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| Jeff Fruth Photo
Opting for an extraordinary measure in an effort to sell his Kings Point home, Geronimo Dasneves tried to connect with potential buyers using his own signage outside the community. As a Kings Point resident he cannot display such advertising on the property. Dasneves proclaimed the property’s availability up and down S.R. 674 and at the U.S. 301/S.R. 674 intersection frequently over a two-month span but did not find a buyer. Ultimately, he took the home off the market. |
KINGS POINT – Despite sneaky pilfering and official opposition, Realtors here believe they’re gradually proving a home-available emblem works in a sluggish sales market.
Three working area Realtors - each also a resident of the community - this week were reporting increased interest and actual sales of listed homes where the small but controversial emblem was displayed. The reason, they say, is the emblem assists the sales effort in a gated community closed to many potential buyers by discreetly informing other residents and their visitors of a property on the market.
The emblem is a simple crown - symbolic of the royal aspect implied by the Kings Point name – developed several months ago by a small group of Realtors trying to help owners or heirs market homes for any of the numerous reasons for selling. Their efforts on behalf of would-be KP sellers were inspired by a similar symbol used in another gated community, the Symphony Isles section of Apollo Beach. The SI emblem is a musical clef.
In KP, the emblem, measuring just nine by nine inches, is designed to be displayed either on a short metal stake set amidst shrubbery in front of a home or hung inside a dwelling, in a window or door. It contains no words or letters, is manufactured by an Apollo Beach resident and is sold to Realtors at a cost of $12.00 each, according to Judie McFarland, a local Realtor using the emblem.
However, when first proposed by the Realtors early this year, the Kings Point crown kicked up a royal storm of protests. Individual residents complained it was commercial signage and a potential blight on the community and the former governing KP Federation board repeatedly declined to consider the Realtors’ concept.
Early in March, federation directors passed the matter to the 109 condo associations in the community, noting use of such signage is controlled by association rules and declaring the matter never again should be on a federation meeting agenda.
Realtors, though, have persisted. Pam Reno said this week she has placed eight emblems on various properties she has listed for sale in different associations. Two have gone missing – pilfered by one or more thieves – and six remain in place at the homes. While she cannot yet attribute a sale to use of the emblem, she said she is receiving increased inquiries which she believes are being generated through the emblems.
Lois Singer, another Realtor as well as resident, reported she has put out three emblems. One was stolen, one is in place at a listed home and one sale has resulted from use of the emblem, she said, producing a 33% success rate.
Similarly, McFarland said she has used six emblems – two of them on one golf course property at both the front and back sides of the home - and has sold two properties as a direct result of the emblem. In one instance, she added, a condo association officer asked that the emblem be removed and she complied. McFarland’s experience also reflects a 33 % increase in sales attributed to the little crown.
The sales numbers still are small, the Realtors agree, but are encouraging nonetheless, especially in the face of other figures. In a comparative analysis of home sales in KP and in SCC, they pointed out, the list price of a KP property decreased 12 % between 2005 and 2007 as the SCC home listing price increased by 2%. In 2007 the total number of units sold in the two sections varied by 68, they added, with 249 SCC homes sold to 181 in KP during the year. And, the average days on the market also varied noticeably – 112 days in SCC and 196 days in KP. Plus, the gap in the average sales price last year was nearly $68,000 – with the SCC average selling price at $194,784 and the average KP selling price at $127,053.
The reasons are several, the Realtors state. The KP seller is disadvantaged because the listing Realtor cannot conduct an open house, inviting all interested parties to view the Kings Point home nor can the seller simply advertise the home and invite in prospective buyers from the general public. For the KP seller, the pool of potential buyers is comprised mostly of the neighbors and anyone who may be visiting them who walk or drive their neighborhoods. Therefore, it only makes sense to try to reach them with useful information – something the emblem does by sending an interested party to any Realtor who can steer the would-be buyer to the listing agent through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), McFarland asserted.
Additionally, it is not true that every association’s rules are prohibitive, she added. The rules vary from association to association and many permit decorative items in three-foot heights such as plaster animals and other statuary, plastic windmills and potted plants, for example. The Realtors consider the crown emblem “tasteful” and “decorative,” too, McFarland said; “The rules should be consistent.”
Real estate agents do not want large commercial signage planted in front lawns any more than anyone else does, McFarland stated. And use of an emblem is the seller’s choice, not the Realtors. But, they do want to see fairness, balance and consistency applied, she suggested.
“It’s going to be an educational process,” Singer noted.
To which Reno added that some associations are contending with increasing foreclosures and therefore are losing fees to the extent that at least one has considered assessing other owners to make up the lost revenue.
“We’ll try to inform the associations one by one,” McFarland concluded, “about the worth of the emblem.”
©2008 Melody Jameson.
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