Hello, I’m Gavin, hope you guys are doing well during this circuit breaker period. I had a lot of spare time now, so I just wanted to share a little more about one of the properties that we sold recently. The project is called Parc Riviera, and it is a brand new property in the West Coast region. This was a compact 3 bedder layout, 904 sqft, at high floor level just sold at $1.258mil.
The owners had previously come across our videos before and were keen to allow us to partner with them to sell their property. This was the first investment property that they bought back in 2017. Our team met the owners twice in late 2019 to discuss a selling and buying timeline, to fully understand their plans and work with them on possible routes.
So our first meet up was in November 2019, he was a super cool guy and just to share that he was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Like genuinely, there aren’t that many people who are so accommodating and easy to communicate with. This gives us a lot of fulfilment in our job and allows us as agents to put our full focus into selling the property when our clients can put their complete trust in us. So just want to give a shoutout and thank these owners for the opportunity to assist you in your property plans.
When we met them, the project had yet to receive its TOP and we had no idea when it would be ready for move-in. And because our mainstream of marketing was through video home tours, this was our first stepping stone to overcome. To still do the best that we can with the marketing, we initially planned to do a video without showing the actual interior of the property. However, during the video planning process, the owners received their TOP notice, meaning it was ready for move-in. Right away, we scrapped the initial plans and changed to our full home tour video showing the interior, of course after discussions with the owners to make sure we were on the same page.
Now, we arranged to come and take a look at the property. Immediately there were a few main concerns that came up in our minds:
Before Staging
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The house was brand new but it was empty. We knew this would be a blockage in selling the property as it had just TOP, and there were going to be many other competitors that offered the same viewing experience for buyers. So we recommended full home staging for the property and installed lighting to the home as well. This helps to create an emotional appeal to buyers in that they can imagine the best possible layout and them living there. This sets us apart and puts us ahead of the other competitors.
After Staging
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The owners were still within their seller stamp duty period meaning they would have to sell it after a certain date or they would incur the stamp duty. This meant we had to convey this information upfront to the buyers so that they would know that there would be a slight delay in the process. This would prove as a mental block from buyers’ perspectives and thus reducing our potential buyer’s pool. With this, we were still confident we would be able to find the right buyer and offered as many solutions as we could so that we would be able to match both the buyer’s and seller’s timeline.
It is on the West Coast but isn’t facing the West Coast. We think a lot of buyers come here for the sea view, but now we are facing the opposite direction. This, of course, reduces the buyer pool for those looking for views of the West Coast. To answer these possible objections we might face, we branded the property with an angle that we have a full unblocked view of the Bukit Timah Hill. This brought in more suitable buyers who weren’t specifically looking for a sea view. After conducting the first few viewings, a few more roadblocks came up.
Parc riviera did not have any MRT stations within walking distance. This ruled out buyers who needed an MRT station within walking distance, whether they needed it for their kid’s convenience or if they didn’t drive. We then changed our angle as a property away from the hustle and bustle of nearby MRT stations or town cores and that buyers look here for the fantastic views and serenity. Also, we researched the upcoming Jurong Region Line to show buyers that there are plans to improve public transport in this region.
The amount of competition here. The competition we had from within Parc Riviera and the two new projects Twin VEW and Whistler Grand, gave buyers a lot of options to choose from. This coupled with the fact that we were marketing it during January-March 2020, the New Year and CNY festivities as well as the recent outbreak of coronavirus. This created a double whammy that affected our marketing campaign which brought in only 5 viewings across the span of 3 months.
This lack of viewings meant there was a lower chance of being able to sell the property fast. This is a critical factor as staging can be pretty costly, in this case, our owners were paying for it, and if we are unable to sell it fast, our owners would incur high costs. So our goal in every property, of course, is to sell it as fast as possible but also achieve a price our owners are looking for.
Something that contributed to the sale was a change made to the pricing strategy that we recommended to our sellers together with an in-depth study of the surrounding competition. This is very important not just to stay relative in the market conditions, but to also update your clients on the constant movements in market trends to achieve the desired results. Right after the re-pricing was made, one of our last viewers came back to enquire within that week. The offer came up 2 weeks later, which turned out to be our eventual buyer after some negotiations were made.
Another key factor that drew in the right audience was also our signature home tour video, which our team has done 500+ till date helping many of our sellers reach out aggressively to the target audience and proven effective since utilising this method. From the script and branding angle built by our co-founder Melvin to the hours of filming and editing by our lovely videographers to produce the best home tours in Singapore, and not forgetting the collaboration from our brilliant digital marketers to constantly sieve out the right buyer pools,
This property was sold:
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5 viewings in 11 weeks
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No extension of Home Staging
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No seller stamp duty incurred
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Highest profit of 3 bedrooms ($126K capital appreciation)
Although there have been two 3 bedder sub-sales at Parc Riviera before us, one before TOP and one after TOP, both of which after factoring in stamp duties and other costs, were negative sales. That also puts us among the highest profit at Parc Riviera across all unit types.
To sum it up, which helped us to sell this property given all the above roadblocks:
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Staging of the home that set us apart and created an emotional appeal
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Analysing and planning the suitable marketing angle for every property
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Bringing up the plus points of the home as much as possible (Brand new, High floor, Unblocked view)
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Coming up with solutions to current and potential roadblocks
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Continuous study of the market trends and competition to stay on top of the market
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Video home tour and social media marketing to reach a wider audience reach as well as suitable buyers
Of course, we would like to thank this wonderful couple for partnering with the PropertyLimBrothers team and having that full confidence in us to allow us to sell their property. We wish the very best for you and the family and look forward to working with you again very soon, that would be our pleasure. For everyone out there, stay safe during this period and we will all get through these difficult times together.
If you made it to the end, thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully this can give you all a better perspective on the real estate industry and how our team works to achieve the best results for our clients.
If you need real estate advice, our team is always on hand to answer your queries, do drop us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Cheers!
