Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Million Dollar Listing, and the Grass-is-Greener Seller.

Got my first million dollar listing this weekend. Pretty big deal for me. Of course I will have to sell it in order to make any money, but it feels good to add it to my inventory. That would be one tasty commission. It is the Lighthouse Restaurant in White Lake. It is right on the water, beautiful views from a huge deck with seating for fifty. Restaurant seats 250, and has been in business for sixty years.

Upstairs there is a four bedroom huge living space with great views of the lake.

 Legend has it that the final Woodstock handshakes were done at a Lighthouse table, where a somewhat reluctant Yasgur finally gave in to Elliot Tiber's and the promoter's persuasion. The story goes on that a waitress overheard the final plan being hatched, and leaked it to a local radio station (WVOS) and the men heard the news before they even left the restaurant.

Whether time has romanticized the story or not, it is still a pretty cool nugget of history. And it is a pretty cool building. Hope I sell it.


I am not the first person to list this property however . I am the second lister, and I have spoken about this in previous blogs, but I was able to be a bit more sanctimonious since I was the one inheriting the listing (like this one.) However in the last few months, I have lost two listings that were re listed by other agents, (one is even using my pictures to market the property) and regardless of the reasoning, that stings a bit. Both were listed at lower price points, despite giving me resistance when I suggested reductions earlier.  The thing that is a little unsettling about it is I thought I had a pretty good relationship with both sellers. In fact one is an old friend of the family. Now it is easy to dismiss this as a grass is greener reaction to a property not selling, and in a large part I think that is true, but this is a people business, and if elsewhere is where they thought they had the best chance of selling, then I failed.

However, if you can take a step back, and try not to bring human emotions like rejection and disappointment into it, the behavior by sellers in a slow market, where things are taking forever to sell, makes perfect sense. Listings, and sellers need to marinate for a bit before the reality really sets in. And a new person, with a shiny new sales pitch makes it seem like it all may be okay. Sellers just want results. The fact of the matter is, besides some tweaks, Realtors in Sullivan County are all doing the same marketing strategies. And in a lot of cases it is nothing more than the right price that sells a property. But like I said before, some agents are of the ilk that a good dog and pony show can give you some time to massage a price reduction and ultimately a sale out of the deal.

My dislike for "salesman tactics" prevent me from this strategy however, although believe it or not, some people do not want to hear the truth.

Oh well, for now I will concentrate on my million dollar listing. Sounds good to say it.

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