A vendor has taken an unusual approach to selling a one-bedroom retirement apartment by reducing the price by £1,000 each week until it is sold. The property is on with an agent, Watsons in Norfolk.
The property, in Holt, is currently on the market at £140,000 and the first reduction will take place on Monday if there are no offers.
Owner John Parker says that it really suits his situation to sell the property as quickly as possible.
He said: “It’s a very well presented one-bedroom ground floor apartment facing south.
“It comprises an entrance hall, living room with direct access to a small patio, kitchen with window and bathroom, and priced at £140,000. There isn’t another residential property of this type in Holt for less.
“But if it means I have to sell the property at well below market value, then I am willing to accept that.
“We have had a number of interested viewers but haven’t yet found that one buyer.”
Asked how long he would be prepared to go on reducing the property by £1,000 per week, Parker replied that it would be until it was sold.
All the sales of one-bedroom apartments at Ainsworth Court over the past two years have been in the range of £143,000 to £160,000.
Comments (8)
what about listing on http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/
Sounds like this idea has been taken from the traditional French method of candlelit auctions and distorted. If you want to sell quickly and are not worried about the exact amount you are going to achieve, go to public auction. You will encourage multiple interest, you will have a secure and quick sale and you know what you achieve will be the best price obtainable.
“A vendor has taken an unusual approach to selling a one-bedroom retirement apartment”
Wouldn’t be the first time a vendor has taken an unusual approach, paying an online upfront still baffles me, although they seem to have changed that format now.
The vendor can clearly afford to take that hit however ridiculous it may seem, I’m sure the property and the agent will get some good exposure from this so makes me wonder whether they are in it together!
My first job in Agency was in “Heaven’s waiting room”. Take the property off the market till the Tulips are over; the buyers for that property will be sat at home watching Homes under the hammer and Countdown for another few weeks yet. They won’t buy it any sooner and the agent has just given the one person who is thinking of moving to Ainsworth Court every reason to take their time.
The 5 year transaction history for the complex shows buyers turn up eventually and pay good money when they do. This is gimmick marketing that will fail to accelerate the sale.
Looks like we’ve upset the marketing genius because we won’t pretend this hasn’t been done before (always badly) or think is is a brilliant idea. If they genuinely want a quick sale irrespective of price achieved, auction it a week on Tuesday without reserve.
No I wouldn’t,but all the tracking history on price reductions now available to buyers on Zoopla and Rightmove does a very similar thing beautifully.
When is the industry going to revolt against these giants systematically making our job more difficult.
And don’t get me on to them allowing UNREAL on line estate agents to gain massive traction by “experimenting” on the unsuspecting public with naff theories and ideas which we REAL estate agents know don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of working in the REAL ESTATE AGENCY world.
The industry already has – It’s called On The Market. Unfortunately though, not everybody is brave enough, or has the foresight, to support it. They prefer just to stand on the side lines, moaning about the status quo…
This is ridiculous! It’s clearly not being advertised correctly, plus it’s a retirement home. You either have someone that’s ready to move into one or you don’t. It’s about timing. I hate hearing things like this. We have a competitor that has recently sold a home for well below market value and taking advtantage of the owners situation, whilst we have been working hard towards getting the best price. Sometimes clients just need to be reassured that it will happen, not encouraged that it won’t.