Barbara Corcoran, according to Fortune Small Business via CNN.Money.com is the self-proclaimed queen of New York real estate. Corcoran founded the Corcoran Group 35 years ago and sold it in 2001 for $66 million. To put it mildly, she is colorful. The profile reports that when sales of her business book Use What You’ve Got were disappointing she renamed the paperback version If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails…obviously not concerned that the males left in the industry might not look for her advice. The gist of the article is that her new ambition is to become a TV personality. Indeed, she’s a regular commentator on the Today Show on NCB where I saw her this morning.
The segment this morning was addressing the issue on everybody’s mind these days about buying and selling in a down market. There is no question that Ms. Corcoran is up to the role of providing an interesting segment on TV but there are some reasons to question some of the advice. First of all, all real estate markets are local and general advice from somebody with 35 years of experience in one of the most atypical markets in the country should be examined closely. But she is thought provoking.
Her lead advice in the segment, which drew the appropriate skepticism from Matt Lauer, was to price a home 10% below what you think it is worth and buyers in the segment just below it will quickly bid the price up to where it belongs. Hmm…if anybody wants to try that around here, I’d be glad to manage the transaction but I wouldn’t recommend it. There just aren’t that many buyers shopping in the Durham luxury market.
Ms. Corcoran did repeat the mantra every listing agent emphasizes to declutter to make a home feel more spacious. This is good advice in any market. I’m gradually coming to believe that it’s also good advice for living your life.
Another piece of advice she offered that I’ve heard from her before is to list your home with what she calls a “power broker.” Besides seeming a little self-serving it also assumes that what worked in a sellers market for these power brokers will work in a buyers market. My belief that it won’t is the primary reason behind this whole blog. With over two years worth of inventory on the market, the Durham luxury home market is under-performing other segments in Durham and virtually everything else in the whole Triangle, luxury or otherwise. So, the question is how do you identify these power brokers if there are any.
Another piece of advice that was really offered to buyers was to look for the “storybook” home. This is good advice for the general market but it is my belief that this is always going on in the luxury market. The luxury market is not about shelter, it is about the story. Lots more about that in The Durham Luxury Market Report. It is important that marketing a luxury home in a down market is not about the features of the home as much as creating a story about the entertaining possibilities, the challenges of the golf course, the amenities in the community, the historical significance, whatever. The shelter aspects of the home are secondary when marketing a luxury home to the story you can tell.
Maybe I can take Ms. Corcoran’s advice after all. But since I can’t put ribbons in my pigtails…shoot, I don’t even have any hair…I’ll just have to rely on what I’ve learned doing marketing for 35 years.