By Carole Hawkins
On paper, Jean Pickett’s $1.5 million Julington Creek listing is an 11,000-square-foot home split into a main residence and four rentals.
The property’s 3.91 acres include a dock on the St. Johns River.
In person, the home’s western-facing floor-to-ceiling windows tell the story more clearly: It’s all about the river.
Pickett took the point a step further.
Last month, the agent for Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners organized a broker open that included a boat tour of her listing and three others along the St. Johns River.
“Buyers think, ‘Why should I pay this much for the dirt?’” Pickett said. “It’s because it’s more than dirt. You’re paying for the riverfront lifestyle.”
Million-dollar listings don’t move quickly off the market.
So Realtors have to think outside the box, said Todd Arnold, an agent with Re/Max Specialists, who helped organize the event with Pickett.
“You can go on the Internet or put an ad in the paper, but there’s only so much you can do,” he said.
Pickett had tried a broker open with a boat tour before. For that one, the wind kicked up. All of the vendor tents she set up in the yard blew over.
“We were weathered out. But still, about 20 people showed up,” she said.
This time, the skies were clear and the air was warm. Over 65 Realtors signed up for the event, which included a catered lunch and entertainment.
One agent saw the broker open on Facebook and came because it “seemed like a good idea.”
Another said she had a buyer who was shopping for waterfront property.
A few miles upriver, Cole Slate, an agent with Exit Real Estate Gallery, waited for the tour-goers to show up.
His listing on San Viscaya Drive, a home rebuilt in 2006, includes a pool, lanai with disappearing pocket doors and a two-story hall that opens to a rear patio that can double as a small stage.
“This house was made for entertaining, for using the pool and the river and playing live music,” Slate said. “This is a great way to show it off.”
Buyers weren’t the only thing the listing agents were seeking, though.
Arnold offered a prize for best feedback from a Realtor for his riverfront listing at Inwood Terrace.
“There’s only so much we can tell a seller before they stop listening to us,” Arnold said. “This way, I can let the suggestions come from 35 agents.”
Arnold had held a broker open with a feedback contest the last time he had a million-dollar listing. He let his homebuyer pick the best review.
Janie Coffey of Manormor Sotheby’s, the fourth listing agent on the boat tour, was the winning agent at the earlier event.
A veteran million-dollar listing agent, Coffey told the homeowner to change the paint, fix the deteriorating dock and get rid of the many pictures, which were distracting from the view of the water.
She also said the home was priced too high compared to the rest of the market.
It motivated the seller to make changes, Arnold said. He repainted, staged the property and lowered his price.
It’s that kind of edge the million-dollar home owners will need in order to sell.
Inventory is tight for regular cookie-cutter three-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-car garage homes — in some places down to two months.
Luxury waterfront estates? That’s a different story.
“There are 58 riverfront homes on the market right now from San Marco to Mandarin, listing for $500,000 to $5 million. Eighteen have sold in the last 12 months,” Arnold said.
“That literally tells me we have three years and three months of inventory in that market,” he said.