Sales Websites

[Rosepop]

Further to the great advice received in an earlier post, we are going to create a website specifically for selling our properties.

In order to brief our designer I need examples but can't find examples on the web - can anyone provide links to personal websies specifically for selling property ?

[paolo]

I would just show a designer sites that you like - can be any sites. Or convert an existing rental site so it says it is for sale rather than to rent. What you say to a buyer would be more or less what you say to a renter.

[Mountain Goat]

I'm sure there are hundreds, but one guy we know has been doing it for over 20 years, originally just in Switzerland, but now has spread out to Austria and France. He's also a lawyer - perhaps a good mix.

Alpine property, but his website is here and might give you a few ideas. We remember him particularly as he gave us very strong advice not to buy in our village.

MG

[Rosepop]

Hi Paolo.

Wouldn't the content and emphasis be quite different? For example a buyer would want to know info about the lettings history, but a renter would not need to know that.

A buyer would want to know more detail about the structure of the property, how up to date the septic tank was, stuff like that which you wouldn't really want on a rental site. Also I guess you'd want to discuss development potential etc

Maybe there is room on the website advice trails for advice specific to sales sites rather than tental sites?

[paolo]

Yes, you would make tweaks to the text across the site, but the design and pictures wouldn't need to change particularly. You wouldn't have a contact page and you could add a page of hard information about electrics, fosse, etc.

[la vache!]

I'm just going to add an extra page to my website with all the details that buyers will be interested in. It won't be on the menu so hopefully potential renters won't find it!

[Elle1971]

We've done a few sales websites... and as a designer, I would want to know about how intricate you would want the site. Look at things like search functions, and back-office additions. Make sure that you can run your buiness wherever you are in the world (as long as you can get an internet connection). having a back-office on yoursite may cost more in site design... but it will save you a heck of a lot of money in the long run (in time, and site update fees)

I'd post links to two different examples of ones that we have done, but I wouldn't wish to upset the mods, an it be mistaken for advertising.

Paolo has given cracking advice! As designers we ask our clients to find sites of any type at all that they like. Just to give us an idea o what our clients like ith regards to "look and feel", useability (sp?), colour schemes etc.

Good luck!

Elle xx

[Giddy Goat]

Here's a link Rosepop - not to everyone's taste in terms of colour but I like it in most respects - the style is neutral and won't put people off, which is important to some; it's clean and easy to navigate. It sounds as if you would like to include more detail, and as far as a buyer goes the more the better, if it's well-organised.

Nothing to do with me BTW!

http://www.bellemaison32.com

Much as I love animals, the animal page isn't strictly necessary though!

[Alan Knighting]

Further to the great advice received in an earlier post, we are going to create a website specifically for selling our properties.

In order to brief our designer I need examples but can't find examples on the web - can anyone provide links to personal websies specifically for selling property ?

A quick way of getting some sort of coverage could be to use something like:-

French Connections – Selling your property.

Alan

[Jimbo]

I'm just going to add an extra page to my website ...

Sorry, I going to disagree with much of what has been stated here. Selling a rental property for a considerable amount more than local agents will insist that it's worth, is an exercise in serious seduction where you're likely to stretch your potential buyers financially until their pips squeak. If you're expecting buyers to make this amount of committment to you, in return you'll have to do a lot more than simply cobble together a couple of extra pages onto your rental website and hope for the best.

Don't be sloppy. Spend time and money creating a dedicated sale web/blog that sells the dream to your potential purchasers without too much dreary stuff about 'fosses and electrics'. Make yourself available to punters 24/7 through phone and email to answer all the millions of things about 'fosses and electrics' that they will want to know. Accept that selling privately isn't an easy option - if you want easy, go to an agent - but be aware that the rewards from private sales can be considerable if you get it right.

Jim

[Alan Knighting]

Jim,

I entirely agree with you. I wasn’t for a moment suggesting that putting an entry onto something like French Connections was the only way to go – Heaven forbid. I just think it might be a way of dipping a toe in the water until the full marketing exercise begins. One can never tell with these things, the right person might just see it.

Coincidentally, two of my neighbours have recently sold their properties by word of mouth. They let it be known that they were proposing to sell and before they had approached agents or prepared any sales documentation or Web sites they had people knocking on their doors and their properties were sold in a matter of weeks. I don’t know what they were asking and I don’t know whether or not they sold cheaply. All I know is they sold quickly and easily.

Alan

[Rosepop]

Selling a rental property for a considerable amount more than local agents will insist that it's worth, is an exercise in serious seduction where you're likely to stretch your potential buyers financially until their pips squeak

Hey Jim, we only want a fair price, nothing more or less. This sounds a bit too stressed out for me!

Anyway I don't find fosse septiques dreary - they are an interesting subject in their own right as other trails on this forum testify!!

[Giddy Goat]

we are going to create a website specifically for selling our properties.

Sorry Rosepop, I must have misunderstood, and thought that perhaps you were breaking into the local real estate scene and becoming agents, hence the link I posted. But I've just re-found the earlier thread you have referred to. viewtopic.php?t=5285

Goats have short memories!

[la vache!]

Well, since my rather flippant comment about adding a page to my website, I'm getting on with a sales blog and following Jimbo's advice. The valuation I had from the local estate agent gives no credit for the successful business that I have built up and the money I have re-invested into the gites, so Jim is quite right, if you want to get a good price, a little more work is required to market the property to it's full potential.

[Jimbo]

... we only want a fair price, nothing more or less.

I thought that was what we all wanted. Maybe I nodded off at the back of the class. To clarify: My suggestion is, to the price indicated by your local French agents, add a 'fair' amount for your gite business. The agents won't do this (in my experience), they'll only price for bricks and land.

The only reason I'm contributing to this and related threads is because we were faced with the same dilemma nine months ago. Our sales blog generated three good offers from the UK and we sold privately to the highest bidder at about 20% more than the price our local agents said we should accept. We didn't have a single offer through the local agents.

This sounds a bit too stressed out for me!

If this sounds too stressful, don't do it. It's only money. I thought the likelihood of not achieving a fair return for our property/business was a far more stressful prospect.

Jim