PHOTO: Ray White Remuera salesperson Ben Ryken cracked the deal with his egg offer. SUPPLIED
According to STUFF a real estate agent who offered a year’s supply of eggs to lure prospective homebuyers to a property in Three Kings, Auckland, has made a million dollar-plus sale.
Ray White Remuera salesperson Ben Ryken factored in both New Zealand’s falling house prices, and the country’s rising egg prices, when marketing the two-bedroom property ahead of its February 8 auction date.
The apartment sold on Friday, after a lengthy conditional period, with a sale price of $1.013 million.
“We had it listed as ‘enquiries over $1m’ so the vendors were happy,” Ryken says.
He believes the eggs factored in to the sale, although they were not a major part of the negotiations. Instead, he says the advertising gimmick “caught their attention” and “brought them to the home”.
“The negotiations didn’t quite get down to the one year of eggs, but I’m sure the buyer is glad to not think about breakfast for the next 12 months!” he says.
Ryken will supply a dozen eggs a week from settlement date – a value of as much as $624, not including delivery – as egg prices rise to $1 each for some brands, after a ban on battery caged hens came into effect this year, causing supermarket supplies to dwindle.
Ryken’s past marketing campaigns have included free gym memberships, and a year’s supply of free avocado on toast.
In February, he told NZ Adviser online magazine that the property, a two-bedroom apartment located at the Three Kings end of Mount Eden Road “fell out of people’s search ranges”, noting it bordered the more affluent areas of Mt Eden and Epsom.
“In any sort of market, even a hot market like the so-called Covid boom, we’ve been finding ways to get buyers through properties when there is a slow start … we sat down with the sellers and thought what is something that we can help first home buyers with,” Ryken said.
The apartment was likely to appeal to first home buyers looking for a low maintenance apartment close to a cafe on the city fringe, he said at the time.
The campaign caused a “huge uptick” in the numbers of enquiries and a surge of potential buyers through the property’s open homes.
“Our job is to get as many eyes on a property as we can to get our sellers the best result … sometimes we need to put a bit of sizzle on the property and offer something to the buyers that’s going to get them excited.”