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Spring Lakes Ranch: Case Study

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OVERVIEW

Spring Creek Ranch was an exquisite Texas ranch for sale that Texas Ranch Broker Mark Harman and Live Water Properties listed in the summer of 2021. With no details overlooked and an ideal location within 75 minutes of Dallas, TX, this ranch was pristine and one of such caliber, we were eager to have the opportunity to list it from the moment we heard about it.

A Closer Look

Challenges

  • Luxury Ranch Estates like this can present their own challenges. Mark had photos, videos, written words, brochures, and a webpage to showcase the property’s grandeur. The marketing would have to bring to light the quality of décor, the custom-made furniture, the depth and integrity of the lake, the quality of fish, and the variety of wildlife. 

Solutions

  • Mark worked quickly with the marketing team to produce the finest materials for launch. SCR launched on 8/5 producing 110 brochure downloads with leads from 14 states, the majority TX, and 984 video views. We also produced 3,030 pageviews, with an above-average page time due to our high-end imagery, top-of-the-line mapping, brochure, and video content. 

Results

  • LWP’s database captured a lead of a gentleman actively looking for this type of property desiring a move from California to the Texas countryside. Mark coordinated showings and had an offer by 9/16 and a pending deal by 9/18. Mark ensured both buyer and seller had what they needed to fully understand the property and the deal points. SCR closed on 11/11, 141 days after signing the listing agreement.

THE CLIENT AND THE PROPERTY

The Sellers heard about Mark from their family. Mark had worked with them on multiple deals in the Texas Hill Country and came highly recommended. The Seller and his late wife had bought Spring Creeks Ranch and restored the property; it was a labor of love. A beautiful young and active lady, his wife tragically passed away unexpectedly one night. A few years later, he found love again and remarried. The house though was not the same, so the new couple set to work on building a new home. Selling Spring Creeks Ranch was the opportunity to focus on a new home and begin another chapter in life.

THE CHALLENGE

At the time, the Sellers were leaning heavily toward listing Spring Creeks Ranch with a large residential brokerage in Dallas, and at the same time, they were still contemplating if they were emotionally ready to separate with the property. While Mark brings years of experience and expertise in Texas ranch real estate, and Live Water has been one of the nation’s leading ranch brokerages for 20 years, Live Water was new in Texas. Also, Mark lived six hours away. The Sellers wondered if the new Texas branch would be as effective as we are in the rest of the county. Mark was able to walk them through this process and address all concerns. He assured the Sellers that their estate was his priority, and the distance would not matter. Additionally, Mark had to get to an asking price that would get the Seller “over the hump,” to list as Mark would say. Ultimately, the Sellers selected Mark as the listing Broker with assurance that he would walk them through the process, each step of the way. They trusted Mark, his integrity and his character.

Listing and marketing a ranch of this level in the current sellers’ market might seem easy. In one sense, the property is one that sells itself. However, a guiding principle at Live Water is that we work tirelessly for our clients no matter the market. It is a listing Broker’s duty to the client to bring them the best and highest offer. Estates like this can present their own challenges in making sure every bespoke touch and detail are highlighted. The Broker has photos, video, written details, brochures and a webpage to showcase of the property’s grandeur. The marketing would have to bring to light the quality of décor and the custom-made furniture, the depth of the lake, the integrity of the lake, the quality of fish, the variety of wildlife, all the species of grass, trees and wildlife. The location of the ranch is at the end of a paved maintained road, with extreme privacy, yet was a 75-minute drive from the Sellers’ home in one of Dallas’ most coveted neighborhoods Highland Park. For the Seller, it was tremendously important that Mark understood every nuance of the ranch: the lake, the house and the property. He needed to know both the monetary and conservation value of the property, and he needed to understand every moving component of the ranch.

CREATING THE TARGET BUYER

An experienced Ranch Broker will often have a good idea of who the target Buyer audience might be. Given Spring Creeks Ranch’s proximity to Dallas, both the Seller and Mark predicted the Buyer would be from the Dallas area and presented that to the marketing team. If the property was going to sell, Live Water’s marketing needed to reach the affluent Dallas Buyer. Dallas consistently ranks as one of our Top 10 traffic sources for our website. Our email database and pay-per-click campaigns were also designed to reach the target, and we felt confident our marketing plan was designed to reach the target Buyer.

