A show day is essential to achieve best price

In the current flat-lining residential property market, sellers and their estate agents need to embrace, and optimise, every available marketing tool to achieve best possible price.

Show days have always proved to be the strongest tool in the box.

A well-run show day with, ideally, two people in attendance from the mandated estate agency (to diminish security risks) will boost the chances of achieving optimum sale price at the best of times.

We have consumers who are expecting to see a range of properties on show on a Sunday afternoon. This is a system that has existed for decades. Let’s not tamper with a programme that has stood the test of time and survived all market conditions.

Show day home selling in modern day South Africa certainly has its critics and cynics. And they are inevitably more prolific among the new-age online marketers of residential property.

Digital is no substitute

Granted, digital marketing is another worthy tool in the box – and it certainly does have a significant role to play in the home sale arena. But it is no substitute for the long-standing sole mandated show house formula.

History has shown that at least 40% of residential property buyers will simply not visit a for-sale home on a week day. Either as a result of time constraints or because they simply prefer to view show houses on Sundays.

The fact remains that a structured marketing campaign – with show days, through sole mandate, as its centrepiece – is, and always will be, the best formula for securing maximum price for the seller.

Best reasons to go on show

Here are some of the best reasons to have a show day:

• On a Sunday, the show house can be “stage set” to look at its best. Logistically, this cannot be done over and over again for every potential buyer on random weekdays

• Would-be buyers view the house over a period of hours rather than weeks (as in the case of view-by-appointment selling). This creates a platform of dynamic competition between interested parties

• If the home is not on show, the target market is inevitably halved. This is because many buyers prefer to view homes on Sundays only

• Prospective buyers view many homes in a much shorter time frame

• Buyers are able to make comparisons more quickly – by viewing other show houses on the same day

• The buyer has the freedom to discuss the property in an uninhibited way, as the seller would normally not be present, and

• The seller avoids the inconvenience – particularly on week days – of constantly preparing the home for an ongoing flow of view-by-appointment prospective buyers.