When Jack and Betty (not their real names) first reached out to the Veenstra Team, they were discouraged.
Their home had already been on the market with another agent and the results were disappointing. During the entire listing period of almost 5 months, there were only a few total showings.
And this wasn’t a property that lacked potential.
The home sat on 10 beautiful acres and featured:
4 bedrooms
3 bathrooms
A finished basement
An incredible pole barn
Space, privacy, and flexibility that many Southwest Michigan buyers dream about
In today’s market, having a great property is not enough by itself. Buyers usually meet your home online first. If the photos, description, pricing, and overall presentation do not create excitement, curiosity, and emotional connection, many buyers may never schedule a showing.
The home also needs to be priced in line with current market value. A house priced above what similar homes are actually selling for will usually struggle to gain traction, even if it has strong features.
At the Veenstra Team, we believe sellers deserve honest research, clear feedback, and thoughtful guidance. We compare recent sales, competing homes, property features, buyer activity, and current market conditions so we can help sellers understand what the market is telling us. We share that information openly and without pressure, and we are prepared to back up our recommendations with real data.
When we were called to assist this seller, we believed the story could change in several ways.
Looking at the Property Through a Buyer’s Eyes
Before relisting the home, we spent time helping the sellers think through the property from the perspective of an online buyer scrolling through dozens of homes.
The home still had furniture in it, but the layout and presentation were not helping buyers fully understand the possibilities of the space. So we made changes.
We:
Rearranged furniture to improve flow and sight lines
Helped simplify and reposition rooms
Coordinated completely new professional photography
Digitally staged several rooms
Digitally staged parts of the barn to help buyers visualize lifestyle and functionality
Repositioned the marketing to focus on the experience of living there — not just the features
The property for sale offered tons of lifestyle options. We just had to picture them.
Instead of simply advertising acreage and square footage, we wanted buyers to imagine:
Morning coffee overlooking the property
Hobbies and projects in the barn
Entertaining friends and family
Room to spread out
A quieter lifestyle with flexibility and space
We explored how the property might even become an intergenerational home by adding a living space in part of the barn.
The goal was to help buyers emotionally connect to what life at this property could feel like.
The Difference Visibility Makes
We also hired, arguably, the top social media marketing company in the country, to run campaigns about this specific house. Not to run social media about us, or our brokerage or to get more listings. We ran campaigns that marketed this house. We created videos, we added floor plans, the media company helped us find people online who were looking for homes with features like this one had and we showed this home to them.
Once the property relaunched with new marketing, the response changed dramatically.
Instead of only a couple showings during the prior almost 5 month listing period, We hosted an open house that brought 13 families in one 2 hour period when it was snowing!
This image below highlights the actual results from just one of the marketing campaigns for this particular home. It does not include the additional exposure generated through our other online marketing efforts, social media promotion, agent outreach, email marketing, open houses, and in-person networking strategies.
Results from 1 of the actual campaigns we ran exclusively about the house.
Our experience has shown that when a home is presented in its best light, professionally photographed after thoughtful preparation and furniture placement, priced in the market sweet spot, and exposed to the right buyers, the results can be remarkable. That combination is what helps homes attract attention, generate strong interest, and ultimately sell successfully. Buyers began engaging online. Showings increased. Interest increased. Momentum increased. And eventually, the sellers had something they had not experienced during the previous listing: Options. The property generated three offers, allowing the sellers to choose the path that worked best for their goals and timing.
Even more importantly, the sale allowed them to move forward with the next chapter they were excited about — building their new cottage/home.
What This Story Really Shows
You can imagine yourself living here.
Every home has a story and it needs to be told in a compelling manner. it is important to think about the big picture and the many different aspects that impact the presentation when you are selling a property.
Sometimes the challenge is not the house itself.
Sometimes it is:
positioning
presentation
photography
buyer psychology
pricing strategy
online engagement
or helping buyers visualize possibility
At the Veenstra Team, we believe marketing is not just putting a home into the MLS and waiting. It is understanding: who the likely buyer is, what matters to them, how buyers shop online, and how to create a presentation that helps the right buyers emotionally connect to the property.
Because when buyers connect emotionally… they schedule showings. And when the right buyers walk through the door… good things can happen.
If your home previously expired or simply didn’t get the activity you hoped for, it may not mean the market rejected your home. It may mean the strategy needs to change.
The right presentation can completely change the conversation.
