Case Study: Could Virtual Furniture Help You Rent Your Property Faster?
Could virtual furniture make a material difference when it comes to renting out your property?
This case study shows how, with just a modest investment, effective virtual photography can help you promote your property to prospective tenants.
Meet Amanda
Leasing Manager, Amanda Tomkinson, combines local knowledge with genuine real estate expertise.
Amanda approaches leasing holistically, always keeping the bigger picture of property investing in mind, focusing on transparency and communication and isn’t afraid to suggest different ways of doing things, particularly when it can add real value.
Amanda takes great satisfaction in achieving amazing results for her clients and in making the rental process smooth and stress-free. A recent example is her innovative approach to leasing 3/1 Bonvale Lane, St Lucia.
The property
St Lucia is a popular, high demand area for rentals, thanks to its riverside location, proximity to the CBD, and the fact it’s home to a major university. In fact, just over 55% of the dwellings are rented. That means it’s also coveted by investors. But there is a scarcity of townhouses, which make up only 6.9% of properties in St Lucia, while 60% of properties in the suburb are units.
3/1 Bonvale Lane, St Lucia is no ordinary property. This luxury townhouse was created by the group behind the Versace Hotel and it certainly has the wow factor you’d expect from a developer of this pedigree.
The townhouse is impeccably presented with a designer marble kitchen, three spacious bedrooms, three bathrooms, indoor-outdoor flow, ducted air-con, and a double garage. It also has a private lift to all three levels. Buying this home also includes access to private resident facilities within the highly-regarded complex, including a cinema, pool, lounge and entertaining area.
When it came to marketing, there’s no doubt this property deserved some special attention. It was sure to turn heads.
The story
We are big believers in investing in the power of professional marketing, and we’ve written previously about the genuine impact it can have. Quality photography is a key part of this. Good images of a property can create instant connections with prospective tenants, and really draw them in.
3/1 Bonvale Lane, St Lucia was vacant when we advertised it for lease. This meant no matter how good the photos were, with empty rooms, it would always be difficult for renters to imagine themselves living there. And it would be hard to show just how amazing this property was.
“We advertised it off-market to our database for about a week, sending out the photos of the empty rooms,” Amanda explains. “But we had no applicants.”
“We were promoting a very high-end unit and wanted to be able to showcase just how great the property looked. Rather than spending money on staging it we encouraged the landlord to invest in some virtual furniture to create some captivating photographs that we could promote the property with.”
Virtual furniture is photoshopped or superimposed over actual location shots of the rooms. Amanda says that this can provide people with a visual interpretation of the potential lifestyle and an idea of how to work with a space for a much cheaper cost than staging. In fact, it usually comes to only around $50 a photo.
“The furniture draws interest – renters can look at what is already in the room, not the blank floor and walls. They get a sense of space and proportions and see a sofa, TV, a lovely bed which tells a story and creates a high-end look.”
Amanda says that within 24 hours of receiving the virtual pictures, she had a signed application for her client.
“It was a great result and allowed us to rent the property so fast,” she says.
“We appreciate that our landlords put a lot of trust in us and we like to suggest cost-saving, innovative solutions where we can because this can help them maximise their return on investment.”
This excellent result meant that the property leased quickly – much faster than our average of 11 days on market for September 2021.
And finally…
We believe marketing your investment property for rent requires the same considered approach as advertising a property for sale. That means it should never be a one-size-fits-all approach.
This case study goes to show that sometimes a small investment goes a very long way and can help save time, money and lengthy vacancies, while attracting the best quality tenants.
Want more?
If you’re looking for more expert Brisbane property management advice, contact our specialist team today.