Expert: liznarr - 7/20/2007

Question
Hello,
I have a trio of dear lifelong friends (brothers) who retired early and sought out to fulfill their dream of developing on the beaches of Dorado, Puerto Rico. The project took about two years to complete and now that it has they are having trouble attracting buyers and thus selling units. They've even lowered their initial asking price. Still no real progress. My personal opinion is that they lacked in marketing. I've tried to help them from my end (I'm in New York) by posting on different sites and local corporate offices. May I ask you to look at their website WWW.Trinquility.com and give us your opinion/insight? What approach should they take? In addition, what else can I do to help? They are a dear and hardworking family and I'd like to see them succeed as a lot of hard work and sweat not to mention funds went into this venture.
Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hi Nils,

Beautiful units, and I can only imagine the hard work and funds that went into this venture.

My comments below are not intended to be condemning, but rather give constructive criticism that I believe you are asking for.  I am not going to sugar coat and tell you and your friends what I think you WANT to hear, but rather what I think you NEED to hear.

While web site design is not my area of expertise, I found the site itself to be dull, boring and lacking appeal that is needed to attract buyers.  

For instance, you see the same background on the home page and all menu items on the left of the screen when they are clicked on.  The continuing, repeated background of the high-rise buildings would do nothing to entice me to go all through the site for possible serious consideration one of these units if I were in the market for purchasing in Puerto Rico.  

Many real estate sites will have a repeating “menu” down the left side of the screen with the same picture remaining in front of the prospective buyer on the left side (if that is the desired effect), but the balance of the screen (at least in my opinion) should be different and ... colorful … especially for an area like Puerto Rico with a temperate, warm climate.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that “You never have a second chance to make a good first impression.”  This is so true in marketing, and pictures are worth a million words.

When I think “Puerto Rico,” I think of beautiful beaches and blue water.  I saw none of that on the site.  The pictures of the exterior of the building would show better if there were a blue sky background; the ones I viewed appeared to be taken on possibly a cloudy day.  I would have more beach pictures and some links on the left to attractions and things to do in Dorado.

The pool scene on the site shows no activity and is deserted.  The scene should be one that is inviting and would make one want to “join” in.

I’m laughing as I write this, but one of the pictures in the gallery zeroes in on a bathroom commode and has what appears to be a black shower curtain in the background.  Needless to say, this is not appealing.  If featuring a bidet, “possibly” that might be a bit more acceptable.  I would have focused more on the beautiful shell lavatory.  The tub picture is also lacking.

While I can only imagine that these are beautiful units, the pictures online just do nothing to convey that.

Room sizes and printed text on the floor plans, when enlarged, were VERY hard to read.  This needs to be corrected.  Also, I did not see any square footage listed for the units.  The “Garden” floor plan link did not work for me, and the “First and Second Floor” plan, when enlarged, showed the Garden floor plan.

It took me several times to find the pricing link on the site.  I believe the pricing should be a menu item on the left side of the screen with the other selections.  While I know very little about pricing in Puerto Rico, for starters, your friends need to make sure that the units are, in fact, competitively priced.

Next, I would ask “where” these units are being marketed, and how?  If they are being marketed only by the web site, it’s obvious – as you have already pointed out – the marketing is very lacking and not working.  I would start out by totally revamping the web site.  If a professional designed the existing site, I would be looking for a new designer.

Your friends will need to do more than market these units by this web site alone, including additional advertising which will, in turn, market … the website.  This can be done through various means.

I would suggest that your friends do some market research and see “who” is buying in Puerto Rico, and “where,” geographically, the buyers are coming from and target accordingly.  I would think that persons of wealth who are interested in a get-away would be a good target.  So the questions are, how do you reach these buyers – and how do you convince them that Vista del Mar is where they should purchase?

Some of the ways they can be reached are:

1.   Advertising with a REALLY nice, colorful, photo and some ad copy in a magazine that wealthy people are likely to be reading (or a good trade publication with Puerto Rico listings) – with comments directing a reader to the web site (after site revisions are made, of course).
2.   Inclusion on Puerto Rico’s Chamber of Commerce site, if possible.
3.   Direct mail (which is strictly a numbers game).
4.   Corporations
5.   Television ads
6.   Realtors

Are your friends using a Realtor to market the units?  If not, they might consider at least interviewing some local Realtors -- if nothing else but for ideas on how a local Realtor would market the units if your friends were to list with one.  I have a contact in Puerto Rico if your friends would be interested in my referring them to a Realtor in Dorado.  If so, have them write me directly at liznarr@sc.rr.com

If none of the units are currently listed, I would strongly recommend listing at least ONE of the units with a Realtor to generate additional activity on all the other units.

As to what else you can do to help, I think you have made a wonderful start by realizing that their current marketing plan is not working and asking for ideas.    Perhaps you can help them investigate additional advertising means and help them find some good real estate trade magazines to advertise in, possibly in the Miami area or similar places.  For a range of $500 to about $1,000 monthly, I would think they might get some good results.

Just as an example, here is a link to a For Sale By Owner site for international properties for a flat fee of $150.  http://www.overseasrealestate.co.uk/index.html  Multiple photos can be posted for the $150 fee.  Where this site might be advertised and how many properties listed there are sold through the site are questions I would ask before spending any money.

I hope my comments above are helpful and will point you and your friends in a different direction that will result in some sales.

Good luck to you, and write again if you have additional questions.

Regards,
Elizabeth Narr