What's Luck Got to Do With Selling Houses in Baltimore, MD?

What's Luck Got to Do With Selling Houses in Baltimore, MD?

What's Luck Got to Do With It?

Not long ago I talked with Ylan Q Mui, a staff writer at the Washington Post, who was writing an article on the things sellers do to help sell their houses. She wasn't interested in decluttering or staging. What she wanted to talk about was lucky charms, totems, and other magical devices.

Her article, "Lady Luck Lounges on A Red Couch," ran on August 9, but you can still find it online (http://tinyurl.com/nkmher). She interviewed some agents in the area and included this about me and my lucky number:

"Margaret Rome, a real estate agent in Baltimore, has established her own lucky tradition. When she started selling houses about 20 years ago, she said, she was scooting around in a brown Porsche 944. She loved the car and decided to claim the number as her own. So on her very first listing, she ended the price in '944.'

"It sold within a week. Rome tried it again with her second listing, and it sold within two weeks. She did it again for her third listing, and it also got snapped up.

"I said, 'There's something to this,' she recalled.

"Rome has since used the number for every property, though she now drives a convertible Lexus. ("I didn't want to jinx it," she said.) Only once did she stray, when a family instead asked to use a number that is auspicious in Asian traditions, an eight. So Rome priced the house to end in '988.' Luckily, she said, it sold."

The thing is, I believe luck really has very little to do with selling houses. I believe it's much more the total of how you become known in your community, how you build your referrals over time, and how you treat people. As the saying goes, "The harder I work, the luckier I get!"

This story was picked up and ran on the front page of The Baltimore Sun's Real Estate section. Two calls from friends who read it in the Boston Globe.

How's your luck these days?

The Washington Post and My Name in Print

What a wonderful day! We went to the diner with the pilots for breakfast - what we call "hanger flying" – you go somewhere and just talk about flying. Today's conversation started with, "Did you hear about the guy who had a stroke, yes while flying, lost his vision and still landed safely? (The story from England is here.)

Then went to visit some special friends, Marge and Henry; we stopped by with a cake to celebrate Marge's birthday.

Oh, yes, and then I ratified a contract and listed a new one that's up on ActiveRain with a lot of comments.

Driving home, I got that wonderful call: "You are featured in a story on the front page of the Washington Post!" Immediately I called my friend Peg who I know subscribes to the Post and she had it right in front of her – lead story in the Real Estate section of the Sunday paper. We got off the Beltway to find my own copy of the paper. Sure enough, the headline read: "How do you make an OPEN HOUSE stand out? Sometimes agents go to Extremes, but the Glitz doesn't always help." Not every place in Baltimore carries the Post, so we had to go to several places and bought a bunch of copies, then called Tatiana in New Mexico to share the news, since she's in the article, too.

It started a week or so ago, when I received a call from a Dan Rafter, a freelance writer for the Washington Post. He was interested in unusual open houses, and saw my post on the "Piggy TRAC Barbeque" That's right, Dan found me through Active Rain! When he called, I remembered the key things to know when speaking to a reporter: First, remember they are on a deadline and usually have an assignment. Second, find out what the article is going to be about and focus on that. I wanted to talk about Auctions or my book, but his assignment was open houses, so that's what we talked about. He wanted stories of unusual open houses like the "Piggy TRAC," and wanted to speak to the seller. I knew the barbecue open house seller wasn't available, so how about a champagne and popcorn open house? He liked the idea, and I knew Tatiana would be able to give him a good interview; she's a natural marketer.

And there was the article including a mention of Active Rain! Turns out I didn't need to run around and buy copies of the Post; the article is all there online.