Profiling Your Developments

We recently covered how to create a perfect area profile, the aim being to sell an area and lifestyle to a prospective buyer before they have even seen a listing in that area.  New developments are very similar, in that you can promote a development itself to those looking for a particular lifestyle by simply describing the development itself and what it has to offer the prospective buyer.

Some developments may be well known, having been promoted extensively through various traditional mediums, with those interested already having a good idea of what might be on offer.  Often this is not the case with those reaching your website simply searching for property in your area.  A descriptive development profile remains a vital tool in promoting your listings within a development, often without the prospective buyer even viewing the listings themselves.

Photo Gallery:
A picture does say a thousand words.  By adding in numerous images (we generally recommend a minimum of 8) of the area including landmarks and places of interest visitors, especially those that might not be familiar with the area, can get a better feel for the location in question.   Photographs offer the prospective buyer the opportunity to picture themselves in a particular setting or of the property types within the development.  These should be of a relatively high resolution and good quality.

Property Details:
The development logo included immediately promotes the development.  Often a strong logo will immediately convey the kind of development on offer.

This section gives a brief overview of the kind of development that is being offered, be it residential or commercial.  The kind of properties that one might find in the development are listed in this section, this will quickly alert a visitor to whether the development offers apartments, freestanding homes or simplexes.  This will convey to a prospective buyer as to whether listings offered match their requirements.  A starting price is also included, alerting the potential buyer to what they should expect price wise.

Once a branch has been assigned to the development, all active agents from that branch can potentially be assigned as listing agents.  This will allow a prospective buyer the opportunity to immediately contact those associated with the development without having to even browse through the listings.

Key Features or Amenities:
Every development was built either in a certain area to fulfil a certain need.  This is an opportunity to highlight nearby amenities such as shopping centres, schools and other places of interest or cultural importance.  Here you can quickly list those that are most applicable to those that would be interested in your development.  By checking these boxes before a potential buyer has even seen a listing they are already confident that this is where they would like to settle.

Good examples of things to include here would be frail care facilities for retirement villages, crèches in family estates or of game trails in nature reserves.  These are often unique to the type of development that is on offer.

Development Profile:
Profile why a development has been built, include immediate area information and describe the expected lifestyle associated with the development.  As with the key features, developments can be eco estates, retirement villages, entry level property or even nature reserves.  Each development offers a potential buyer something completely different.

Here you can explain what sets this development apart from others in close proximity or from developments that are of similar design.  Describe the number of homes, the architectural design or the ecology of an estate.  By better explaining these points to a prospective buyer will get a better understanding as to why they would want to invest in this development.  This changes the matter from buying a home in an estate to investing in a lifestyle.

Featured Listings:
This is dependent on the kind of development being profiled.  Often in new developments these cover new listings for sales while in older more established developments these could be re-sales or property that might be up for rent.

Mapped:
By ensuring you map the location of the development, those viewing the development profile can find the general location by clicking on the “Map” tab on the profile page.  This can offer a better idea of the neighbourhood and surround infrastructure. This may also offer better insight as to what schools, shopping centres, hospitals and other amenities that are available in the greater area.

By ensuring your development profile contains accurate and yet descriptive information, the development profile page can attract the attention of a prospective buyer before they may have seen a single listing.  These buyers may even contact your listing agents without browsing through the listings with the single goal of buying the lifestyle that you’ve described.