Holden beats Ford as vendors throw in freebies in hopes of driving sales
As excitement builds for the Bathurst 1000, Holden has beaten Ford in a marketing campaign to sell five house and land packages in Windaroo on the outskirts of Brisbane.
Go View estate agent Danny Kumar offered buyers the choice of a Holden Commodore Series 2 V6 or a Ford XR6 valued at about $36,000 to those who snapped up the first five house and land packages (below) being built by CJ Homes listed at $399,000.
All five buyers picked the Holden over the Ford.
Kumar tells Property Observer he came up with the idea of offering the new cars in an effort to “do something different” and stimulate interest in the properties.
“We got a lot of enquiries,” he says.
Kumar cut his commission in half and chipped in a third of the price of the car (the builder and developer put in a third each) and he says he is more than happy to keep going with the promotion.
“I will be talking to the builder. If he can afford to do it, we will continue with the promotion.”
Kumar is part of a growing international trend among estate agents and vendors to offer incentives as diverse as alcohol, groceries and international flights to entice buyers in lacklustre property markets.
Robert Roach, a vendor in Benalla in regional Victoria, is offering a new $16,000 Mitsubishi Colt in an effort to find a buyer for a three-bedroom Californian Bungalow that has an asking price of $389,000 and has been on the market for six months (below).
It is being marketed by Glenn Chibnall from LJ Hooker Benalla, who says the owner added the car to the sale to create more interest in a “steady” market awash with listings.
“We are hopeful of a sale… It is a buyers’ market.”
Roach says he hopes the car will help the sale over the line.
He negotiated the deal with the local Mitsubishi dealership and says the owner will get the car as soon as the house is sold.
“It’s a nice little car.”
Roach, who is retired, restored the house as a hobby, but says he can’t wait 12 months to sell the house.
“You can have the best product in the world but if no one knows about, it won’t do you any good,” says Roach, who honed his marketing skills as a butcher.
In Calgary, Canada estate agent Robyn Moser of MaxWell South Star Realty is offering C$1,000 worth of beer to buyers who snap up this four-bedroom house (below) asking C$349,000 in Coventry Hills, a suburb in city’s northwest.
According to the Calgary Herald, she came up with the idea after reading about a Chicago vendor who offered beer to prospective buyers and saw a 300% increase in home showings as result.
In the UK, Bournemouth-based developer McCarthy and Stone is offering a year's free Waitrose groceries to potential buyers of a retirement property in a complex it has developed in Oadby, Leicestershire.
Other incentives that have been offered in the English Midlands include a luxury Mercedes car, a holiday, season tickets for either the Leicester Tigers Rugby Club or Leicester City Football Club and gym memberships.