Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Last updated 12:24 a.m. PT
By AUBREY COHEN
P-I REPORTER
A piece of paper taped to Lake Real Estate agent Kirk Griswold's open house sign promised cold lemonade one Sunday when Seattle's temperature hit 92 degrees.
"I've never offered lemonade before, but it's so hot," Griswold said during the June open house in Greenwood.
Another motivation was Seattle's cooling real estate scene, he said. "We're trying a little harder in a slower market."
Sellers and their agents are trying harder these days, through food, financial incentives, gimmicky sales offers and personal letters.
The motivation is clear: The number of homes on the market in King County was up 29 percent in June from a year earlier, while sales were down 32 percent, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
June actually had the smallest inventory increase since February 2007; most recent months have been up by 50 percent to well over 60 percent.
The seller of a Bothell home is holding a "reverse auction," where he's promising to drop the price each week until it sells.
Other sellers are offering furniture, cars, special financing and cash bonuses.
John F. Buchan Homes made news in December when it offered a $100,000 private jet membership for full-price, noncontingent offers on homes priced over $1.2 million.
Quadrant Homes, the state's largest home builder, has offered buyer bonuses of up to $45,000, along with interest-rate buy downs, free finish and lot upgrades, and money for closing costs.
Sellers and their agents also are working harder to fix homes up and have them professionally staged and photographed.
But food is a more basic touch.
"It fills the house with an inviting scent and allows hungry shoppers to take a break and chat," said Mary Schile, a RE/MAX Mutual Realty agent, who always serves coffee and pie -- good market or bad -- at her open houses.
"Typically, the folks visiting open homes don't know if there will be food served or not, so it's not necessarily a draw.
"But it is something that a good agent can add to enhance the experience."
Schile throws pie parties every year on National Pie Day (Jan. 23, not to be confused with Pi Day, which is March 14, of course) and in late July, when she can get fresh ingredients. She's also a "card-carrying member" of the American Pie Council.
"Pie has been my signature dessert amongst my friends for some time and, since I primarily work by referrals from my social network, it was a natural choice," she said.
Over in Whittier Heights at the end of June, Shelly Baker laid out a spread of fresh fruit, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, chicken and pasta salads, cookies and drinks on ice.
The food entices people to stay longer, she said. "And it makes it feel a little more welcoming."
Baker, an associate broker with John L. Scott Real Estate, said she usually puts out coffee or water, often accompanied by a loaf of banana bread, but had never gone this far before. She even chopped the veggies herself.
One personal touch more common in recent years is a letter from potential buyers talking about themselves and how much they like a house.
The only change these days is that the letters are more commonly from sellers trying to bring in an offer, rather than buyers trying to stand out from other bidders.
"From the first moment in the house we immediately felt at home," Kyri and Bradley Khouri wrote in a letter displayed on a table in their Judkins Park house and with the online listing.
"The combination of our close group of truly wonderful and diverse neighbors and the proximity to downtown, the lake and great surrounding neighborhoods has contributed to the warm and welcoming atmosphere that we feel here. You will feel positive energy flowing in the house -- and we can assure you that living in this house is wonderful."
"I feel like in today's market, it's good to do everything that you can do," Bradley Khouri, an architect, said in an interview.
But he also said their letter would make sense in any market, because the old house is part of a unique project where he erected a new, adjoining home.
"I think it speaks about who we are and how we live," he said. "We really are happy to share this house and hope that someone does come and enjoys it as much as we did."
Kimberly Hobbs, the Windermere Real Estate agent who listed the Khouris' home, said she has long counseled her buyers and sellers to write such letters.
"I think it's about humanizing," she said. "We've come to such a technology-driven, hands-off lifestyle that I think we need to go back to basics and be human for a little while."
The slower market has made seller letters more important than ever, she said.
"I think that buyers want to like the sellers, because buyers are pretty suspicious," Hobbs said.
"People want to know that they're buying a house from someone that's cared for it well."
In a letter from the builder of a new Central District home also represented by Hobbs, Greg Walton of the Walton Group discussed his company's focus on increasing neighborhood density in a positive way, modern design and quality construction.
"We are a small company with huge ideals, intent on building homes and communities that are inspiring places to live, work and play," wrote Walton.
"We passionately believe that good design makes for a more enjoyable life."
