Finding buyers for a $1.2m dollar home?

Question

Small homes are no problem, even larger homes are not mysterious. But high dollar homes like this I'm not sure about. Where could it be marketed?

Vikram C. · Answer

David, it would depend on the location.  Homes for that price are selling well in some parts of San Francisco right now where they are considered inexpensive.  So it all depends on your market.

Account Closed · Answer

List it with Sotheby's Real Estate division, as long as they guarantee that it will be in their catalog. That's kind of cheap for them, but I have seen houses priced that low in their catalog.

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

Here's an article with some cool ideas for marketing a high-end home: One Upscale Marketing Idea That Could Launch Your Career in the Luxury Home Market.  I also recommend reading the Language of Luxury Blog from Ron & Alexandra Seigel here on BP.  You'll get a ton of good ideas from them.

Good luck!

Michelle Minch · Answer

I'm not a real estate agent, I'm a professional home stager who has staged many $1M plus properties. I work very closely with the listing agents to help market the property as part of my service (and no, I don't get a cut of the commission, although I wouldn't say no if offered :o) Here's what I've seen that works when marketing a $1M+ home:
          
          *invest in professional photographs. 80-90% of home buyers are starting their home search on the internet. If your photos don't WOW, your listing will be dismissed with the click of the mouse.
          
          *Use a service like VFlyer.com or RealBird.com to create flyers and virtual tour. Part of their service is to syndicate your listing to 20 or 30 real estate sites like Zillow, Movato, RedFin, etc.
          
          *Join your local Association of Realtors and make a pitch at their weekly Brokers' Caravan meeting. Hold an open house on the Caravan day and serve a catered buffet lunch from a nice restaurant. Nothing gets real estate agents in the door like free food. Do this during the first week the home is on the MLS.
          
          *Hold multiple open houses for the public. It is not likely that the home will sell from an open house, but why take a chance that you will miss a potential buyer. Also, it makes it easier for other agents to send their clients to see the home.
          
          *Make the home easy to show. Use a lock box. Many agents will not show a home if the showing instructions are too difficult or restrictive.
          
          *And of course, have the home professionally staged by an experienced home stager. [SHAMELESS PLUG REMOVED BY ADMIN]

Paul H. · Answer

Your missing the main ingredient..  You need to be approaching the agents the HAVE clients that are in your price range.  Too many people think only about the marketing and not enough about the product.

Take the product to the masses and the masses will come to see the product.

Find out who the top producers of high end real estate are in your area and bring the deal to them.  Whether its listed or not, you can offer a bonus - if its not listed, you can offer a bigger bonus.

These agents have high price buy and sell clients..

later.

teh_homepwnerer

Brian Haskins · Answer

The mls will most likely be your best bet. Or you can send out really nice letters to other residents in the neighborhood asking them for a referral in return for a fee, just get a little creative.

Brian Haskins

Scott R. · Answer

Generally its very hard to find comps for such a property, especailly since normally this property will be on a big lot, have nicer views, and high dollar finishes. Could a similar house be build for the cost? Most million plus houses in most areas are custom built. 
          Also there is normally a specific agent in most cities that deal with higher priced properties and have buyers and sellers of higher priced properties, generally they'd be the best possible agent for such a property. 
          
          Generally my experience is most million + dollar homes are toured by the agent before the potential buyer is even aware of the property. Several years ago (unsure lately) it was a pretty common thing to hold a Broker or Agent open house at the property and have a wine or cheese party or offer a give away to draw as many agents to the property as possible.
          
          Andrew - was the property ever reduced by the other agent? was there foot trafic to view the property? Seems like a no brainer but if your property isnt getting any attention by buyers and agents its probablly over priced. Id say the million dollar plus catagorie is probablly the one range that's over priced the most.

$200,000 house and your at 10% over the ARV on your asking price and your up to $220,000 difference but not huge, 
1.2 million and your at 110% of ARV your over priced by $110,00! 
          
          With the way the market is right now most buyers of million dollar houses cant sell there houses and or obtain financing. Generally speaking if your buying a million dollar property your probablly selling a higher dollar property aswell
          what market are you in? million dollars in Amarillo Tx is a mansion, and going to be on of the top priced properties in the whole city, in San Francisco its not quite as the case.
           -Scott
          
          $10,000 bonuses and such for realtors are often noted in agent notes on the MLS, I've even seem them go as far as giving away a new car just to sell the property.

Andrew R · Answer

I have the same question as david, An agent in our office just got a 2.5 Million dollar listing that was on the market for a year by a previous agent for 3.2

Finding buyers for a $1.2m dollar home?

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