's something I guess).

However, we may buy or sell again in future, and based on the above points I now know exactly who we'll contact - and exactly who we won't.

*Going to give said broker a plug because he was fantastic. If you're based in Perth and looking to buy, give Nick a call!