KEY INITIATIVES/MARKETING THE PROPERTY

This ranch was the complete package. In Mark’s eyes, “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best of the best, Spring Creeks Ranch was a ten.” Marketing a property requires a passion behind it. In Mark’s eyes, he needed to impress this new client who had never worked with him or Live Water Properties. It would come down to making sure each detail was covered in the listing and marketing of the property to reach the full asking price.

When you know a property will sell, why do you put forth the effort to invest in marketing? In marketing a property correctly, it ensures that no table is left unturned for the Seller, that the broker has done everything possible to bring them the best offer possible. The other reason? Pride. To Mark he knew how this property was portrayed was a direct reflection on him as a Ranch Broker and Live Water Properties as a brokerage. Mark set to work with a photographer. Mark’s mission was to capture all the details of the property in photography and videography to convey to potential Buyers that this property was truly an exceptional estate. He needed as many stunning images as possible of the lakes, land and home to capture the attention of a Buyer.

He wanted to put the same level of care and effort into the write-up as he did with photography. Knowing that writing is not his area of expertise, his next step was to find a copywriter. Live Water Properties helped place Mark with a real estate writer who has a remarkable knack for capturing the character and essence of a property through written words. According to Mark “she hit it out of the park.”

With the photography, videography and copy ready to go, the Live Water marketing team went to work creating property brochures, web pages, eblasts, pitching the property to media and placing it in advertisements. Custom social media graphics and stories were created to reach the Buyer as well.

 

CONVERTING LEADS TO BUYERS

Live Water Properties often points to our “Marketing Wheel” when listing a property. All of our marketing materials are aimed at getting Buyers to the website, to view the Seller’s listing. Through our proprietary client management software, we can convert these leads to Buyers. Over the years we have heavily invested in digital marketing efforts, and the Buyer found Spring Creeks Ranch through our digital marketing platform. As expected, the Buyers were a couple living in Dallas. Like many of our Buyers they had relocated to Texas from California recently, but still wanted to seek out a more remote home that offered a retreat for their family.

Mark knew the Buyer would need to come in with a strong offer, given the emotional ties the Seller had to the home. The Seller would not be in a hurry to discount the property. After a day of the showing, the Buyer asked Mark to write up a full-price offer.

CONNECTING LAND WITH PEOPLE WHO VALUE IT

The Sellers invited the Buyers to come out for a weekend before the close of the home. It was important to the Seller that the Buyers understood the property, appreciated it and knew the moving parts and intimacy of the ranch. They spent an entire day together and afterward, the Seller called Mark and told him it doesn’t get any better than this. The Buyers were the perfect family to own it and carry on the legacy of the property. They were genuine and quality people.

While the goals of many Sellers differ to some degree, most often we find when it comes down to it the sellers’ goals are similar: To obtain the greatest asking price in the best timeframe to the seller. Mark was able to do both, bringing a full-price offer to the Sellers, and bringing the property from listing to close in under 90 days. Beyond the price and time though, our mission at Live Water is to connect land with people who value it. The Sellers were genuinely happy with the outcome of the sale of the property, not only was their asking price achieved but the icing on the cake was that it would be stewarded by high character people.

RESULTS

If he had to do it all over again, Mark wouldn’t change a thing: the photographer, videographer, or writer. The Buyer commented on how incredibly well packaged the property was, everything depicted the property as-is.

The Seller’s testimony also speaks for Mark’s expertise. “Mark represented our property Spring Creeks Ranch. From the beginning, as we considered the pros/cons of listing our beloved East Texas property, we needed a broker that would understand the current aggressive market demand, a unique property in an area with no comparable comps, and sensitivity to our desire to pass the property to the right buyer.  Mark ended up being that entrusted broker. Mark was referred to us by a family member whom he has represented on several Texas-area ranch properties. It was Mark’s knowledge of luxury ranch properties, his deep expertise and experience, passion for our property, and skilled guidance that convinced us to move forward with him and the Live Water Property team to list our ranch. From our first meeting at the ranch, we were struck by Mark’s straight-forward and passionate demeanor. Within minutes it was clear that we had the right man and team to get the job done.

“The listing process was quite enjoyable. Mark and his team realized what a spectacular property that we had and presented a compelling marketing strategy, timeline, and listing process that was quite impressive.  Using Live Water Properties customer database and marketing platform, they brought qualified buyers and depicted a very accurate, thorough, and attractive representation of all the amazing and unique features of our property.  As a result, the property sold promptly at full asking price with competing interested buyers.  We enthusiastically endorse Mark Harman and Live Water Properties.”

Spring Creeks Ranch Sellers

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