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The house, which sits on nearly 30 acres, boasts a backyard swimming pool with a waterfall and pool house.
The kitchen at 12620 Chewning Lane features a vintage-style gas and electric range. The Realtor hopes a buyer falls in love with the spacious kitchen.
The master bathroom, one of 4 in the Spotsylvania home, |
BY MARCIA A. CHIDESTER
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Fredericksburg Realtor Janice Pearson was delighted when she received a listing for a $4.3 million house a few weeks ago. The brick home on Chewning Lane in Spotsylvania County was a great property--six bedrooms, 4 baths, a pool and 28.5 acres.
The problem was, Pearson wasn't quite sure how she was going to sell it.
With the housing market in a slump and loan money tight, the market for high-priced homes has shrunk smaller than credit availability.
Gone are the days of instant contracts as soon as a property goes up for sale. Nowadays, high-end properties take more time, effort and creativity to sell, said Pearson, an agent for Realty World Select.
To find that elusive buyer, Pearson, who has been marketing residential and commercial real estate for seven years, has taken out ads in local real-estate publications. She's called prior clients to let them know about the gated, 6,585-square-foot home that has garage space for eight cars.
"You can't just list the property," Pearson said. "You have to make contacts."
The Internet is an invaluable marketing tool, she said. Because of its listing price, the house is one of the first listed in fredericksburg.com's real estate listings.
And Pearson's Facebook account has generated a lot of leads. Her Web site is linked to 16 real-estate domains, including Postlets, Realestateshows
Holding an open house to generate traffic for an upscale home takes far more planning than it used to, Pearson said.
"It has to be an event rather than a typical open house," she said.
Pearson stocked an open house she held on Chewning Lane yesterday with state Sen. Edd Houck D-Spotsylvania; Spotsylvania Supervisor T.C. Waddy and Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak.
The affair was invitation-only, with potential buyers welcome only if accompanied by broker-agents.
Pat Carter-Feindt is not optimistic about the sales potential of high-end homes these days. The Long & Foster Realtor has had a $2.4 million listing on the market for four months. Only one or two people have made inquiries through the Web, and no one has asked to see it.
Internet ads show the house on Hunting Run Drive in the Mineral Springs subdivision in Spotsylvania as an already-built red-brick Colonial. But, in reality, Jamestown Builders won't pour an ounce of concrete on the vacant lot until someone comes along who can afford to build the advertised home, Carter-Feindt said.
"A lot of builders aren't willing to step out and build a high-end spec anymore," she said. "They want a buyer before they start."
While Jamestown Builders Vice President Harry Meade says he's had a lot of people looking at a model home in Spotsylvania's Fawn Lake subdivision, no one will pony up the cash to buy.
"People are scared to death," he said. "They're afraid to make a move. They don't know what the mortgage companies and the financing is going to look like in a month, or a year or two years. Nobody knows what this thing is going to mutate into."
Expensive homes are also a hard sell because they are at the pinnacle of a very slow housing chain, Carter-Feindt said. Usually, a $1 million home can't sell until a potential buyer unloads the house in which he's living, a property likely valued in the slow-moving price range of $400,000 to $600,000.
The home seller is faced with two options: Wait months for a buyer to appear, or drop the home's price.
"And, most folks in that price range aren't willing to take a reduction," Carter-Feindt said.
Even so, Pearson is optimistic that she'll find a buyer for the home on Chewning Lane. She'll keep up with her contacts, send out fliers and work the Internet in hopes that someone will fall in love with the home's spacious kitchen, three family rooms and country setting.
"It's quiet out here," Pearson said, standing on the wide front porch overlooking approximately 5 acres of meadow. "It's a peaceful house."
Marcia A. Chidester is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania County.
