“Creative Sell” Sold to the Media

In the guise of a ”creative new way to sell a home,” one Bothell home seller is receiving media coverage for selling his home via a reverse auction. Justin Wilcox writes on his website launched this morning:

The idea is simple and starts as soon as you decide a fair price for the house. If you think the current price is too high, wait a week and I’ll lower it by as much as $10,000.  Each week, I’ll continue to lower the price until you, or someone else, thinks it’s fair and submit an offer.  From there on out, we proceed just like any other real estate transaction complete with contingencies, inspections, negotiations, and so on.  Wilcox’s website launched this morning at a listing price of $499,900.  

In a local television news interview, Wilcox admits that he does have in mind a ”basement price that he won’t go below,” although he’s keeping that price close to home.  In addition, he tells us  up front that there will be price drops over time, with the first scheduled for June 13th, “although nothing is set in stone.”  Keeping all of this mind, I have some trouble distinguishing this ”creative new way to sell a home” from a traditional FSBO with price reductions, except that Wilcox has done a much better job at advertising his home than most FSBO sellers  have–I mean, how many of ‘em have you seen on your local TV news?! 

So good luck on the house sale, Mr. Wilcox–while I’m not overly impressed with the creativity involved in your actual sale process, I do stand deeply in awe of how you’ve managed to spin this sale as something so novel that it’s newsworthy to the media. Heck, even I find myself sitting here, writing about the sale of your home!