Family members selling a Rainier Beach home described their love of the greenery around them.
"In early spring, it seems that every bush blooms. The old plum arcs over the walkway with a canopy of pink flowers, and the wisteria hangs purple flowers over the patio," they wrote.
"The back yard is dominated by a giant red maple, two cedars, three birch and three spruce trees."
Even though buyers these days don't have to worry as much about losing out on a home, writing a letter still can help win a better deal, Hobbs said.
"Even in a marketplace where it's not as brisk and where a seller's just incredibly happy to get an offer, they still want to feel like the buyer likes their house."
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Real estate agents take dramatic turn for sales
Crowded field leads to costumes, gags, gifts and elaborate Web sites
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
By AUBREY COHEN
P-I REPORTER
Puck is upfront about his job.
"Let's face it, I'm a marketing ploy," the 5-year-old English bulldog writes on his page of Realtor Phoenix Rudner's Web site, seattlehousehound.com.
It's a way to stand out from a thickening crowd of agents, said Rudner, of Coldwell Banker Bain's Capitol Hill office.
"You want to define yourself," he said. "If you really know an area really well, why not focus on that?"
The Seattle-King County Association of Realtors has about 8,800 active members -- up more than 80 percent from 1999. The state Department of Licensing reports there are 13,747 licensed real estate salespeople in King County.
A growing number of agents are trying to distinguish themselves with increasingly elaborate Web sites. A National Association of Realtors survey earlier this year found 71 percent of Realtors had personal business Web sites, compared with just 31 percent in 2002.
Many agents carve out a niche by focusing on a location, home type or a group of buyers and sellers. Others wear costumes, serve pie or distribute handy gifts.
Rudner has worked in real estate about five years but only incorporated Puck during the last couple.
"There are so many dog owners who need someone who understands their needs," he explained.
Issues include proximity to dog parks, safe neighborhoods for early-morning and late-evening walks, bedrooms big enough to avoid tripping over dog beds at night, showing a house with a dog in it and pet restrictions in condo complexes.
"I used to live in a condo complex where the dog had to be carried through all common areas. Well, my dog's 60 pounds," Rudner said. "I ended up getting a red Radio Flyer wagon."
Dogs would seem a sensible focus in a city with nearly a dog and a half for every child, according to current city and Census Bureau estimates.
RE/Max Northwest Realtor Ross Adams aims for a more exclusive group of buyers on his Web site, realestateforcops.com, which touts itself as the No. 1 Web site for law enforcement-friendly real estate services.
There's a picture of Adams, a reserve police officer, in his blue uniform, wearing his badge.
"In my years working as an officer, I've had the opportunity to get to know the men and women of law enforcement," the site says. "In addition to the great experiences I've shared, I've also grown to understand and appreciate the needs of the people in this profession."
As a "special offer of appreciation," Adams promises officers a contribution toward closing costs and an officers guild donation in their name.
Some specialties focus more on location or home type.
Mr. Magnolia, actually a three-agent team at Coldwell Banker Danforth & Associates, is among many agents and teams focusing on a particular Seattle neighborhood or part of town.
Tom Holst -- a Madison Partners agent who runs seattlemodern.comand sometimes goes by "Modern Tom" -- is one of several agents specializing in modern houses, as opposed to Craftsman, Victorian or Tudor homes.
Be the niche
 |
||
 |
Paul Joseph Brown / P-I | |
| To catch people's attention, real estate agent Melanie Meyer has a Web site (specialagentrealtor.com) that plays up her previous career as a sheriff's deputy in South Carolina. It's one of many things agents are trying in a crowded field. | ||
Realtor Melanie Meyer of Century 21 North Homes Realty puts a different slant on the cop angle at her site: specialagentrealtor.com.
Meyer, a former sheriff's deputy in Charleston County, S.C., also has pictures of herself in uniform. But rather than aim for any particular group of clients, she proclaims on her site that she's "solving the real estate mystery" for the general public.
Meyer gave up her law-enforcement career and moved to Seattle in 2003 to marry a man she met playing "Dark Age of Camelot" online. She started working in real estate two years ago.
Meyer's business card shows her wearing a fedora and trench coat and carrying a magnifying glass.
