Location vs. Price

A suburban Chicago seller has only one other property competing against it. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? From an advertising and marketing standpoint, I would say some of both. The idea is to find the “good” and use that as the marketing approach.

First, let me point out that I found out about this from a local newspaper story and am not familiar with the home or its seller, nor is the listing agent a current or past client of mine.

It seems that until the past few days, there was only one million dollar home officially on the market in Lombard, a western suburb of Chicago. Now there is another. This made the newspaper because the selling family is a former lottery winner who had this home built from the winnings, and now has listed the 14 room, 4,000+ square foot home at $1.1 million.

From what I have seen, the home appears to have all of the amenities of a million dollar home. Meanwhile, the other million dollar home currently listed in Lombard (as of this writing) is much larger and is listed for more than double the price (around $2.5 million). It means that this home stands alone for being listed in this price range within this suburb.

Rather than focus on the amenities, the advertising and marketing for this listing should be focused on why a potential buyer in this price range should relocate to Lombard, whether from nearby or from a distance.

There are people with enough money to purchase a home in this price range who would probably enjoy being the “big fish in the little pond”. Unfortunately for me, I’m not an expert on living in million dollar plus homes, but find it safe to say that being in a neighborhood of them leads to some decisions being made by other homeowners and the community. Being the only one of this type would likely afford some flexibility that an owner of such a property may not be able to have in other nearby communities. The story states that the home is on one of the largest lots in the community as well.

Lombard happens to be within a half hour of other suburbs which are more affluent and have sections with million dollar homes and estates. Thus, there are factors within the general area that have proven to attract such high caliber buyers.

If I was the agent and seller, I would be researching the current reasons why buyers and residents of million dollar homes within a reasonable distance of Lombard have moved in or remained in the area. The next step is to find the benefits of Lombard in comparison. Maybe it is at least part of the school system, proximity to upscale shopping, and so forth. The most positive result(s) should be the grabber for marketing this home. A “Million dollar living even closer to xyz” type of headline. Or “The biggest lot in town is ready”.

If I was a potential buyer of a million dollar home in the suburbs of Chicago, I just might want to be made aware of a unique property in this price range, even if the location is all which is unique. If I’m interested in the specific area where the house is located, then there is likely no competition. It becomes this house, or waiting for something else to come on the market.

Of course, this property has the endless rooms, full finished basement, a movie theatre, and much more that comes with a recently built million dollar property. These are features that can be found in other communities, but is not the biggest part of the story in Lombard.

Granted, it’s still going to be a challenge to find a buyer for a house in this price range. But if marketed with a unique approach for a unique property, there is more hope.