Tips for Selling a Rural Property

Selling a rural property in the countryside can be a lot like selling a dream. The very thing that makes a rural property so attractive and charming is what can make selling the property more challenging. 

Many country properties are uniquely suited to their owner’s tastes, and it will take a buyer with a similar style, and a love of the location and the property, to commit to the purchase. This is usually the case with grazing properties for sale, as an example.

Furthermore, city-based buyers often fantasize about making a treechange but are wary of the logistics involved and are sometimes hesitant to go through with such a large move.

However, this does not mean that a private rural property sales process must be difficult. It just requires some preparation, an awareness of your unique offering, and a marketing campaign that ensures your home is viewed by as many people as possible.

Many buyers search for remote properties for sale in Australia, including large rural properties for sale and small rural properties for sale. We can help you understand more about what buyers are looking for when it comes to private rural property sales to help you get the price that you want.

Here are some property tips about what to focus on:

Clean inside and out 

Country properties can often take more time to prepare for sale than city homes, so make sure you set aside enough time to freshen up the grounds.

Groom your gardens so they look well-maintained and healthy. If that tired entrance-way needs a spruce-up, now is the time to do it. Finally, tidy and declutter the inside of your home so potential buyers can envision moving in during Open for Inspections.

Don’t forget the marketing 

With your property in great shape and ready for sale, it’s time to plan a marketing campaign to effectively advertise your property. A marketing campaign does not have to be a lengthy or costly exercise, but simply refers to the process of figuring out the best ways to capture buyers’ attention.

A rural property’s marketing campaign will include different elements from that of a city property, and at Buymyplace we can help you tailor a marketing campaign to suit your needs.

In our many years of working in real estate, we’ve become familiar with what features work best for rural properties, and we advise you consider the following elements before selecting your campaign.

Your Uniqueness Matters 

Ensure that all of your unique property features are included in your property description, as this is how interested buyers will search for and find you. Be sure to include those visual or structural aspects that make your property unique. These might include pools, barns, dams or private access to natural landscapes like outdoor playgrounds, rivers, forests or national parks. These will be your key selling points and help you capture your property marketing audience.

First Impressions Count 

Rural properties generally will not receive as much foot traffic as city properties, which means your property’s online listing is crucial to being noticed by potential buyers. Professional photography is the first step in communicating your property’s value and to keeping your listing noticeable in online search results, so be sure to consider including this in your campaign. We also recommend you engage our professional copywriter to complete your property description, as this will help you be noticed by the right audience who are looking for a rural property for sale, just like yours.

The Right Exposure

Major real estate websites like Realestate.com.au and Domain have created a hierarchy of online property listing categories, which have been designed to deliver various degrees of online advertising exposure.

A Standard Listing is the default listing you will receive when advertising your property on these websites. This isn’t always a bad option, as long as the competition in your area is minimal. However, if your property is in a suburb where competition is fierce or one that attracts few genuine buyers, you may want to consider the Upgrade Listing options in order to be noticed. Our team would be more than happy to discuss any questions you have about Upgrade Listings.

Capture the Eyes of Passers-By 

If your area enjoys an increase in foot traffic during a certain time of year due to holiday seasons or local festivals, and you are listing during one of these times, be sure to demand attention with a photographic ‘For Sale’ signboard to showcase your property. 

Photographic sign boards include three hero images, which help buyers get a sense of what the house on your property actually looks like inside.

A Case Study: Selling the farm 

If you’re wondering, “How can I sell my unique property my way?”. Here’s a case study about how a successful Buymyplace customer did just that.

In the Idyllic farming area of Gloucester, in rural NSW, it’s not unusual for large acreages to languish on the market for nine or more years. To move to a working farm is, after all, a very definite lifestyle choice and not for the faint-hearted.

But Brad Marzato did not have the luxury of a decade to sell, having already committed himself to another property in Tamworth.

“Initially I was going to go with an agent but rang three in the local area, who didn’t even bother to ring me back. One still hasn’t,” he explains.

“Agents around my way seem to be uninterested and their motivation is poor, and there was no way I wanted to hand them a cheque for $56,000 commission to do nothing to sell my home.”

Brad took matters into his own hands and listed his 865-acre working cattle farm with Buymyplace, selling for his asking price in a mere six weeks.

“I paid for the top package and got professional photos and priority online listings,” he says. “Realistically if you have that, and a page-one listing on the real estate sites, you have the same bells and whistles as any agent.”

Due to the remote location of his property, Brad opted to go without a For-Sale Sign out front and was only open by appointment: “Really that came down to our location. I would do open inspections and have a sign if we lived in town, but it is too far to come for buyers, unless they are genuinely interested. We also didn’t want day-trippers popping to view the farm unannounced and that’s why we chose not to display a sign out front. We only wanted those who were interested in our property as a going concern.”

We asked if he has any advice for would-be private rural property sellers, Brad is quick to say he thinks floor plans are a great idea. “I already had a floor plan from renovations, but if we didn’t, I would definitely have had one done,” he says.

He also counsels new vendors to be realistic about the price of their house: “I looked online at sales in the area. Being quite remote, I could not go to open homes, but I would have if I lived closer to town. You need to take the emotion out of your pricing and compare what you have to other properties because we all think our house is better than the rest. I think that is why there are houses around here that have been on the market almost ten years: they are so overpriced.”

We asked him if he thought buyers were happy to deal directly with vendors and he definitely felt it was an advantage: “All salesmen need product knowledge, and who is more knowledgeable than the home-owner? I could answer questions straight away, making the process much quicker.”

“If vendors feel a bit nervous, I would suggest they provide a short questionnaire for buyers to fill out and ask them to drop the feedback, good or bad, in the letterbox on the way out, which could save any awkward moments.”

When asked if he would do it himself again he replied: “We sold to the second person who came through and it was six weeks from listing to exchange – I would never use an agent again and would definitely go through Buymyplace in future.”