Does any board members have any suggestions they could provide when marketing high end homes? Along the lines of going the extra mile, thinking outside the box, and “must do’s”.
I appreciate any info you can provide.
I am not saying that there are not people making a lot of money selling high end (you name it houses, cars, purses) but a lesson from over a hundred years ago says build for the classes you’ll eat with the masses. If you build for the masses eat with the classes. That is the philosophy that Sir Thomas Lipton used. In the late 19th century tea was a beverage of the privileged classes. But when he decided to sell his tea in little tea bags that could be packaged for sell by the gross and affordable to everyone instead, he created a brand that is in almost everyone’s cupboard even today. Before that companies bought bulk tea and packaged it for sale to mostly upper class people. Almost nobody does that anymore. Never underestimate the ability to make money off of common folks.
The same works for real estate. Your goal (unlike common wisdom) is not to be rich and famous like Donald Trump. The goal is to be rich but leave the famous out. There are few Trumps that have great golden edifices to your name but there are a lot more people that are rich and nobody knows their names. Those are the people like David Siegel. He made a fortune selling timeshares to middle and lower class people. He was one of the richest American’s until he decided to focus on his 20 year his junior wife with great breast implants and not keep his eyes on his primary business.
I think going the extra mile online is a good idea. For example, you could post a nice video tour of the home, or a really nice virtual tour.
Ask yourself what the home offers the buyer (regardless of price point).
After you’ve settled on the major benefit, then lead the prospect to all the amenities that support that benefit.
If slideshows do that, great. If glorious descriptions will do that, fine. Whatever draws attention to the benefit of buying ‘that’ home is what you should do.
I put ugly, yellow bandit signs in the yards of high end properties, along with a flyer box, and get high quality calls. I also take well-framed, high-quality photos of the house and post ads in the free advertising sites. However, the most responsive ads, in my experiences, are the signs posted in the front yard. That’s not ‘legal’ everywhere, but the most likely buyers are already trolling the neighborhood.
Of course my biggest benefit is that I offer non-qualifying, owner financing on my houses. So, that’s my biggest ‘benefit’.
Also, the psychological/emotional barriers to my offers are dramatically reduced by framing them in a more organic way. That’s why I like ugly, handwritten, yellow bandit signs in the yard.
Seller financing doesn’t necessarily mean ‘a deal’ to the average person. So, I have to really make sure the ‘deal’ I’m offering is obviously a ‘terms deal,’ not a ‘price deal.’
This is where I deliberately sift out the bargain hunters, and try to sift in the buyers that ‘want my house’ …more than they want a 'bargain."
The folks with a financing hurdle of whatever nature, already know there’s gonna be a trade off (in price) somewhere. If they don’t know, or won’t accept that, then they are not our kind of buyers.
You really want to attract ‘emotion-driven’ buyers. These are the buyers that are not hung up on price, but hung up on owning YOUR house. That’s why making sure you figure out what the main, emotionally-motivating benefit is, of owning your house, …and advertising it.
How expensive/large is/are the homes you want to market?