Yesterday I had a call from a chap who told me he was looking in North West Bath for a 3 bed detached home under 400k with parking and gardens. Apparently he’d been searching for some time and not having much luck. He was not on our mailing list and had called on the off chance we had something new coming up.
Whilst listening to him and posing various questions, I was thinking all the time why he hadn’t spotted our £375,000 detached 3 bed in Newbridge – after all, it’s right in the heart of the area he’s looking in and ticks every box of his criteria. Then it struck me that our property is a bungalow.
I asked the caller how he had mainly been searching for property and, like many, his answer was “I generally look on Rightmove”. Then I told him about our property and he confirmed he was completely unaware of its existence. Apart from being rather excited and immediately wanting to book a viewing, he admitted that he only searches for houses on the site and had never thought to include bungalows in his filters;
Our detached property is approx 1000sqft with a very large plot, garage and a huge driveway. There are semi detached houses currently on the market on the same road of the same size within a 25k price range and lacking a fair amount of garden & parking in comparison.
So, if you’re mainly looking for property on the web then maybe it might be worth expanding your search to other property types (or don’t filter at all by property type) so you don’t miss opportunities. Its not just bungalows that have this issue on the web – I have had previous similar experiences involving buyers looking for flats and missing out on little houses as alternatives (or vice versa). As an aside, I have also met recent buyers who have missed out on houses just outside a set search radius (which they would happily have bought but didn’t spot).
On the other side of the coin, if you’re an owner you may wish to consult with your agent about varying the displayed property type in order to capture the most web activity.