Top 10 Real Estate Developments of the ’00s: #9
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Today, our look at the most significant real estate developments of the decade continues with the ninth-ranked item on the list:
A Sunday Open Like No Other
DePinto, left, and DelBoccio breathed new life into this luxury listing with a Sunday "Lifestyle Marketing Event."
Don’t call it an open house. That was the message from the hardworking “M&M Team,” Maria DelBoccio and Michelle DePinto of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, who staged a “lifestyle marketing event” at their $1.7 million new-construction listing in Arlington Heights, Ill., yesterday.
OK, so the listing was 20 miles from my house, and exponentially more than I could afford. Still, I had to check this out.
The first thing I noticed was, although there were other open houses in the neighborhood, none of them had valet parking. Nor did they have a Maserati parked in the driveway, a singer crooning “Fly Me to the Moon” when you walked in the door, bruschetta and caponata (delicious!) served in a backyard tent, and cakes and other confections (also delicious) served in the three-car garage. Read more
To Stage or Not to Stage?
By Wendy Cole, Senior Editor, REALTOR Magazine®
Home staging seems to be a more important selling tool than ever. Barb Schwartz, author of the new book Staging to Sell: The Secret to Selling Homes in a Down Market, notes that that even in today’s slower housing market, 95% of staged homes sell (on average) in 35 days or less. On the other hand, homes that are not staged take 172 days or more to sell, if they sell at all.
Just wondering if these figures correspond with what you all are finding out there? How critical is staging a property in your market?
