Cohousing-L Mailing List: Using realtors

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Barbara Simkowski <barbara_simkowski [at] mac.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
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--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
At Village Hearth Cohousing in Durham, NC, we had a realtor fairly
early on (before COVID struck the US).  It was thought that our very
close relationship with the realty company and the realtor would only
help. We even paid a few commissions on units we sold ourselves, while
we still  had a contract stipulating that we would do so with the
realtor.

In the end, unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately!) the realtor was
unable to sell a single home for us. We are now pretty much sold out
(waiting for the last couple of units to close). Every home—both
before and after construction—was sold by the community, via
advertising, cohousing.org, and having Zoom “Meet and Greets.” And
word of mouth. And our extensive database and newsletter subscription
list. We do have several advantages here in Durham. But for us, the
advantages of selling to those who visited, and got to know us and the
cohousing model, worked well.Using a traditional realtor or MLS
listing simply did not bring us buyers, despite the expertise and
professionalism of the traditional route. There was nothing wrong with
that route. But Cohousing’s special inducements are not the ones
that traditional buyers are seeking, I suppose.

Sent from my iPhone