Overpriced and offereing no commission? How could a genius marketing strategy like that possibly fail?

When bank-owned property at 3 Finney Knoll (link goes to original bank listing) was put on the market in January ‘23 its listing agent set the price of the half-finished project at a very low $725,000 in the hope of stirring up interest and triggering a price war.

That number did generate interest among potential buyers, and two of my own readers were among them. We came, we looked, and with brother Gideon concurring, I advised them against making an offer (advice neither needed; these were experienced people) because there were sure to be higher bids, and the property wasn’t worth more than its asking price, given its history: A local neer-do-well builder had purchased the old 1840 wreck on the parcel in 2006, and attempted to tack on an entirely new house to the existing structure. Money and will ran out before the job was half-done, and, eventually title passed to the lender. There could be no assurance that what had been done had been done properly and well, and a buyer could find himself mired in a money pit with no bottom. Danger, Will Robinson!

I estimated that the top dollar for a finished home here, jammed up against Balducci’s parking lot, was probably around $2.9 to, maybe, $3 million. Gideon was more optimistic, but I think even his number topped out at $3.2. So our buyers passed, and the listing agent sold the place to his own client for $1.125.

Fast forward to this past March, when the same agent listed the now-finished project for $3.999 million with the bold admonition, “Do not let this one get away!” and offered no — zero — commission to cooperating agents. Gideon and I shared a quiet chuckle — nay, a hearty guffaw — at the temerity of an agent grossly overpricing his listing and asking other agents to sell it for him, not for anything as louche as merenbmonetary compensation, but for the challenge of it all, and the experience to be gained in the process.

As it turned out, no buyer’s agent accepted that challenge, so the agent eventually shaved a bit off the price — still above market — and grudgingly offered a 2% commission; that hasn’t worked either, and Friday the listing was cancelled. It will surely be back, but will it return with a different broker, or at least a more realistic price? Stay tuned.