As the number of listings of properties for sale in New Zealand increases and the housing market suffers a slowdown, some vendors are trying to sweeten the deal to help shift their houses.
Ray White Parnell agent John Q, who made headlines back in November 2020 when he listed a house with a free sports car, told OneRoof he’s now looking for “his next car story".
He said that when he took on the listing of the four-bedroom house on Remuera Road, in Remuera, Auckland, it had been on and off the market for two years, with three or four other agents.
It had passed in at auction with no bids, when Q decided he needed to come up with a creative solution for his vendor, Jethro Hooker.
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“The vendor really needed to sell so I said ‘what else do you have to sell’ and he pointed to his 2006 Ford Mustang GT, a real supercharged muscle car,” Q said.
The house went back on the market with the $40,000 car included in the $1.995 million sale price, and ended up selling for just over $2m, slightly less than the $2.2m vendor had paid in 2018.
Q said that when the New Zealand Herald reported on the unusual listing he received three offers within 48 hours of the article being published.
Earlier buyers – and there were plenty – had been put off by the home’s steep driveway, a problem easily solved by a Mustang.
When vendor Jethro Hooker offered a $40,000 Mustang GT sport car as a sweetener to sell his Remuera home, the house sold. Photo / Michael Craig
Within 48 hours of the Herald story, the pair had fielded three offers and the house was sold for $2.005m. OneRoof records show that was slightly less than the $2.2m vendor had paid in Q said he’d love to have another “Mustang house” to sell in the current market.
“We have to be smarter how we market. Buyers are sitting tighter prices won’t be the same as they were in October or November last year.”
Ray White Remuera agents Frazer Mackenzie-Johnson and colleague Michael Zhang found success with another top of the line car. Last week he sold a five-bedroom home on Brook Ridge Rise, in East Tamaki Heights, that came with a free 2013 Audi A5 S-line in the garage.
Mackenzie-Johnson said the campaign went “gang-busters”, with nearly 50 groups of buyers looking through the house.
“These days having 10 to 20 groups at your open homes is great, so this was absolutely phenomenal.
“We had five registered bidders and it sold at auction for $2.342m. In this market, anything you can do to elevate above the competition, you do. I wish we had other [listings] like this to help drive that traffic.”
In the market slump in 2019, agent Liam Collett sold a house in Waitoki, North Auckland in days - it came with a McLaren sports car. Photo / Supplied
Ironically, the successful bidder already has enough fancy cars, so has asked Mackenzie-Johnson and Zhang help sell the Audi.
Ray White Remuera agent Ari Starr has a word of warning about gimmick, though.
When he marketed a two-bedroom unit last month on Manukau Road, Epsom he threw in an electric scooter to make the point about how accessible the flat was to Newmarket and the transport hubs just down the road.
“It got engagement but I don’t think it was the defining idea. We’d thought we’d get traction with first home buyers, but in fact it was mostly investors – and they’re not interested in scooters, so we pulled that idea.”
However, the unit did sell, very close to its asking price of $880,000, so job done.
Another property Starr sold this week, a smart two-bedroom flat on Remuera Road, in Remuera, included a luxury getaway holiday at Waiheke Island’s Delamore Lodge, famous for hosting Jonah Lomu's wedding.
“We were thinking, the buyer can relax and unwind at a time that has been stressful for most,” Starr said.
But while would-be buyers showed interest in the sweetener, and it helped draw attention to the property, “they won’t make or break the sale”.
A similar gimmick, this time a country spread in Waitoki, that came with a Maserati was less successful, but the house eventually sold. Photo / Supplied
“I’m always trying to make buying and selling a good experience. I always do a coffee cart at the open homes, whether it’s a $500,000 house or a $5m one. There’s so much going on in people’s lives, you might as well make it a better experience.
“The best part is I am now going to surprise the buyer’s mother with a little adventure after all this stress, they’re so pleased.”
During the market slowdown of 2019, agent Liam Collett of Century 21 Collett Realty threw a McLaren sports car into the sale of a Waitoki lifestyle block in North Auckland and the $2.76m property was snapped up in days.
But when he upped the stakes, offering a Maserati as part of the sale of another huge estate asking $6.295m and also in Waitoki, the ploy was not as successful. Collett was unable to comment on the sale, but OneRoof records show the property sold the following year for considerably less than the asking price.
The buyer of an apartment in Remuera that sold this week will get a luxury holiday at Waiheke Island's Delamore Lodge. Photo / Supplied
Back then, Collett also had clients happy to accept Bitcoin payment for their four-bedroom house on the North Shore.
The house sold for regular dollars, sadly. At the time of the sale, May 2019, one Bitcoin was worth around $12,000; today, after some big ups and downs, it’s worth just over $47,000 so the ahead-of-their-time sellers would have done well.
Starr and Mackenzie-Johnson suspect the gimmicks are just starting.
“You need to drive the market; you have to generate the business yourself,” said Mackenzie-Johnson.
“You need to drive the market, it’s no longer your business partner, you have to generate the business yourself,” said Mackenzie-Johnson.
