Real Estate Marketing

Perceptions rule the world. The value of one thing is relative to the value of other things. The land’s utility or perceived utility. If land, for instance, is deemed to be worthless because of its arid or desolate nature, the price, of course is low. An analysis that the land may have vast deposits of a mineral or oil, than quite suddenly the value of the land increases. This is the common scenario where the land actually has something more valuable to offer besides cactus and sand. This makes sense to most people because the perception that the land is worth more yields to reason and eventually to tangible profits and results. Nevertheless, most perceptions are not based on actual assessments or reality but on usually baseless trends that have nothing to do with real value.

In other words, the mere perception that land, for instance, in a particular neighborhood is going to increase because of its proximity to a highway or because of a rumor that developers are going to build a new mall in the area, is all that is needed to revalue the property and adjust the cost. Of course, if a nearby highway will actually draw more people to the area or make the land more attractive than the perception is matched by reality. However, if the perception is not matched by reality or even local trends or the rumor of a mall never pans out, the perception is false and the revaluation would need to be adjusted. Real estate marketing professionals need to understand that their ability to understand perceptions and the ability to differentiate between true and false perceptions, or the ability to manipulate perceptions, will ultimately determine how successful they are. If a real estate marketing investor effectively reads trends and other factors in the marketplace, than there is a much higher chance that investments will yield profitable results.

The perception that land is ‘cheap’ or ‘expensive’ is relative to the buyer always. Even if many people agree on the value of a property, that doesn’t mean that the perception is true. In fact, the more people that agree on the value of a property, the better, but if the perception doesn’t hold water based on available facts, the investment may only be good for the short-term or not at all. In the end, perceptions need to be as closely managed according to reality.