$1M market: How pricey properties find buyers
Monday - 8/6/2012, 6:00am ET
Real estate professionals say the market is improving. Historically low mortgage rates, generally low home prices and distressed properties -- foreclosures and short sales -- make it a buyers' market.
But what of houses priced at $1 million or more? What does it take to market and sell such dearly priced properties?
"Historic homes require specialized marketing because there is so much more to them than just a dwelling," said Gary Gestson, certified historic properties specialist with Long & Foster Real Estate in Gaithersburg.
Gestson, an exclusive affiliate of Christies International Real Estate, was an art dealer for 25 years. He has sold more than $750 million in historic and high-end homes during his career.
"I approach marketing (a) historic home in the same manner as a work of art, and every historic homeowner and historic home buyer intuitively understands the fine art connection," Gestson wrote in an email.
Gestson is now marketing a historic house in Sabillasville, built in 1908 and priced at nearly $1.2 million. The building once served as a power-generating plant and laundry for a tuberculosis sanitarium and was designed by architects Wyatt & Nolting.
Homes priced at $1M or more sold in Frederick County:
2006: 28
2007: 14
2008: 8
2009: 5
2010: 4
2011: 4
2012: 2 (Through July)
Source: Dan Plombon, Mackintosh Inc. Realtors
The house has more than five bedrooms, three and a half baths, sits
on 11 acres of land and is on the National Register of Historic Places. "My
job as (a) historic home marketing specialist is to reveal that value in a way
that allows the buyer to appreciate the rare buying opportunity and compels him or
her to act," Gestson said. "Only a small part of the value of (a) historic home is
based on physical makeup of the materials, so the only way to determine the value
of (a) historic home or work of art with any certainty is through marketing. "If you are marketing to buyers who don't understand the value of (a) historic
home, then that extraordinary home is only an old house, just as that rare drawing
is only a piece of paper," Gestson said. Finding the right buyers Marketing to the right target audience is key, according to Darren Ahearn, an
agent with Real Estate Teams in Frederick. "I have a horse farm listed right
now for $2.4 million," Ahearn wrote in an email. The primary structures were built
in 2003, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Ahearn and his team contacted every equestrian farm group on the Internet,
especially Maryland equestrian farms, and used social media to market the
property. "We also sent a custom packet to every other Realtor that has sold
this type of property in the past or specializes in those (equestrian
properties)," Ahearn said. "I've learned that birds of a feather flock
together," Ahearn said, so he and his team contacted horse-training and horse-
racing facilities, golf clubs and other places where people who might be
interested in equestrian sites, and could afford them, would be found. Buzz
Mackintosh at Mackintosh Inc. Realtors is marketing the Tyler Spite House in
downtown Frederick. Not only located in the heart of the city, but steeped in
history, the property is on the market for $1.5 million. The property is
being marketed both as residential and commercial because it served for many years
as a bed and breakfast, Mackintosh wrote in an email. "It really is not much
different with high-end homes. I always try to meet the agents and prospective
buyers at the house, so I can show and demonstrate the home," said Betsy Cain, an
agent with Mackintosh Inc. Realtors. "That means no lock box, and you need to make
yourself available and be able to accommodate them when they have it scheduled. It
is worth it because you get to meet the buyer and get a feeling for what they
think of the property and can report back to the sellers firsthand." Dan
Plombon, an agent with Mackintosh Inc. Realtors, said 65 houses have been priced
at $1 million or more from January 2006 through July 2012. Ahearn said 26
houses are now listed at $1 million or more on the market in Frederick County. Rare antiques From the
viewpoint of a seller, historic houses must be considered as rare antiques and
valued as such.
