How this agent finds 'high quality buyers' for his niche listings
For Marcello Caspani-Muto, finding the right buyer can be a tricky task.
“Our products are quite niche and what we sell is not going to be for everyone – it’s still considered ‘alternative real estate’,” says Caspani-Muto, associate director at CBRE within the Australian Healthcare and Social Infrastructure team.
“We sell nationally, and we focus on healthcare, which is medical centres and hospitals, childcare and aged care,” he says.
This is why Caspani-Muto always includes print advertising in his campaigns as he says it’s a surefire way for him to find the right “high-quality buyers.”
“We’ve always advertised in the Australian Financial Review (AFR),” says Caspani-Muto.
“While we don’t get huge numbers of inquiries, the inquiries that we do get are really good as it gets the right people to ring us.
“It’s either a buyer or a notable owner from that higher-net-worth demographic that reads the AFR consistently.”
Commercial Real Estate is the exclusive reseller for commercial print property in Nine’s leading mastheads, including the AFR, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and those who have a Platinum or Platinum Extend listing can access discounted print rates.
“[By advertising in the AFR], you might get a private high-net-worth call that you’ve never dealt with,” he says.
“For instance, we had a childcare centre in Doncaster. Someone called and while they didn’t buy that property, they did buy something in Brighton for about $17 million late last year.”
Caspani-Muto says that in the current climate, drawing out new buyers is particularly difficult, but print advertising allows him to reach a new audience.
“A lot of our deals are repeat buyers or repeat sellers,” he says.
“So, to get one new buyer that has the capacity to buy one or multiple properties is huge for us – and the AFR attracts really high net worth.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve sold mainly to privates not so much institutional. For instance, we’ve sold $50 million medical centres to private families.”
Caspani-Muto says print will remain a “staple within our packages” and he’ll continue to look forward to the morning after the ad has gone live.
“I know to expect my phone to ring on a Thursday or Friday morning,” he laughs.
“They’ll always say, ‘I saw an ad for this property that you’re selling in the AFR.’ It’s great.”
