Getting the Birds Eye View on Farms

Hiring a helicopter to view farm properties for sale would once have only been an option for the rich and famous.  However Northland Bayleys country property specialist John Barnett has done the hiring and flying on buyers’ behalf, with a new video option to showcase rural properties in his portfolio.
 

“Videos of houses in the residential sector are not so new, and have been around a few years. I wanted to step outside the square for my rural clients and offer similar promotion options that make that whole farm assessment stage a lot simpler for potential buyers,” he says.
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.
 

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.”
 

Barnett said he was increasingly aware that the amount of time invested in a farm purchase itself represented significant additional investment, on top of the actual purchase price.
“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.”
The video was not designed to show every nook and cranny on the farm.
“It is hard though to hide much from a chopper flying over and we aim to be very honest in the portrayal of the property.”
 

Answering those initial early questions for prospective buyers provides a more focussed marketing process.
Those who opt to then invest the time to make an “on the ground” farm visit arrive with more specific, performance related questions about the farm, and have moved beyond the scoping stage of purchase investigation to seek more due diligence on the farm business.
”We have already had a number of enquiries from around the country and overseas which can directly be attributed to the use of the virtual tour.”
 

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.

“We work for our vendor and therefore we need to ensure that we are doing the things which will give them the best opportunity of gaining a result, which is the reason it is now something I offer in every marketing plan we put together.”
 

Since entering the rural property market three years ago, Barnett has consistently been one of the top performing rural real estate agents in the North, a result he credits to his focus on getting results and his willingness to look “outside the square.” to do so.
  Barnett says the rural sector is beginning to see strong level of buyer enquiry again. “If anything we are struggling for listings, the interest is there and good properties are in demand, people have confidence in their sector.”
ENDS