Gozo farmhouse for sale – how’s that for a blatant ad?!
Written by Elizabeth Ayling
Published 03 Aug 2011
Steve Holmes is a ‘do-it-yourself’ kind of guy. He did up his Gozo farmhouse and feels passionate about the place. But he needs to sell it in a Malta property market that’s anything but buoyant right now – for old places, at least. So, who better to sell it than the man himself? Steve has all but given up on high street middlemen and set himself the goal of selling it online – ideally by end November. So, is this an ad? Quite possibly. But we think Steve’s story makes an interesting read for anyone thinking of online D-I-Y sales. A reality check on the market here, lessons to learn, tips and more. Let’s call it a value-added advert, and as honest a plug as you’re likely to get online!
Steve & the DIY estate agent’s story
What, selling online, myself, directly? Are you kidding? It is no surprise considering the property market today, many would answer “yes” to these questions. One would have to be living literally under a rock not to realise that the state of the European and world economy has negatively impacted a homeowner’s ability to sell. Homes are staying on the market considerably longer, particularly old stone homes here in Malta and Gozo.
My story started in Gozo when the enthusiastic buyer of my 3 bedroom farmhouse with pool could not honour their contract to purchase and withdrew from the agreed sale; other potential buyers seemed to suddenly disappear too. If you ask the property agents (and I have) they will tell you that there are very few buyers out there.
Some that are out there tend to be looking for bargains, hovering above us like vultures ready to pounce on the desperate to sell, offering unrealistic prices. I heard of one property developer offering a desperate tearful seller no more than the value of the land that there beautiful house stood on. There are also of course a few genuine and honourable buyers out there.
So, how can I get the few genuine honest buyers out there through my front door?
We all know social media is playing a bigger part in our lives than ever and some would say it can move mountains, but can it sell houses on the Maltese Islands?
Information movement across social media channels is almost faster than the speed of light. When it comes to buying property, the first place people visit are local agents and property websites, but will that become old hat if the Twitter verse, Facebook chat and Blogerati (is that a word?) take over?
I know for sure that houses have been sold in the United States and UK using social media. So, with a targeted campaign using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, online partners like Maltainsideout, the recently rolled out Google+ and my blog acting as my online brochure, I aim to give it a go.
The first thing I need is an incentive for my many thousands of prospective scouts, typically here on the Maltese Islands if a private individual were to find a buyer for a property they would be offered a 1% reward. I need a bigger incentive to enable my property to stand out, so I am offering a €10,000 reward, a figure that reflects more than 3% of the €325,000 asking price; a very generous reward I feel.
When selling anything product or service, word-of-mouth promotion is essential, particularly in a small island community like Malta and Gozo, so the large reward should set tongues wagging, I hope. As a property agent told me “it’s all about getting the maximum number of potential buyers through your front door to view the property; the more potential buyers that see the property the sooner you will sell it”. Which is plain common sense.
What is my D-I-Y strategy to sales?
Twitter – regular tweets including details about property, Gozo, Malta, Old Farmhouses and anything related. I am careful to make my tweets interesting and engaging, always including a link to my blog describing the farmhouse. I am careful not to bombard readers with a continuous stream of “buy my house” as this will simply alienate my followers. I currently have more than 350 followers on twitter and this is growing at a rate of around 10 a day. Some of my tweets are re-tweeted which helps spread the word, I have created the Twitter #Reward€10000 hash tag to accompany the relevant tweets. (If you Google hash tag a plethora of explanations will follow if you are not familiar with the term).
Facebook – advertising, those tiny little adds that appear on the right of your Facebook page. Not expensive (you decide how much you spend) and you can target who sees your add by location, sex, age, country and more.
Hand-outs – I had 100 colour postcards printed for very little more than the cost of delivery. I give these to family, friends, local bars shops and anyone that shows an interest.
Blog – The blog for the farmhouse took me a couple of hours to create.
Partnering – online buddies with synergy; ie. good content generating good traffic and attracting the right target audience. Maltainsideout is giving me valuable inbound marketing links, screen ‘real estate’ and your eyeballs.
My goal is to have the property sold by 30th November 2011 [UPDATE:Steve still has it on the market, but things are moving now it's spring 2012, and interest is bubbling up again so don't delay if you're interested. Quote Malta Insideout to Steve please to get a good deal!]. I have been actively marketing the property via social media for 4 weeks now, I have doubled the number of enquiries received compared to those from property agents in the same time, I am already taking appointments for viewings.
So is social media the next property buying revolution? I hope so. Oh, almost forgot: here’s the plug….
The property is a three bedroom, two bathroom fully-restored farmhouse with swimming pool on the beautiful Island of Gozo. Click here for more info, and do say you came via Maltainsideout!
Interesting exercise in marketing – it should certainly work better than conventional mediums. Here’s hoping it works for you Steve. Just a thought, why the low profile on the ‘bathroom’ – the only one it seems – on your blog?
Thank you for the words of encouragement Patricia and you are absolutely right I do not have a description of the bathroom on the blog, I will correct this in the next couple of days.
Steve, I think your place does have two bathrooms and a downstairs shower room, am I correct? I know people in Malta have a thing about en suites for each and every bedroom, but quite frankly, as someone who lives in an old house myself, I think they somewhat spoil old places. I’ve seen en suites squeezed in the corner of nicely proportioned rooms, just for the sake of it. Ruining the look and feel of the place. Unless you’ve rooms that lend themselves easily to extra bath or shower rooms, I think they are not necessary to have sprouting like mushrooms. Once doesn’t have guests all the time! Plus, think of the water and electricity usage.
Ok, we have an en-suite with the master bedroom, a common very large shower room on the 1st floor.
On the ground floor we have a small wet-room containing hand basin, toilet and shower. I will clarify all this on my new post.