Local presence
WORDS Liam Stretch
Holmwood Real Estate’s Harcourts Merivale office on the corner of Office Road and Papanui Road has recently been redeveloped. The building formerly housed an ANZ branch on the ground floor, with Harcourts Holmwood on the second. Last year, the team made the move to acquire the bottom floor. Holmwood CEO Tony Jenkins says the Merivale office has occupied the top floor for over 14 years. And it was a natural progression to move into the highly visible downstairs office. Jenkins believes “that this would be one of the best real estate positions, if not the best, in Christchurch city”.
Jamin Marshall, business owner and sales manager of the Harcourts Holmwood Merivale office, said the team loved the position, but it was important that they have a greater street presence.
Jamin said the reason for the development of the downstairs space, aside from providing offices for 24 agents and seven admin staff, was to create a better space for clients – both for the sale of their properties and for one-on-one engagements.
“The reason why we wanted to and needed to do the downstairs is, when you list your house with us, you need presence. We have window cards and TV screens which show off our clients’ properties in the windows so that it is good value to the clients with such a busy stream of walking and vehicle traffic. When they list their property with us, they are getting more coverage.”
The redevelopment has also allowed for a more inviting space for people to visit. “It provides our clients with a great place to come to when they list and sell their house.”
This increased visibility is key in a strong and record-breaking housing market in Christchurch, Jamin says.
“People realise that the method of marketing a property now really does matter.”
This extends into their multi-media sales approach across their social platforms.
“We’ve taken video, we think to the next level. We have our very own in-house videographers, and we also have an in-house marketing team that works solely on the agents’ properties and the profile for the agents as well.”
Jamin says people are more likely to click on a listing if it has a video, “that’s why we put the big screens up in the office’s windows.”
This attention to video is backed up by social media statistics that show users are much more likely to click on a video than a traditional post – with viewers retaining 95 per cent of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10 per cent when reading it in the text.
On top of the better deal for prospective clients, Jamin also mentions that the existing location was a must for the local team, with Merivale being such a dynamic place to work and reside.
“It is a great place to live. And it’s also great to be so close to the mall and in the heart of Merivale.”
Jenkins is very satisfied with development saying, “the Holmwood team and their clients are loving the new surroundings”.