Desperate times call for desperate measures – or at least experimenting with “out of the box” methods for finding buyers for a luxury home, such as allowing potential buyers to spend the weekend in it.
Built in March 2008, the $1.65 million home at 2309 S. Columbine in Denver’s Observatory Park neighborhood has 6,200 finished square feet, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a media room/home theater, hardwood flooring, five fireplaces and a state-of-the-art mechanical system. But such amenities haven’t resulted in a sale. “We have had a fair amount of showings and a fair amount of open house traffic,” says Dan Polimino of Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty in Greenwood Village. “People love the house – they’re just not ready to pull the trigger. I think that has more to do with the economy than the house.
“Do you remember that old real estate saying that only a handful of buyers are in the market? Never has that been more true than now,” he says. “In this marketplace, you as a seller need to get together with your friends, your family and your Realtor and throw your ideas up against the wall and make your property stand out in the crowd.”
Here’s how the “test drive” will work: The interested family will check in to a fully finished home at 3 p.m. Friday. Chef Kevin Mooney will prepare two dinners and two breakfasts for them over the weekend. The family will then check out by noon Sunday. “Hopefully what it does is give them an opportunity to decide if feel comfortable in this house, on this lot, in this neighborhood,” Polimino says.
The process takes about 10 days, but potential buyers interested in the test drive must:
- Be in the market and working with a Realtor;
- Provide a letter from a lender saying they are preapproved for the loan amount;
- Sign a form saying they are responsible for any damage that may occur to the home while they are staying there and provide a credit card number;
- Pass a background check.
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