Sam's Word 11: In the news again... and why shouldn't you be?

Sam's Word

We have blogged before about our being featured in the media as estate agents. Raising awareness of our brand and what we do, and getting people to understand that we are property experts who can be trusted, are important. That has taken us to appear in print, radio, online, and in social media in recent months.

This time, we have been featured by a leading property portal, OnTheMarket.com, when using our expertise to offer our view on a distressing topic, 'What to do when you’ve found a dream home and your buyer walks away'. 

So, if you have found your dream home - perhaps via our section on OnTheMarket.com - now you have some advice to deal with one of the many unfortunate situations a property move can produce. 

We were listening to a broadcast this week, and an estate agent was asked, 'Why use a high street estate agent and not one of the new online services?' They answered, 'Because these online services don't have the people with the experience to cope if things go wrong.' Food for thought. Yes, it is good to use the innovations and open access facilities such as Facebook (see below), but having your chosen, local property experts to conduct, guide or help at need during your property transactions is as important as it has ever been.

Among the things you can do to help yourself is, for example, raising awareness that you have a property for sale or to let. We use Facebook and Twitter and other social media to promote ourselves and our clients, but more is, well, more. You can use these yourself, if you feel confident to do so.

One word of warning, though. Don't make the mistake of indicating when your property is unoccupied, which could be an invitation to burglars or worse. You could share that you have a property for sale or to be let out and create a page with photo's and text. Using images from our brochure, taken by professional photographers, would be a sensible step. Your friends will see your page, and they may well share it with others, and a potential buyer or tenant might soon be knocking on your door enquiring. Even then, however, having a professional friend, such as Edward Ashdale, to ensure the correct sale or let process is followed, is important. A tenant should be vetted; a buyer's seriousness probed (nicely). 

You can also simply tell people you know that your property is for sale or to let and spread the word that way. Though an Edward Ashdale sign (or more than one) is a bit of a give away, and so it should be. 

Such word of mouth is, of course, very important, and it is a major way we pick up new clients. We're worth talking about and getting in the news, after all.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  January 2015

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.