Real estate agents sell the open house - Baltimore Sun
01.02.09
They are holding parties, providing car washes, including prize drawings and more. Efforts range from luxury VIP-only events to DIY tours open to all - and they don't just take place on Sundays as agents seek to sell if not this house, another house, or at least pick up clients.
Whether creativity or exclusivity makes a difference is debatable; some agents say clients want to assess a house in peace, while others say the extras make a house inviting and show off the lifestyle it offers.
"When football started, we did a tailgate party. We grilled hot dogs at one of the houses," said Tracey Lane, an associate broker with Keller Williams Flagship in Millersville. "I have seen clowns out on the street, and when the kids go in, they get hot dogs and face-painting."
"We set up a car wash right at the property," said Anthony Corrao, a Coldwell Banker agent in Ellicott City, recalling a warm-weather open house in Columbia.
On a recent Saturday,
Source: Baltimore Sun, United States
Sequim Luxury Homes and Nationwide
How are Sequim luxury home prices holding up in this market? Maybe only slightly better than nationwide. Los Angeles luxury home owners were proud that they were immune even well through 2008, but they just got hit with large discounts on multi-million dollars homes, many taking hits of 26% to 30% price reductions recently.
Luxury home prices tend to follow well behind the rest of the market. hat’s not unusual for the luxury home market. Buyers of luxury homes aren’t effected as much as the average person when the real estate market slows down, but in a tidal wave event like this one, even luxury homes are not immune.
“The median price of a single-family home in Beverly Hills was $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from $3 million in the second quarter, according to data prepared for the Los Angeles Times by research firm MDA DataQuick. The Pacific Palisades neighborhood closed the year with a median price of $2.2 million, down from a high of $2.6 million during the second quarter, and Santa Monica’s median was $1.6 million, down from $2.1 million last winter. The Brentwood neighborhood’s fourth-quarter median of $2.3 million was down 11 percent from its peak.” Read High-End Home Prices from the Seattle Times.
What’s happening with Sequim and Port Angeles luxury homes? Nothing, that’s the point, and that’s precisely why it’s a buyer’s market. At the upper end it is not unreasonable to clip off a $100,000 or more in this market in any offer. Of course, our luxury homes are not in the price range of the Santa Barbara or L.A. luxury home.
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