Thursday, July 18, 2019

This Home Has Better Bait Than A Fish Tank


Marketing a $3.5 million dollar listing is always a challenge, especially when it is located within a busy Chicago north side community away from Lake Michigan.

The push for this home is to promote the less common amenities, which for the featured Cortland Street property include a large wine cellar and a 300 gallon fish tank.

Although these are among the unique features of the home, marketing this listing is not being done for the entertainment value. Of course, it is 'fun' for people to have that daydream of having a 300 gallon fish tank in their home.

However, creating that daydream actually fails to bring the proper attention to this as a real estate listing. To put it bluntly, the number of potential buyers actually looking for a fish tank of that size for their home is most likely lower than the number of potential buyers looking for a $3.5 million home in that neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the prominent photos in the property profile also do not do this property justice. The top photo of the exterior actually reveal what appears to make this a smaller property than one would expect for a multi-million dollar home in the area in which is located.

As a general observation (without statistical backing), there figures to be a percentage of qualified potential buyers that would seek a home in this price range which is closely surrounded by neighbors and has limited space.

For example, the photo of the pool makes it look to be more like an expanded bathtub placed outside rather than a place to totally relax.

There are better ways this listing can be promoted. Not having an exterior photos within the presentation would be a start. Highlighting interior photos would better serve to make potential buyers want to see the inside. At the very least, when they see how cramped the location is, they would be at the property and could still fall in love with the interior amenities.

While a 300 gallon fish tank is interesting, perhaps other amenities of this property would be an even better fit for the right audience.

The idea is to have the most effective copy and photos, and have them compliment each other. In this case, right fish but so far it's the wrong bait.

Take a look:




https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/1744-cortland-street-chicago-real-estate-bucktown-home-for-sale-512762651.html