How to sell a home with a glass of milk

You know, for all the talk about lifestyle marketing – locating near a golf course, or choosing a Bordeaux from a home with a wine cellar or soaking in that Jacuzzi, there’s one very simple and fundamental item Realtors definitely don’t want to overlook.

Grocery stores.

According to data collected by our SpatialMatch lifestyle search engine, grocery stores are some of the first places that home buyers look for when they check out a neighborhood.

It totally makes sense. For all the driving you would like to do to Starbucks, or the movies or the gym, the one place a consumer has to visit, and probably more times than they want to, is the nearest Albertson’s, Whole Foods, Piggly Wiggly and so on.

And in this economy, with the popularity of extreme couponing and people watching their pennies, the right grocery store is more important than ever.

So how do you, as a savvy real estate broker and agent who is farming a certain area, use this to your advantage?

How do you as a broker or agent who prides him or herself on being the hyper-local expert in your marketplace, offer proof that you really are the hyper-local expert?

It’s all about the content.

Using the SpatialMatch search tool embedded on your site, here are some strategies you can deploy to a) build a rapport with a buyer who is concerned about where they will be buying groceries b) indicate to a buyer who perhaps did not think of this but are now glad you pointed it out c) show a seller how you go the extra mile in promoting their property for sale.

1)      Display the locations – create a page on your site using SpatialMatch to first show all the grocery stores located within a certain radius of any property that is being considered. Using the SpatialMatch slider bars, you can create color-shaded distance circles showing how far away any property is from each store.

2)      Give them the inside scoop – do some quick research on the grocery stores in question. Is there a great independent store nearby that most people are not familiar with? What about health food stores? Or are there plans for a new grocery store to be built nearby?

3)      Show them the discounts – everybody loves to hear stories about saving money on groceries. That’s why the TV shows on extreme couponing are the latest craze. Which of these stores offer great discounts? Coupons? Double coupons? Savings on gas? Special discounts on certain days, like the health food store that cuts prices 20% the first Tuesday of every month?

Wow- now that’s hyper-local information. Not in a boring text list, but beautifully displayed on a map. That can be emailed for future reference. Or shared on Facebook for feedback from friends and family.

We’re not going to sit here and tell you that you are going to sell a $500,000 property because you were able to point out there was a Trader Joe’s or a __________ store down the street that the potential home buyer didn’t know about.

But, don’t ignore the power of an appetite or a pocketbook.

Those factors could just be one of those tipping points that lead to a sale…and lead to a nice celebratory steak or lobster dinner for you.

For a demo on how SpatialMatch can make you the hyper-local expert, click here.