Real Estate SALE
I have been bitting my tongue for the last couple of days with this Coldwell Banker 10 Day Sale Event that’s happening right now and can’t hold back any longer. Rick and I are Coldwell Banker agents and we believe in Coldwell Banker because of it’s corporate style and because it’s a huge company (it fits our business ethic).
Last month, our broker announced that Coldwell Banker was doing a 10-day Sale which would be heavily advertised and would bring new movement to our listings. This sale would require that current listings reduce their asking price 10% for a limited time (5% for for listings above $750,000). They sent letters to every active listing announcing the sale and expected each agent to follow up with their respective clients.
I have to admit that I was not very pleased with the whole concept. I started analyzing each of our listings and the position of each seller. The old lady who is selling in order to pay for her assisted living facility could not afford to reduce her modest home $25,000. The father who was selling in order to pay for his son’s college education could not fathom the thought of reducing his house $55,000. $75,000 could mean a down payment to the family being relocated to another state. Was this sale intended for those homeowners that were overpriced to begin with? Or was it intended for those sellers in distress who need every single cent of the proceeds?
Rick and I take pride in doing constant market analysis for our clients. We price our listing well, based on closed sales – 10% would not work for a house that’s priced competitively.
The letter
In our continued effort to expose your home to as many potential buyers as possible and get your home sold within the shortest amount of time, we are instituting an innovative summer marketing promotion. All Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate offices throughout the Gold Coast area will be participating in our 2008 Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Gold Coast 10-Day Sale, which will include e-flyers and announcements e-cards, website marketing, open houses, mortgage pre-qualifications and exciting newspaper advertisements……You will have the option to bring the price back up at the conclusion of the sale.
The Press
This is what Monica Hatcher from The Miami Herald has to say:
Coldwell Banker might seem the last sort of business to take a page from the marketing manual of the car dealer’s factory blowout or Memorial Day Mattress Sale. But for the prestigious real estate brokerage, desperate times call for creative measures.
Last week, South Florida’s largest real estate firm started hyping its own version of a door-buster sale that starts June 1. Prices on hundreds of homes, mostly in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, will be slashed by at least 10 percent. Like most sales events, the discounts are good for a limited time only, in this case 10 days, the firm says — or, presumably, while supplies last!
The unusual marketing ploy is the latest strategy of home sellers and their brokers to compete for limited buyers in a market recording some of the sharpest price declines in the country and awash in foreclosures and bank-owned homes…..
Not everyone is convinced that a sort-of-clearance sale is the best idea. Some said real estate agents should be helping their clients list properties at their true market value to begin with. A sale might lead buyers to suspect listing prices are inflated. At a time when prices may be settling, a sale also could bring about further declines.
Paul Owers of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has this to say:
In yet another sign of the desperation in the South Florida housing market, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate is holding a 10-day sale, cutting prices of more than 1,000 properties at least 5 percent.
The Message
I do understand that I will not agree with every marketing idea that comes my way. I also know that I can be wrong and my opinion is not necessarily the last word. The concept bothers me for several reasons and they may be selfish reasons, and I’m hoping I get your opinion with the hopes of you bringing new light to this whole thing.
These are some of the thoughts that have been dancing around my brain: The “sale” makes it look unprofessional…..we are not selling mattresses or cars here. the sale makes it look like a marketing ploy and game. Will those that participate in that sale be regarded as the “motivated sellers”? If those sellers slash their price by 10% for a limited time, don’t you think they will accept more than a 10% reduction after the sale is completed? Is this a numbers game about selling quantity? Does this sale take into consideration the personal part of selling real estate? Am I totally off?
**original article on AgentGenius.com **