With primary home sales expected to diminish this year, discretionary second home purchases could be hit even harder.
A growing pattern of slower home sales combined with winter weather that sends many potential buyers into hibernation will make it even harder to entice them out to your open house.
To help buyers devise a marketing plan to offset current market conditions we sought advice from Christine Karpinski, real estate investor, author and director of Owner Advocacy for HomeAway.com, formerly WVR Group, a network of vacation rental listing websites.
Here's what she advises for a fast sale and top dollar on your listing.
Sell it fully furnished. A group of buyers prefer to buy a vacation home they plan to rent out in "turn-key" condition -- sheets on the beds, silverware in the drawer, artwork on the walls. If your home isn't furnished, you'll miss this group of buyers.
Set the stage. Make your vacation home appear like it just popped out of a "Comfortable Vacation Retreats" periodical. Buyers give the cold shoulder to cluttered homes with outdated decor and worn furnishings. A fresh coat of paint, a new comforter on the bed and a few accessories can cost less than $1,000. Likewise complete any deferred maintenance and repair tasks. Vacation home buyers are less likely to seek the hassle of a fixer-upper.
Be a paparazzo. Turn your home's listing into a celebrity photo expose. The vast majority of buyers use the Internet to search for a home. That's especially true of second home buyers who often purchase from a distance and need lots of help visualizing the full scope of your property. Some vacation home buyers will purchase site unseen if that can get their hands on many good quality photographs of the property.
Write a story. Write a "get away from it all" happy ending story to describe your home. Use words like "private," "peaceful," and "escape" while characterizing amenities such as swimming pools, tennis courts and proximity to beaches, bike trails, hiking, etc.
Reveal the bottom line. If you've rented your property, get your real estate agent to quote your rental revenue. That will give you ties to buyers seeking vacation homes as investment properties as well as those who may only rent it out for a few weeks each year, say to defray expenses. Property with proven rental income is also often worth more.
Let buyers sleep in. Vacation home buyers often stay in a hotel while looking for a property to purchase. Tell your real estate agent that potential buyers can stay in your vacation home for a nominal fee or for free if you can afford it. There's no better way to get a buyer to fall in love with your property than to bed them for a weekend.
Use one-stop shopping. Mention in your sales flyer you have housekeepers, groundskeepers, maintenance workers, or property managers already lined up. The thought of finding services providers in an unfamiliar area can be a turn off.
Pick a top-notch agent. You want an agent who understands the differences between marketing second or vacation homes and primary residences. Look for those with the new "Resort and Second-Home Property Specialist" certification. The best reside in the area where you plan to buy or sell. Also, real estate firms also offering property management come with the potential for generating interest from rental clients and investors.
Hunker down. Vacation homes can take twice as long to sell as primary homes, especially those in locations with seasonal draws, homes in out of the way locations and larger properties among others.
Rent it. If all else fails, rent it out. Renting your house by the night or by the week while it's on the market creates some logistical problems showing it when it's renter free, but renting it out can help cover your expenses until the house sells.
Tomorrow: Baby, it's cold outside. How to light a fire under renters and get them inside your vacation rental.
Published: February 22, 2006
Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a
contemporary digital news service that really hits home.
The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services.
The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home.
Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News.
Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake.
He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications.
In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.
Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a
contemporary digital news service that really hits home.