KLEIERS IN THE MEDIA

Unique Brokers' Strategies to Attract Buyers

Michele Kleier, president of Kleier Residential in Manhattan, has held such similar events as book signings and mixology parties, where guests learn about different cocktails and drinks and how to make them. “We were hoping that the apartment looked better at night after tasting a few margaritas,” laughs Kleier.

At one prewar Park Avenue building, a unit was selling for $5.5 million and Kleier once again put her creative juices to task to get it sold. This nine-room apartment with high ceilings and fireplaces was owned by a cabaret singer, and Kleier knew that a party with the entertainer would be the perfect way to draw attention to the unit. “She entertained the guests while we served hors-d'oeuvres,” says Kleier. “She sang classics, which fit the prewar style of the building that she lived in. When you do events like these, you have to match the event you are doing with the building it is in. For example, the cabaret singer might not have worked as well in a new construction building.”

To push one unit, Kleier created a charity event prior to the Park Avenue tree lighting in December. The event raised money for the Fund for Park Avenue, a non-profit organization that spends $1 million a year to beautify the medians along Park Avenue. “There were 200 people there, and it brought wonderful attention to the unit,” she says. “These events are also typically held for buildings with a multi-million dollar price point. When you have a unit for over $10 million people are going to come and see the apartment anyway, especially if it’s well done.”…

…Kleier agrees that while creative promotional events do work to get potential buyers in the door of a luxury unit, they are not what ultimately sells it. “A good apartment that’s priced well is what gets an apartment sold all the time,” she says. “If it’s overpriced, the event doesn’t even matter. You’re taking a chance, because 90% of the people who are coming to an event are curious about the author, or the drinking. Also, these events work for condos, but not co-op buildings, where management needs to control the number of people who are attending.”

Don’t overlook condos. Investors have been snapping up condominiums to rent out amid the development boom, creating opportunities for high-end renters. A big concentration of investors can mean a surge in rentals when the building starts to close, said Marc Schaeffer, a real estate agent at Kleier Residential. “You have to catch the timing right,” said Mr. Schaeffer, who noticed a rise in rental listings at Carnegie Park, an amenity-laden condominium at Third and East 94th Street, and was able to get clients a $150-a-month discount on a two-year lease for a two-bedroom. Instead of paying $5,800 a month, with an expected increase of 2 percent to 5 percent the following year, his clients are paying $5,650 a month. “We accomplished this by pitching our offer to similar listings in the same building and letting the owners’ broker know we were submitting the same offer to other apartments,” he said. “This worked because we were dealing with three different competing landlords.”