Every morning’s newspaper now spells out the same headlines, locally and internationally - the economy is on a downward spiral.

This sentiment is also carrying over into what was just a few months ago, a booming industry in the region - The real estate sector.

Real Estate marketing agencies, developers and agents had their portfolios overflowing with great deals, and could not keep track of where one sale concluded and the other began. This is of course rapidly changing.

Brushing up on your Real Estate sales pitch.

Yes, until today there was no need for a sales pitch, it was a seller’s and developers’ market. Everyone was buying off-plan and, from pictures on brochures.

Real Estate agents, some of them unfortunately *did not* have the time to even know where a project was located on a map, before selling - So great was the rush. We all understand now, that the market demographic of buyers has changed, but thankfully there are still investors and home seekers… what’s out is the speculation.

So what is this consolidated buyer demographic looking at in Propertys?

1) They are possibly holding out on investing in property right now - just waiting out the immediate phase and state of the market. They do know however, that they WANT to buy. - Home seekers need a place to live, and Investors want to become successful landlords.

2) The home seeker is now surely looking for the best deal, because after all, if in a time of slump they are to invest, it has to be a worthwhile choice, so they will be picky and do comparisons.

3) Investors are always looking for a good deal, even at these times, they are scouting for a bargain, and will “risk” an investment if they are convinced thoroughly that it will eventually pay off in the long term.

Selling a property by riding the Knowledge train:

Taking a cue from the situation above, the astute real estate agent or marketer can definitely stand to have at least some advantage by learning to read the signals and helping home seekers and investors with just a ‘little push’ in the right direction. How could you achieve this?…

The Do’s and Dont’s:

A) Do take the time to thoroughly learn about the project or property being sold. This involves at the very least identifying where in the city it is located, and in context to other nearby developments and major arterial highways and roads. In essence get a sense of bearing of where the property is, either a ready one or an off-plan one. The reason this is point A, is because believe it or not they are quite a few agents who have been spoiled rotten in the past couple of years, having seen run-away success with deal after deal, that proper knowledge was not a prerequisite.

B) Do not use “UAE” property language anymore - “catch of the day”, “my stock of propertys” “bargain of the week” does not hold well when selling a home or an office to people today. It worked before with speculators and property ‘punters’, but the scenario we all agree is different today.

C) Take the time to list a property with more details and benefits. At realvisionhomes.com, we only started a quick-n-dirty section for listing propertys, because agents and seller’s did not have the time for free registration at the structured listings area!

D) Do take the time to understand the geography and features of a locality when selling an off-plan property. Off plan will be the hardest to sell at these times, so  knowledge of what the location will be like and the advantages of buying in these areas will ignite some interest in Investors. For example - learn what the creation of Bur Dubai as an island will do for property value located and coming up near the banks of this man-made river! Everybody wants a waterfront residence or be near one

Learn why commercial property coming up near the Jebel Ali airport may just benefit an interested investor. Leverage the fact that people in Art are wealthy enough to want a piece of the huge Culture Village project and explain to them in targetted language what it would mean for them to buy there.

What is targetted language when marketing? - Pick a property from your portfolio, if its located in Culture village near to the upcoming opera or if its a villa that you have in your portfolio, on the golf course near the Sports City project, then use this information to hunt for investors and home seekers with these tastes. Visit and post on forums on the internet that deal with Golfing Communities, or Art forums. The same goes for propertys that you may have in some of the Gated communities… these are where families will want to live due to the self contained nature of these communities. Post on expat mothers forums.

In short, do not issue property listings blindly and with incomplete details, or spam everyone with must-sell emails. Surfing the property boom wave is over, now it’s a matter of earning a monthly salary (if you are an agent) and profit in a well planned manner.

Summary:

Consolidate your property portfolio. Pick a select few only, do research on the advantages of investing, renting or buying in these projects and then start out a targeted campaign aimed at the right people.

There is not that much of a chronic slump as it seems to be made out, after-all as proof, all one needs to do is pay a visit to the immigration lines at the airports in the country to see how many are moving in. They all eventually will need housing and offices.

Wishing you on-going success.