August 19th, 2009 11:38 AM by Ron Mastrodonato
Practitioners' Lucky Numbers Some practitioners are convinced that selling real estate is a numbers game – a lucky numbers game.Washington D.C.-area Long & Foster associate Juliet Zucker made multiple offers on a condominium on behalf of a client, but none of them were successful. Finally, she wrote an offer that ended in the number “18,” which in Hebrew symbolizes “chai,” which means life. The ploy was successful. Her client signed a contract for $384,118.When Margaret Rome, a Baltimore-are practitioner, began selling homes 20 years ago, she drove a Porsche 944. In its honor, she ended the price on her first listing with 944. It sold within a week. Since then she has used the number for every property.Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, says there is truth in picking the right number. Redfin research shows that homes with a list price ending in “500” sell for more than properties whose price ends in three zeroes. They also spend slightly less time on the market. Why is this? Nobody knows for sure. "You shouldn't sweat the weird stuff, because it will just drive you nuts,” Kelman says.Source: Washington Post, Ylan Q. Mui (08/08/2009)