Magnolia Cupcakes
Sometimes even discounts need extra sweetening. Magnolia Bakery cupcakes were part of the deal for the first 12 visitors to an open house for a West Village townhome that in May got a cut to just below $10 million.
“Come early to get the flavor of your choice,” Compass broker Eileen Robert said in her listing.
“It increased the traffic, which is the first step,” Robert said in interview. “It was people who were qualified and whose kids had a sweet tooth.” The four-story property on West Fourth Street, built in 1839, remains for sale after 287 days on the market.
Expect the come-ons to keep on coming. A surge of inventory is predicted for September, when listings that were pulled from the market make their eventual return, said Grant Long, senior economist at StreetEasy.
“A lot of the market right now is still on this ambitious cycle of ‘I have a price I want to get to,’ so the sellers are less likely to reveal their full willingness to negotiate in their listings right now,” Long said. “Signaling through different types of listing descriptions is going to become more popular as the market weakens.”
Ultimately, the words mean nothing if the price isn’t attractive enough to back them up, Snider of Core said.
“You’ll see a listing that says ‘Best Value in Tribeca,’ and it’s been on the market for 158 days,” Snider said. “You’d think you might want to update your text, dude.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.