Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Real estate professionals involved in selling luxury homes are having to think more and more outside of the box in order to lure potential buyers to their multi-million dollar mansions, with the latest ideas including free Botox treatments, hosting mini-circuses, and lately, parading models outside the property.
Real estate agents are clowning around, seriously! Courtesy of Brendan O's @ flickr.com
“The price is still the key, but what sells property these days is the way it’s presented,” said Calabasas real estate agent Lisa Sorrentino in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Sorrentino was the one who decided on staging a rather impromptu mini-circus outside of one of her listings, an $8 million California mansion, with performers including a contortionist, a stilt walker and a juggler doing their routines to try and draw in the crowds.
The Los Angeles Times noted that these inventive sales tactics are down to one thing - increased completion for buyers.
“The result is that agents are doing anything they can to gain an edge,” said the LA Times.
Paul Habibi, of the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, likened the new tactics to “Shock and Awe” marketing.
“Before, all you had to do was post a few listings around or stick a sign outside, and before you knew it the home would be sold,” said Habibi. “But nowadays, sellers have to come up with far better tactics if they want to tap into buyers and sell their properties.”
Open houses especially, are becoming increasingly popular. And these are no longer your routine open house events of old. One ingenious agent recently decided that the best way to lure buyers to a six-acre estate he was trying to sell was to offer free horseback rides for those who wished to come and view it. Meanwhile, a Malibu-based agent employed a double-whammy of Thai foot massages and a raffle for Botox treatments for all those who would come to see his property.
Could you resist a home with THEM beckoning you inside? Courtesy of petersbar @ flickr.com
Gary Gold also made a noteworthy effort in trying to get foot traffic into a West Hollywood mansion he was trying to sell. He simply hired a bunch of glamour models to stand outside the home, offering free drinks to passersby in an effort to lure them in. Could you resist?
