Imagine you just landed a deal to sell a multi-million dollar home, and your client said, “I don’t want everyone to know we’re selling.” Could you still sell that home?
Do you think this could never happen to you? Think again. Many famous people want to sell their homes and don’t want all the fanfare that goes along with it.
If it doesn’t sell for their asking price and they have to drop the price, this can bring public embarrassment. So not only does it happen, it happens more often than you might think.
If you’ve ever faced with this situation, your mind quickly scratches many of the traditional real-estate tactics off the list. First, you can’t put a sign in the yard.
Second, you can’t have an open house. And third, you can’t market the house online. In fact, you’re basically forbidden from marketing the home at all — at least in the traditional sense. So what are you going to do?
Some real estate agents would walk away from this client. They wouldn’t know what to do. But if you know a few simple tricks, you can sell this home quickly and discreetly. Here’s how:
It starts with who you know. A lot of the sales in luxury real estate get done through networking. You might have heard that it’s not always what you know, but who you know. Well, that’s true in luxury real estate.
Sometimes making a call to the right person can get the ball rolling quickly. You also have to remember that targeted marketing is more effective in this type of situation.
You can’t tell the world the house is for sale. But you can tell people in your target audience that you have a home for sale that they might be interested in.
Next, because you can’t have an open house to invite people in to see the home, you have to come up with another idea. One of the best ways to do just that is to throw a party.
This party would be a high-end event that’s invite-only. You would have to vet the invite list and make sure you had the right people coming to the party.
Some agents will get corporate sponsors for a big event. For instance, some companies that cater to high-end clients will go in on the party with you to advertise their products.
The goal of a party is not to do a hard sell while the party is going on. The goal is to make everyone attending the party want that house. It’s a soft sell. And staging the house so people desire it will open the door to quick sales.
Again, it’s all about who you know. There are many other secrets to selling a house discreetly — this is just a start.
Do you have any luxury secrets you employ in these situations? Please share in the comments section below.
Kevin M. Leonard is the founder of Luxury Agent and Valore Group. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.