Coldwell Banker 10-Day Sale Boosts Local Market Activity

By Maria Patterson

RISMEDIA, Dec. 29, 2008-Seizing an opportunity to ignite buyers in their respective real estate markets, more than 1,500 Coldwell Banker offices across the United States participated in the company’s first-ever, national “10-Day Sales Event” this past October.

According to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC Senior Vice President of Marketing Mike Fischer, brokers and agents jumped at the chance to try a new strategy. “These firms really wanted to take this opportunity to make a bold statement in the industry,” says Fischer. “Brokers were tired of standing on the sidelines and not taking any initiative. This program gave a huge energy boost to our entire network. It allowed them to say, ‘Yes, we can do something-we don’t have to let the environment dictate to us what’s going on.’ We were really incredibly happy with the response we got.”

The goal of the 10-day sale initiative was to bring home buyers and sellers together and help jump-start the U.S. real estate market. The sale kicked off on October 10, 2008 and ran through October 19, 2008. During the sale, participating home sellers from across the United States reduced the listing prices of their homes by up to 10%.

“We have a strong leadership position within the real estate industry and believed that this was something a leader needed to do,” explains Fischer. “At the time we launched the event, the news in real estate couldn’t have been any worse. The 10-day sale idea really clicked. The only positive conversations going on at the time were about this event. This was empowering to our network.”

Fischer believes that more than 32,000 homes that had been listed at the time participated in the event and estimated (at press time) that about 6% went under contract. “From the seller’s standpoint, that’s a huge reaction,” says Fischer.

All properties participating in the event were flagged as 10-day sale properties, enabling customers to conduct searches within this parameter at ColdwellBanker.com. This prompted significantly increased consumer exposure for these listings.

According to Fischer, two-thirds of the properties that lowered their listing prices retained the reduced price after the event. “The event helped point out how far away the market was from the seller’s expectation,” he explains. “In most cases, it’s not that far apart…about 10 percent. This gave agents a chance to re-discuss the price gap. This was one of the true, secondary benefits of the event.”

Anecdotal tales of the event’s success-including a $24 million home that sold in Los Angeles during the event, a couple who came with cash in hand to buy a home before the sale ended, and an agent who walked into a Coldwell Banker office and said, “My company is not doing anything for me; can I work for you?”-were widespread, says Fischer.

And the public relations value of the event for every Coldwell Banker office and agent was a tremendous benefit in and of itself. More than 120 television clips of event coverage were collected, in fact. In Pittsburgh, the sale even made it to the lead-story slot on the evening news.

Ultimately, says Fischer, “the credit goes to the brokers for understanding what was happening in their market. Our sale event came out right around the collapse of Wall St. There was such negativity. Brokers were able to use the 10-day sale as a chance to say, ‘It’s okay-you can still buy a home.’”