I began this blog a few months ago after watching the luxury market in Durham for several years. For most of that time I was a licensed agent but not actively seeking clients. For almost two years I was helping manage another firm and my bosses wanted me to focus on that and not my own clients. I left that firm and did a renovation of an investment property that I sold last year. As I refocused on what it would take to market homes in the luxury segment it became clear that there was nothing wrong with the “inventory” in Durham. The real problem was the Durham “brand.” I began to feel strongly that reviving the luxury market in Durham was going to require that sellers in Durham and their agents adjust their marketing to address this directly. The Durham Luxury Home Report suggests a number of ways to do this.
As the blog started to appear in the search results for key phrases, I realized that potential buyers were going to find the site too. I needed to add some emphasis to why this is such a great place to live. I started posting more about the things that make it desirable and made available another report for Newcomers to the Luxury Market in Durham.
The information needs of sellers are different than those of buyers. Straddling the line between providing candid marketing advice to sellers and selling the community to buyers is difficult. Ironically, I think it reflects one of the things I love about this community. We have a remarkable capacity for arguing out our problems in public. For the last few years, the finer neighborhoods in Durham have been one of the region’s best kept secrets. It’s time for us marketing real estate to help share with the world what is great about this community.
