We read a Tweet the other day that said “The phrase ‘a stone’s throw’ has been discontinued. Please use ‘In wifi range’”.
A real sign of the times, but we’re not sure it will catch on.
However, it got us thinking about what’s important to a home buyer these days and whether estate agents are presenting information to a purchaser that’s really important.
Estate agents use a property’s proximity to facilities in marketing – it’s a no-brainer: “You’re just a short walk from the local grammar school” or “There’s a train station within 500 metres”. These are really important facts that will help sell a property, but are estate agents falling short?
One of our team recently moved house quite some distance. They did all the research about where the nearest schools, supermarkets and public transport were, but once moved in, they found there was a gaping hole in their knowledge. There was no superfast broadband available at the address and the mobile phone signal was useless on their network.
What would have been really useful at the viewing stage was a list of the technology utilities: who was able to supply the broadband; what speed the broadband available was; and what mobile phone operator provided the strongest signal.
We think it’s given that in the 21st century almost every property will have gas, electricity and water, but with more people working from home and a voracious appetite for online activity, broadband connections and mobile phone signals are important utilities.
They can be a deal breaker for a minority (and at the very least, inform buyers about what to expect when they set themselves up for communication purposes).
We suppose the downside is that a lack of technology utilities might put off some tech-savvy buyers, but presumably there will, at least for the time being, be the anti-internet crowd who will snap up anything that’s not ‘in wifi range’.
Harry Simons is a partner at MPL Interiors – an office refurbishment company specialising in estate agency and commercial premises
Comments
I couldn't agree more either. In this day and age people really want to know about the things that matter and the issue is that the 'things' that matter to people have changed dramatically and are constantly changing, however the industry does not seem to have caught up with this for some reason. It is particularly evident in the lettings market which is predominantly a younger target market and whose priorities are very different!
Jeanette Leigh www.thepropertyworks.co.uk
I couldn't agree more.
However my experience over the last few months leads me to believe that many agents neglect the need to use the tech utilities as part of their sale pitch, not because they don't want to, but because many of them don't understand what is available.
This became apparent after quizzing various agents about the systems they use for their websites etc. and led led me to write a post for our own blog which was really a call for agents to upgrade.
Here's a quote from that post:
'In business you wouldn't still rely on an old Bakerlite, swivel dial, analogue telephone so why would you rely on a browser system that is seven or more years out of date?'
If you are interested you can view it here.
http://www.findersandsellers.com/wordpress/?p=1639