You can never have a second chance to make the right first impression (How much do you respect your property?)

Our social circle includes too many people who own at least one property and they try to sell it. Until 2008 this was “a piece of cake”. They just had to call a few guys, inform them about the property and in no time clients were waiting for a meeting. It did not matter if the property was properly presented or not. Investors were able to forgive you, for not being serious, being patient until the transaction. They were asking their lawyers to be fast and try to be “correct in their work, without upsetting the owner”. Even if this owner had provided them half of the papers of the property …

A presentation identifies the property itself

I receive tens of properties on a daily basis. From expensive to cheap, from interesting to worthless, from serious to deceiving, all properties are shown through a presentation. Not just to me, but to any potential client as well. This presentation identifies the property itself. So before I check the details and parameters, I am attracted (or not) by the presentation. Would you like to go through this together? Here we go…

A property has arrived. Let us find out more about it…

An email has come with a property. It can be an apartment or a land, a building or a future residential project. Let us open it…

First scenario: A presentation without respect for the property.

·         We see some lines with the description (usually describing half of what you need to know).

·         The photos show us… nothing (or maybe show us what the owner thought that we should see, maybe the agent as well).

·         The property’s documents are “unreadable”.

·         The price is the average one, but “negotiable”

Result

How attracted are you to find out more?

·         Usually you’re not. You will close this email and simply place it in a “folder” you have for useless stuff.

·         You expect the owner to be someone who “happened to find a property and does not really know how to exploit its potential”.

·         (The readers of this blog for quite some time know that I am weird. This is why sometimes I try to insist and collect the missing information about  a good property. What is the result? 95% of chances are that I will lose my time…)

Second scenario: A presentation that respects the property and helps the reader appreciate it more

·         The email is written in a professional way.

·         The attached presentation is usually a PDF file.

·         There is a beginning, middle and an end.

·         You see all you would ask about the property, correctly written.

·         The property’s documents are described and presented in order. This way they allow you to make the right connections and understand the property’s potential.

·         The photos explain what you read before and they are professionally made.

·         The whole file makes you feel that the person who created it, respects you.

Result

How attracted are you to find out more?

·         A lot. You are sure that this is something interesting and you just hope that its price is not outrageously expensive.

·         You understand that either the owner is serious or he collaborates with a serious consultant and he knows what he is doing.

·         You expect a negotiation which will be based on arguments.

·         You see the property’s potential and you are able to make the first calculations.

You can never have a second chance to make the right first impression

The property’s presentation creates the first impression about it. And you can never have a second chance in order to do so. Once the potential client (or his consultant) reads something which is not professional, your property has been automatically downgraded in his eyes. And this is something that you can not change.

Lots of people don’t care about how they present their property and, then, they end up being frustrated because their property (and sometimes even themselves) is not respected. 

How much do you respect your property?

Everyone would say “a great deal”. But when we respect something, we take good care of it. Plus when we want to sell it, we present it in the best possible light. Unfortunately I see thousands of Romanians and foreigners who want to sell their property and don’t care about how they present it. It is like they go on a date with a beautiful lady and they arrive there being dirty, with awful clothes, messed hair, smelling like hell. But they say “my inner world is wonderful”. What are their chances of being taken into consideration?

I know that most people find it useless to invest even 200 – 300 Euro in their property. A proper presentation sounds “unnecessary” to them. What is the result of this action? They lose money and sell for a lower price, or don’t sell at all.

Respect your property if you want it to pay you back. The times you knew, when clients would buy everything, are long gone.