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If You Can't Fix It, Feature It!

Dawn McCurdy came up with a creative way to sell a home that needed a lot of work. She used honesty and the "Mission Impossible" theme song from our Just For Fun music library, to give this real fixer-upper a great marketing piece. She decided not to take a "this house doesn't deserve a Show" approach to marketing the home.

"We were all talking about why we shouldn't put photos of it or showcase it as it is in such need of repair," Dawn said. "Then, we thought, why not. When you advertise something as needing work, the first questions buyers and agents have is "Like what?" So we figured each photo was at least worth 1,000 words, and if you can't say something nice, well you know the rest!"

View Her Creative Effort Here

"They just wanted it sold, which we did in 1 day!"

"Thank you so much for your great product," Dawn continued. "I love seeing all the ideas and only wish I tapped into 10% of what you can do."

Dawn, thank you for permission to share this wonderful idea!

Show produced by Dawn McCurdy, McCurdy Real Estate
Latham, NY | 518.785.9900 | Site

Posted by Jeff Turner on 11/28/2006 06:31 PM

Comments (13)

listings, internet marketing, virtual tours, sales, real estate, real estate shows, realtor, marketing, jeff turner

Originally posted at: Turner's Perspective: If You Can't Fix It, Feature It!

13 Comments on If You Can't Fix It, Feature It!

NOV

2006

Thanks so much that was real cute...I love the tag line...Mission not Impossible.

I really thought this was a very creative way to show off a "bad" listing. She did a great job!

NOV

2006

I like it. There are a lot of people out there looking for a project. There's a buyer for every home. You also need a seller who doesn't think that their shack is a castle.

I think creativity can be a calming force with a seller. They want the home to sell, obvioiusly. If you're creative in how you approach a home that has no curb appeal, the seller will be more inclined to side with you. You have to bring something to the table though.

Brilliant! I love the creativity she brought to the "problem child" of a house.

Tricia, you'll like what it does for nice houses as well. I noticed you are a horse fan, so here is an equestrian example.

http://www.realestateshows.com/show.php?id=10985

Lovely - but I would have had more photos of the barn. The one thing I do understand about horse people - the barn is most often more important than the house! (Though I do know of one case where the husband fell in love with the house and told his wife, "If you let me buy this house, I'll let you build any barn you want to," and she took him up on it. And what a barn it was!

Great story, Tricia. I would agree with you. This particular Realtor does not sell a lot of horse properties. If you look at the "other shows" link you'll see that. I can't wait to see what you will do with it!

DEC

2006

Tricia, is there a search engine specifically for horse properties?

Not that I know of, Jeff. I've been looking for such - if anybody knows of one, please bring it to my attention!

Edited: There are websites that are specifically for rural property: LandsofAmerica, Cowboy.com; Stable.com, as examples. And online advertising for such. But not a search engine per se that I've found.

Hmmm... do you see that as a need? Desire?

NOV

2007

Many times horse properties are not stated as such in seller's ads. There are a lot of properties available for sale that would be great for horses that could have been used for something else. I would encourage you to browse www.landsofamerica.com and search under Acreage. I think you'll be amazed at how much pieces of land don't mention horses but would be perfect for your's. Good luck in your land search.

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons. This was great! Thanks for the inspiration.

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