Discovered in my morning paper that the parking spot behind my house is worth more than the house. (Click quick before the item goes into the paper’s gated community of unread articles).
Average cost per square foot of condo in Boston to park yourself: $561.07.
Average cost per square foot of open air pavement in Boston to park your car: $1,736.11.
Priceless. No wonder my neighbor describes our block as parking spaces with attached row houses (or in the parlance, “townhouses”).
I see it as a marketing lesson in real estate. Good advertising is not about what you are dying to sell. But about what clients are hot to buy. And how your listings solve their problems. More about that — and how it can help you write better sales copy that attracts more buyers — in a future post.
For now it’s a lesson that I, too, need to learn.
Technorati Tags: real estate marketing
Todd Tarson says:
>>And how your listings solve their problems. More about that — and how it can help you write better sales copy that attracts more buyers — in a future post
And I am eagerly awaiting some of that info. Looking forward to it and thanks to Greg and the others for your presence here.
November 27, 2006 — 9:40 am
Greg Swann says:
This can’t go unuttered: This is a gorgeous single-property web site. Art-catalog beautiful, clean, fast and overflowing with information. My hat is off to you, Richard.
November 27, 2006 — 11:55 am
Todd Tarson says:
Richard, I just got a chance to look over your link to the property you are selling and I am rather impressed. I’m hoping in the days coming you will be perhaps sharing the info on how you set up that wonderful site. A powerful tool no doubt. If I had any desire to live in Boston (and could afford it) I’d have found my new residence.
Exciting!!
November 27, 2006 — 4:44 pm
John K says:
Richard, congratulations on your new role as a Bloodhound blog contributor. I hope to hear lots from you about the Boston real estate market!
John A Keith
November 27, 2006 — 7:38 pm
Paul E. Math says:
That’s a great website! Some poor sucker will already be buried in debt before they even realize they’ve paid $385k for a basement apartment! Oh God, you’re a genius!
November 27, 2006 — 7:39 pm
Joe says:
>If I had any desire to live in Boston (and could
>afford it) I’d have found my new residence.
Really, Todd? Why would you want to buy a home in a state that is clearly experiencing a major slowdown? Why not just hang tight and wait for it to stabilize?
November 28, 2006 — 5:10 pm
Joe says:
>This can’t go unuttered: This is a gorgeous single-
>property web site. Art-catalog beautiful, clean, fast
>and overflowing with information. My hat is off to
>you, Richard.
The overall layout is nice, but parts of the design could be cleaned up and convey the information better:
* The links on the front page aren’t obvious until you mouse over them – more standard design practice is to leave the underlines in place so people know they’re links
* The photo gallery is somewhat overwhelming and doesn’t give me a clear idea of the flow of the house. If the photos had been broken up into subsections (kitchen, baths, bedrooms, exterior, etc) you could have used larger photos and grouped them together to give a better idea of how the house is arranged
* The floor plan map could have had links on it so that when you mouse over certain rooms the accompanying photo pops up
* The map on the location page doesn’t tell me much if I’m not from the area. Highlighting local attractions would make it more clear why the location is desirable.
Just some thoughts off the top of my head.
November 28, 2006 — 5:17 pm
Richard Riccelli says:
Joe, thanks for taking a look at my FSBO site and your comments. Good stuff.
But I think you are making a greater point–and it’s one with which I agree. Family Feud praise (“Good answer!-Good answer!” no matter how lame the answer) only devalues the worth of critical reviews. Like most, I always identified with the kid in the fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” But something happens when we all grow up. For those who just can’t bear to hear anything but “let’s have positive feedback,” Sean D’Sousa of PyschoTactics has good advice in a new article he posted this week called Does My Bum Look Fat In This?
November 29, 2006 — 6:48 am