Last year I sold a townhouse in the Ballard section of Seattle! I don't usually list houses in that market and prefer to refer clients to agents who are more familiar with the nuances of city living but I was working with a nice millennial couple selling their first home. I couldn't say no.
I took the challenge and signed a marketing agreement that was precise
- Hold three open houses Friday, Saturday, Sunday followed by a brokers open on Tuesday.
- Except offers up till the following Friday
- Present all offers to the Sellers Friday night.
They in turn hired a stager and professional photographer and had the house completely perfect to list on the Friday, first open house day @ 1:00 am.
The first open house was unreal with 27 couples, 4 singles and 2 brokers. (This was a Friday!) All but the brokers I would deem millennial and they worked for the who's who of tech companies (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Pixar and Amazon)!
The #1 question was does the house have high speed wiring followed by how's the cell strength here. Which they all tested in every room. By the end of the first 6 hour open house I knew how each cell phone carrier measured up in each room and I took notes.
The following 2 open houses were much the same as the first day. Heavy attendance and lots of questions. I had 3 couples attend all 3 open houses and I knew them only by their first names (Odd?).
I was fielding broker calls one after another in what was the nearest thing to a feeding frenzy that I would like to be. (I have been scuba diving in shark infested waters that were calmer.)
Finally at the brokers open only 1 agent came (wasted a ton of food) and she told me that her clients wanted the "buy me now price!" I explained my clients wishes to take offers till Friday and she said nonsense, this is the list price and tell me what your highest offer is right now! I told her I haven't received a single offer yet; true statement. Brokers were all waiting for Friday to submit so we would not be pressured.
I thought this was a great insight into how the millennial mind worked (maybe only in the Seattle market);
- Location
- Technology
- Winning
My clients were the clear winners walking away with a $95k profit in 2 years of ownership but I felt I learned a boat load about working outside my area and the millennial Buyer...
What do you call a hand full of millennial couples and a hot Seattle property? An opportunity!
Thank you for reading and commenting on my blog post! This post was researched, authored and the photo taken by Paul S. Henderson, © 2015, all rights reserved. All information is deemed reliable however it should be independently verified by the reader. Any reproduction of this blog post is prohibited without the prior written permission of the author
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