"My husband's so embarrassed," she said last week. "He said, 'You're so silly, but I still love you.' "
Her Web site also notes that she has a pit bull named Megan and is a freelance writer for "Today's Astrologer" magazine.
"There are a lot of good agents out here," she said. "I try to be different."
Mission accomplished, almost.
Meyer claims to be Seattle's "first and only Special Agent Realtor." It seems she didn't have the scoop on Serena Heslop.
"Some call me the Emma Peel of Seattle real estate," Heslop writes on her Web site, the conventionally named serenaheslop.com.
Heslop has at least one thing in common with Peel, a spy in the 1960s television series "The Avengers": They're both British. Photos illustrating various sections of her Web site show her in a trench coat, fedora and dark sunglasses; a safari hat (holding binoculars); a hard hat, fake mustache and overalls; and a wetsuit.
Heslop said she's been a "Special Agent Realtor" for four or five years but just got her Web site up a few months ago. It's a way to liven up the dry, boring world of real estate advertising and give prospective clients an idea of who they'd be dealing with, she said.
News of a competing special agent Realtor didn't seem to rattle Heslop or Meyer.
"I'm sure I'll run into her someday," Meyer said. "I hope she's as silly as I am."
"I'm gonna scratch her eyes out," Heslop joked.
Or be a few niches
When Mary Schile switched to real estate, the former House of Blues contracts negotiator called herself the "Rock-and-Roll Realtor."
Schile, of RE/MAX Mutual Realty, now claims the title of "Pie and Coffee Realtor," as illustrated by the apple and cherry pies she served at a Phinney Ridge open house Sunday, and the espresso cart.
"I love pie," she said. "I celebrate National Pie Day, on Jan. 23, with a Pie-esta (party)."
Schile also holds an annual pie-eating contest, where contestants compete for passes to the annual Sasquatch! Music Festival at The Gorge Amphitheatre, and bakes her clients house-shaped cakes. So maybe she's the rock 'n' roll-pie-coffee-and-cake Realtor.
Then there's the "Sold on Mary" postcards she sends out, featuring real clients.
One client wore a costume for the Halloween card. Another posed with a turkey for Thanksgiving.
"He made his complete Thanksgiving dinner in October so we could have a prop turkey," Schile explained.
The seller moving to South Africa for love wants to be on Schile's Valentine's Day card.
Give it away
One old-school promotional approach is giving out personalized gifts -- typically pens, calendars or fridge magnets. Carolyn Mollot, a Realtor with Windermere Real Estate, has been distributing personalized, house-shaped, Mightygrip jar openers for more than two years.
House-shaped whatnots are in, as evidenced by the customized letter slitters, tape measures and banks available through one company specializing in real estate promotions. Other personalized possibilities include floor mats, emery boards, seed packets and yardsticks.
The rubber jar openers are cheap and fit into an envelope, said Mollot, who worked in promotional advertising for 28 years. "And people keep these things for years."
Does it work?
Dominic Canterbury, owner of the Seattle marketing and public relations firm D/C Strategic, said niche real estate marketing can work, if done right.
"Most agents are awful with their marketing," he said. "That's why they've sort of become the used car salesmen of our time."
The key is word-of-mouth, Canterbury said. "People love to share things that they think their friends are going to love."
Many choose a poor niche, or just mess up their marketing, Canterbury said. He said Rudner, now one of his clients, didn't start out saying why anyone might need an agent who specializes in dog owners.
One of Canterbury's clients is a mortgage broker who targets newlyweds. Another aims at real estate for new lawyers.
And Canterbury, of course, has followed his own advice in choosing for his business.
"My own niche is real estate agents," he said.
Realtors say all of these approaches bring some measure of success -- at least in reaching a target audience.
"I would say that 80 percent of my clients have dogs," Rudner said. He added that some have cats, or even kids.
"Some people have told me it's silly," Meyer said. "But I don't care. I've got a good sense of humor. I've got very thick skin."
Heslop said she generally gets a good response, although some don't appreciate her style.
That's just as well, she said. "I don't want to work with people who aren't somewhat on the same wavelength as me."
The main point may be just to get people to remember you.
Mollot recalled running into one of her original recipients recently. "He said, 'Yeah, weren't you the person that gave me that jar opener?' "
P-I reporter Aubrey Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8362 or aubreycohen@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer