5 surefire ways to make your property listing stand out

To entice potential buyers to your property clutching their proverbial chequebook, especially when the market is hesitant, it’s vital to stand out from the crowd. Make a strong first impression online, layer it with details of desirable assets and build that irresistible emotional pull. 

Here’s a five-step guide to get you set up for success.

1. Get in early

Engage your selling agent early and ensure their vision aligns with yours. Tidy the garden, declutter the house, do simple repairs and clean until it sparkles. 

The marketing launch of a grand heritage property in Melbourne’s Malvern East came after a four-month build-up, Kay & Burton selling agent Gowan Stubbings says. “We started with a blank canvas and a strategic plan to go post-school holidays,” he says. “The vendors moved out and they shared our vision to present it, get the gardener in, do some work, and make it photograph well to stand out from the crowd.”

He says the alluring facade photo captures its lovely garden, wide frontage, stature and street presence. 

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2. Professional styling will work wonders

Appropriate styling with furniture, artworks, accessories, colour and foliage will bring out the best in your home. Professional stylists know how to dress every room, even awkward spaces, for photography gold. 

Stacey Moran, of Moran Property Styling, says it’s about “telling a story and catching the eye”. “Some people have trouble getting their heads around the expense but you have to stand out from the pack,” she says. “It’s very hard for a vendor to detach themselves emotionally, particularly if it has been their home for a long time. Our job is to add value to what is probably someone’s biggest asset.”

3. High-quality photography is key

A picture is worth a thousand words, but online photos can be worth tens of thousands of dollars and a sale if they entice a house hunter to inspect in person.

A former factory’s red-brick facade was the hero shot for a Fitzroy townhouse conversion listed by Nelson Alexander’s Tom Breen because heritage is “a key attribute” for inner-north buyers, he says.

“The photos are the biggest key to it,” he says. “We chose a higher photo package, spending more time to get it right, because you have just one opportunity to make a first impression on the internet and you don’t want to lose your audience. It’s important to get the right angles, demonstrate the best attributes of the property and give a true representation of what’s there.” 

4. Video and virtual tours will give you the edge

A virtual tour brings the floor plan and site plan to life while a video reveals the flow of a floor plan and a true sense of space. With one drone sweep, interstate and overseas buyers can see the neighbourhood and proximity to the city and other desirable destinations.

The bluestone facade photo of this South Melbourne home celebrates its c1858 architectural rarity, Jellis Craig agent Simon Gowling says, but shooting a video adds the connection to its large, private back garden, the shopping and dining district nearby and its proximity to the CBD and Albert Park Lake. “Not every property needs the video but, in this case, the visual layer lets the buyer explore it in its entirety and provides another angle,” he says. “It makes it more enticing and they get more of a feel for it.”

5. Say it best

Engaging, accurate copywriting adds the detail and emphasises your property’s best assets.

Kim McQueen, director of McQueen Real Estate in Daylesford who sold Rachel and Ryan’s home (House 2) on the 2022 season of The Block, says “the marketing is the number one thing; 99 per cent of the time the first contact is online.”

“For the copy, it’s important to paint a picture about how we live, how the spaces make you feel, the liveability.”

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