Whether you're looking to increase your valuation conversion rate, or generate new listings. Sending out On Behalf of Buyer Letters/Home Finding service has your back.
While technically a Home Finding service is a USP for your business, it is also a very effective letter campaign idea.
In effect, this is a service you would need to first promote on a valuation or market appraisal. It's your USP (unique selling point) over your competitors. At some point during the valuation you would need to highlight that your agency is in a unique position to actively and precisely help them locate their onward purchase.
Selling the Home Finding service to your vendors
Bringing Homesearch with you on a valuation via a laptop or tablet would allow you to include the homeowner directly into your Home Finding offering. Don't just tell them, show them the filters in Explorer and work through their specifications. If you filter down to the point where there are almost no properties on the screen, then you can speak to them about loosening up their search criteria or looking in another locale more suitable to their needs.
Once you have all of the vendors search filters in place, you might want to untick off-market properties to begin with. Searching now will show the vendor just want they're up against without your help. Then providing the juxtaposition between what's on the market now and what's available off the market will demonstrate just how valuable your Home Finding offering is.
For example, I'm going to be running the following search in Explorer looking within HP2 7. I'm selecting the following filters;
- HP2 7
- Semi-detached
- 3 beds
- Max price - £400k
- Owner occupier
- Internal area - Min size 750 Sq ft
- Off market unticked
As you can see, we only have one pin on the screen. One on market listing. In fact, as the pin is amber we can inform the vendor it is already under offer. As cruel as it might be, we've just shown the vendor that without your help, they're in for a hard time finding their next home.
Now we can tick back in the Off Market filter and add another, not sold in at least 6 years. This way we can be more certain that the people we're writing to could be considering their own move this year.
The search results are a little more encouraging this time;
This time around we have 36 potential properties. All owner occupied, none sold in at least 6 years, all matching the vendors specifications.
"if you instruct with us, we'll write to these homeowners on your behalf".
So what now? Your vendor seems excited at the possibility of seeing beyond the 2% of total properties out there, that just happen to be on the portals now. Well one effective method of proceeding would be to package this Home Finding service up with a Dormant Marketing strategy.
The complimenting Dormant Marketing Strategy
One issue with vendors struggling to find their onward purchase is the fact that many are reluctant to list their own property until they have something else lined up to move to. While we might have just shown them what we can do to help them locate that next home, the Home Finding service is still a Tomorrow-fix in their eyes, rather than a solution today.
Much like the Home Finding service itself, a Dormant Marketing strategy serves two purposes. While the former helps with conversion rates and instruction numbers, that later can help with a speedy vendor decision on the valuation and can safeguard your investment in them.
So how does it work? Once Vendor 1 is aware of what's available off the market, you'll need to inform them, that to take advantage of this, Vendor 1's property will need to be in the best possible position to move forward, should Vendor 2 contact the agent off the back of one of our Home Finding letters.
"...if we get you signed up today, photography booked in, floor plans done and Portal advert ready to go, we'll place you on our dormant marketing strategy. No immediate viewings on your property just yet, we can take our time and find you the right home. But if another homeowner gets back to us via these letters, or you find something online, you'll be ready to come to market in an instant..."
If the homeowner is ready to proceed, you have won the instruction off the back of offering this Home Finding service. You have demonstrated that while other agents offer this-and-that, you're offering what excites most people moving home, their next property and a chance to see properties not currently available via the portals. You might even offer Vendor 1 first refusal on the viewings to Vendor 2's home, should the Home Finding letters prove successful.
Homesearch will not be offering advise on your own contractual agreements with homeowners, but we are aware that to offer a dormant strategy like the above, a homeowner would need to enter into an agreement with you, the agent, that stipulates the homeowner will instruct you as their agent once they have found their onward purchase.
The second benefit of this strategy is to you the agent. Now that the homeowner has agreed to instruct you once they've found their next home, your investment in them via letters and time is safeguarded. Should Vendor 1 place an offer on another agents listing, they [the vendor] should inform your competitor that now that they have their onward purchase lined up, they can let their agent know [you] they are proceedable, should you competitor ask your vendor about the sale of their own property.
Creating the letter
It's advisable to save the search you conducted with the vendor at their home. This way you can create and dispatch their letter without the stress of them watching over your shoulder. We all know how many typos slip in to your text when someone is watching you work. In all seriousness, it's best creating your letters in the comfort of your own office.
As for the content, aim to keep it as genuine as possible. Speak about your buyers, what they are looking for, why they are looking to move. Never mention their price range, just simply state they have a healthy budget for the area.
With your buyers permission, think about introducing them via photos or sharing more information as to why they're looking to move to this area. We've even seen some of our agents type up a sort bio for some of their buyers.
It's an age old ploy Estate Agents use, "we have a buyer for your home". However vendors have cottoned on to this and your letter could result in a few eye-rolls. That's why it's important to keep your letter honest to the buyers you do have. One suggestion, (that requires buyers happy to do this) would be to record your buyers and what they're looking for. Sit them down in your office, in front of your branding and put together short buyer profile videos. They don't need to be long, but these videos linked via a QR code will add immense gravity to your claim that you have a buyer looking for a home just like theirs.
People tend to buy and sell to people who remind them of themselves. If the receiver of one of your letters are an older couple, whose children have already left home, your introduction of a young family might remind the potential sellers of how their property was perfect for their own kids way back when. In effect, you could trigger their first thoughts of moving on, looking towards a property that could better suit someone in their retirement years.
If you need help creating this letter, we have a basic template you can download and amend here;
Homesearch sale promo home finding combo.docx
If you plan on using this downloadable letter, please be sure to amend all the relevant details, contact points, colours, logos, QR codes, images and add any legal disclaimers. You don't want Matt receiving your leads!
Including a recent sale of a property similar to those you're targeting can also help with homeowners who've not moved in years. They are unlikely to know about recent sales in the locale area.
Just make sure you play it forward. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a well advertised Home Finding service is an instruction generator on its won, as well as a way of helping your val conversion rates. Make sure to offer the Home Finding service to the recipients of your letter. We're hoping they're considering a move, maybe they've even been on the portals already and can't find anything they like.
Do I charge homeowners for this?
There are several schools of thought here and the answer depends on what you're looking to achieve.
If you're looking to increase your market share, you might want to offer a Home Finding service free of charge to those homeowners who instruct you, but a chargeable service to those who list via another agent.
If you're looking to increase your valuation conversion rates, a free of charge service for all might be the way to go. In the end, if you win even one instruction from this activity, what's the price of a few letters?
Or if you're looking at additional revenue streams, a Home Finding consultation could be a chargeable service for the wealthy buyer. Ultimately the choice is yours.
I don't know, seems like a lot of work.
Like all things, you get out of something equal to what you put in. A Home Finding service offered on every valuation will need to be something you stick with over a period of time. Don't get disheartened if it doesn't immediately bear fruit. The Home Finding service was the number 1 campaign Homesearch promoted during 2021-22. In fact, it worked so well that we created an online version of the offering.
Homefinder by Homesearch is a tool that can sit on your website and offer this service to passers by, without your involvement up until the very end. In this way, the Home Finding service can scale and reach all sorts of people thinking about their next move. In fact advertising a QR code linking to your very own Homefinder link is strongly advised. Window displays, sold boards, letter heads and even bus stops.
"Struggling to find your next home, start you search with us"