April 25, 2008
Realtors Inject Fantasy Into Sluggish Market To Sell Homes
Real estate agents, looking for an edge selling homes have taken a page from the luxury set. Realtors are throwing lavish open house parties to generate hype and spark desire in potential buyers. Club style DJ’s, catered food and a faux V.I.P. atmosphere are used to seduce customers.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Welcome to the open-house on steroids. Home-baked cookies are out. Designer drinks, opera singers and Cinco-de-Mayo theme parties are in. Despite sluggish home sales in most of the country, some Realtors and developers are sinking money into open-house parties that they hope will draw crowds — and an eventual buyer.
These tactics are not only being used on high end properties. One realtor in Philadelphia worked with the fact that the house she was selling was a little less than perfect.
Last year, for a split-level home outside of Philadelphia that she said had “some deficiencies,” she adopted the theme of the television show “House M.D.” She dressed up as a nurse, and her husband was the show’s doctor, giving out candy as “medicine.” She says the home sold within a week.
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