Bayleys Northland rural real estate agent John Barnett with a new tool for his trade.

Northland rural real estate agent John Barnett now uses a helicopter as a sales tool for marketing rural properties. But he is taking the farm to the buyers, rather than using the chopper to fly buyers to farms - working with video production company Umoview.co.nz he is creating high quality videos of farm properties he is marketing, and uploading them to his sales website.

Working with video production company Umoview, Barnett combines the skills of a video producer with his appreciation of what farm buyers look for on their first farm visit during the buying process. Barnett says he is the first in the country to embark on such a method of marketing, and is confident it will become a popular addition to traditional marketing tools in the future.

He now recommends that vendors utilise a helicopter overview video as part of their marketing campaign, with the video easily accessed via the internet.

“It is by no means meant as a replacement for traditional advertisements, but an enhancement to traditional media promotion. It provides a link between what potential buyers may see in a static advertisement, and actually being on site  themselves," he says.

“Farmers are like everybody else. They are time starved, with busy operations, families to consider and staff to manage, yet have to give a new farm purchase the consideration and evaluation such a major investment demands.”

"Farms bring their own peculiar demands on time,  often requiring significant travel to visit.  Occasionally a buyer may then decide that the property was not really what they were looking for.
“We are basically providing that first visit, without  a potential purchaser having to leave the farm gate or leave the armchair  - you can familiarise yourself with the property’s broader aspects, and get a real feel for its location, contour and facilities.”

Overseas buyers are increasingly looking to New Zealand rural properties as a viable investment in uncertain times. Barnett believes the videos will play a big part in helping such investors decide whether they need to hop on a jet and head down for a closer look.
 

“It just opens up the potential market to a global level at a relatively small cost against the value of the investment people are being asked to make.”

The costs of offering these virtual tours varies between properties, based on the type of farm and where they are.  Barnett says it still makes it one of the more cost effective mechanisms for converting enquiries into visits, and visits into potential purchases.