The KW Daily Update

Saturday Article Featuring The Birschbach Team:


Home buyers getting red-carpet treatment

KAREN RIVEDAL
krivedal@madison.com
608-252-6106 madison.com
Posted: Saturday, December 4, 2010 11:30 am

Selling a home today in south-central Wisconsin typically requires a good bit more than just slapping an ad on the MLS and waiting for the buyers to line up.

With fewer buyers, successful agents and their clients are choosing more creative marketing and selling strategies, with an increasing array of tactics designed to drive interest to listed properties.

Some innovations might be bold or eccentric enough to raise eyebrows.

Madison-based Stark Co. agent Heidi Kelley offers a personalized, Feng Shui-inspired “space clearing” ceremony — with invocations, meditations, tiny cymbals and divining rod-type instruments — that she says will find and rid a listed or newly purchased house of its “bad energy.”

“The home stores all of its memories, good and bad, and this sometimes gets in the way of a buyer making an acceptable offer on a home,” Kelley said.

Other agents take a more traditional idea, such as open houses, and put a twist on it.
“It’s about keeping pace with the market and taking a fresh approach,” said Shelly Sprinkman, an agent with Restaino & Associates.

Sprinkman is sponsoring a “Holiday Open House Tour” featuring decorated homes and free refreshments Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. for eight houses she’s trying to sell in Maple Bluff. List prices range from $400,000 to $2.8 million.

“We’re really trying to make it a relaxed, family friendly event,” she said. “We want (potential buyers) to see the festivities and experience the neighborhood as a community.”

The 100-year-old home of Sue and Carl Weston at 166 Lakewood Blvd., listed at $1 million, is the first stop on the tour. The Westons, who are in their 60s, bought and sold several houses over the years on their own in Maple Bluff, but this time felt they couldn’t do it alone, Sue Weston said.

“You used to be able to sell a house just like that,” she said. “This is the first time we realized we had to have a Realtor. It’s a market that really needs expertise. You don’t want it on your shoulders.”
Trying to stand out
Unusual showings, expanded networking, more targeted marketing of desired buyers and more organized cooperation between agents are among the main changes as sellers’ agents look to make their listings stand out in a slower market.

And while agents such as Sprinkman might sometimes approach it with a sense of fun or luxury — her other recent showings included a summer boat tour of homes on Lake Mendota with champagne and appetizers and a well-attended open house in Maple Bluff last month that doubled as a sale of vintage estate jewelry — the challenge to would-be sellers can be serious.

Sales have slowed noticeably since July, and in October, Dane County home sales dropped to historically low levels, with the fewest houses bought in any October since at least 1991 and condo sales the lowest since October 1997, according to the South Central Wisconsin Multiple Listing Service, which includes most properties for sale.

“It’s definitely a changed market,” said Sprinkman. “Sellers had to adjust their prices downward.”

Many sellers today also have to get their houses in better shape before putting them on the market, agents said. It’s another of the big changes from the mid-decade boom days when sellers could get multiple offers on homes that needed “a ton of work,” Sprinkman said.

“Now they have to get their houses in pristine condition,” said Sprinkman, who runs a team that includes a professional stager for home makeovers. “But those who are taking the time and care and energy to (do that) are going to reap the reward.”

Several agents also said targeted marketing of appropriate buyer segments is more important in today’s market. For some of her higher-end listings, for example, Sprinkman advertises in Chicago publications “to reach people looking for second homes in a favorable market.”

“Rather than trying to market one house to everybody, you hone in on the strategic audience,” she said. “It’s about understanding who is the likely buyer for your home.”

Critical to understand market

But with no more federal tax credit to help grease the sales wheel — as it did for most of 2009 and this spring, when it expired — agents these days might have to dream up their own buyer incentives.

Husband-and-wife agent team Jon and Donna Birschbach of Keller Williams West are fairly straightforward about it. They sometimes give away hams and turkeys at open houses, or orchids and sports tickets, “to encourage buyers to the door,” Donna Birschbach said.

“The giveaways do not always sell our listings, but they do offer us an opportunity to meet new prospective buyers and open discussions for other listing or purchasing opportunities,” she said. “Our goal is to stimulate activity and educate while reinforcing a positive attitude when consumer confidence is at an all-time low.”

Today’s tight market makes it more important than ever for agents to provide timely, factual information for both sides in a transaction — so sellers understand they need to price realistically and for buyers who sometimes should be counseled against expecting to make too big a killing, Donna Birschbach said.

“It’s very critical to understand the market right now,” she said. “There are still some buyers looking to (offer) at $50,000 under asking price.”

Jo Ferraro, a Century 21 agent, is focusing more on her colleagues now to help her make sales. She developed a new “Coming Soon” online feature to let certain buyer agents know about properties she intends to put on the market, well before any showings are available.

“It’s a classic takeaway,” she said. “‘Here it is, but you can’t have it yet.’ So it does create a buzz and a little bit of urgency.”

Ferraro also said more effective agents these days are working in teams, with people from inside and sometimes outside their agency. At open houses, for example, she suggested inviting other housing industry professionals — lawyers, accountants, lenders and financial advisers — because they have clients, too, and can sometimes provide good referrals.

“They may know of people who meet the criteria for a place,” said Ferraro, adding that broader teamwork by agents probably will become “more and more common.”

“Agents are looking to join a team where they can pool their marketing resources, do more marketing and have better technology to capture more leads and buyers,” she said.

A team approach also should result in better service for clients, helping ensure fewer interested buyers or sellers get a busy signal or leave an unreturned message.

“A team never takes a vacation,” she said. “There’s always somebody on call.”

Posted in Business on Saturday, December 4, 2010 11:30 am Real Estate, Multiple Listing Service, Shelly Sprinkman, Donna Birschbach, Sue Weston, Heidi Kelley, Carl Weston, Jo Ferraro, Jon Birschbach

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