Professional marketing increases selling price

85

Leonita Mhishi

FOR many Zimbabweans, selling a house is not simply a business transaction. It is often the moment when years of sacrifice, family memories and investment finally have to be con­verted into money.

That is why the question of price can become deeply emotional.

A homeowner in Harare may look at a neighbouring house that sold for US$200,000 and conclude that their own property must be worth the same. A de­veloper may spend millions constructing a gated residential complex and expect the market to immediately recognise the value. An estate agent may put a proper­ty online, receive little interest and then discover that the problem was not neces­sarily the house, but how the house was presented.

This is where professional marketing becomes one of the most underestimated tools in Zimbabwe’s real estate indus­try.

Marketing does not create value out of thin air. It cannot turn a poorly located, structurally defective or legally problem­atic property into a premium asset. But when a property already has genuine strengths, professional marketing can make those strengths visible, understand­able and desirable to the right buyer.

And that can influence the price a sell­er ultimately achieves.

Zimbabwe’s property market is in­creasingly becoming a marketplace of informed buyers. Property portals have made it easier for buyers to compare lo­cations, prices, photographs and features before they even speak to an agent.

This means the old approach of put­ting a “House for Sale” sign outside a property and waiting for buyers to arrive is becoming increasingly inadequate.

The property now has to compete before the buyer ever walks through the gate.

Think about the first few seconds of an online property search. A prospective buyer scrolls through dozens of listings. One has dark photographs, an untidy yard and a vague description saying “beautiful house, must view”. Another has professionally composed images, a clear description, a location narrative, floor-plan information and carefully pre­sented features.

The houses might be similar. The per­ception is not.

Research suggests that professionally photographed properties receive substan­tially more online attention than listings using poor-quality images. That is not a cosmetic issue.

More attention creates more enqui­ries. More qualified enquiries create more viewings. More viewings create greater potential for competing offers. And competing interest gives the sell­er something extremely valuable in a negotiation: leverage. This is the point at which marketing begins to influence price.

A property is not sold solely on bricks, mortar and square metres. Buyers are also purchasing a lifestyle, a location, security, convenience, potential and, in­creasingly, peace of mind.

A three-bedroom house in a well-ser­viced suburb can therefore be marketed differently from an identical three-bed­room house in an area where infrastruc­ture is less developed. The marketer’s responsibility is to identify what makes each property valuable and communicate it honestly.

For example, solar infrastructure should not simply be listed as “solar”. The marketing should explain what the system can support. A borehole should not merely appear as another tick on a checklist; the importance of reliable wa­ter should be understood in the context of the property’s location. A home office can be presented as an important feature for professionals working remotely. A secure gated development can be posi­tioned around lifestyle, community and security.

The difference is storytelling backed by facts.

Zimbabwe’s property market has plenty of examples of how perceptions of location affect value. Data published by Propertybook in 2025 showed substan­tial price differences between property segments and locations, while its market analysis pointed to strong interest in gat­ed communities, secure developments and established areas with limited land availability.

But marketing should never become an excuse for overpricing. This is where professional marketing must be separat­ed from hype.

A glossy advertisement cannot sus­tainably sell a US$150,000 property for US$250,000 if comparable properties are selling at a significantly lower level. Today’s Zimbabwean buyer is too in­formed, and the cost of remaining unsold can eventually force the seller into a dis­count.

Setting the right price from the begin­ning is crucial because buyers increas­ingly research properties online and com­pare listings before making contact. The importance of location, land size, build­ing condition, comparable sales and local demand when determining price.

This is where marketing and valua­tion should work together.

Valuation answers the question: “What is this property reasonably worth?”

Marketing asks: “How do we make the right buyers understand that val­ue?”

Negotiation then asks: “How do we convert that interest into the best realistic transaction?”

Treating these three functions as sepa­rate silos is a mistake.

Zimbabwe’s real estate sector has an­other challenge: asking prices are not nec­essarily transaction prices. A 2026 market analysis of Harare noted that Zimbabwe does not have a public database of actual transaction prices, meaning much of the available market information consists of asking prices rather than confirmed final sale prices. This should make sellers par­ticularly careful.

The fact that someone is asking US$300,000 for a house does not mean a buyer will pay US$300,000. Professional marketing therefore cannot simply mean putting an inflated number on a beautiful advert. Its real purpose is to position a property competitively.

This is particularly important for property developers.

Developers are not merely selling houses. They are selling an idea of the future. A new development may offer modern architecture, roads, security, rec­reational areas, solar solutions, reliable water infrastructure or convenient access to major roads. If these features are poor­ly communicated, the development risks being reduced to a price-per-square-me­tre comparison.

Once that happens, the developer is pulled into a price war.

Strong branding can change the con­versation from “How much is the stand?” to “What am I getting for my invest­ment?”

That is a significant difference.

A professionally marketed develop­ment can also build confidence among diaspora buyers, who may be unable to physically inspect properties regularly. For this market, high-quality visuals, virtual tours, transparent documentation, progress updates, clear payment struc­tures and credible communication can reduce uncertainty.

Trust itself becomes part of the prod­uct.

This is why professional real estate marketing should increasingly involve more than Facebook posts and property portals. It should include photography, video, drone imagery where appropriate, social media strategy, search visibility, brochures, signage, public relations, da­tabase marketing, virtual tours and con­sistent brand identity.

But there is another ingredient that Zimbabwe’s property industry cannot afford to ignore: the human being behind the transaction.

Selling a family home can be emo­tional. A seller may attach a financial value to memories that a buyer simply cannot see. The professional agent must bridge that gap without dismissing the seller’s emotions or misleading the buy­er.

The best agents therefore become translators between sentiment and mar­ket reality. They tell the seller what the property may realistically achieve while showing the buyer why the property de­serves serious consideration. That is pro­fessional marketing.

It is also why sellers should stop asking only, “What commission does the agent charge?” A better question is: “What marketing capability am I receiv­ing for that commission?”

If an agent simply uploads a few pho­tographs and waits for WhatsApp enqui­ries, the seller may be paying for access to a database.

If the agent provides comparative market analysis, professional photogra­phy, targeted digital campaigns, buyer qualification, viewings, follow-up, nego­tiation and market feedback, the service is fundamentally different.

Zimbabwean property businesses themselves are increasingly recognis­ing this. Zimre Properties, for example, lists comparative market analysis, on­line property advertising, photography, open-house invitations and systematic follow-up among its agency and sales services.

The lesson for homeowners, devel­opers and investors is therefore straight­forward. Do not confuse marketing with decoration. Good marketing does not merely make a property look expensive. It identifies genuine value, presents it professionally, reaches the people most likely to appreciate it and creates enough confidence for them to act.

And when several qualified buyers begin competing for a well-positioned property, the seller’s bargaining power can improve. That is how marketing can lift the selling price.

l Mhishi is the Principal Registered Es­tate Agent at HSP REALTY and can be reached on +263 772 329 569 or via email at leonita@hsp.co.zw