On April 11 I posted a blog The Best FSBO in the Nation? It was about a real estate marketing idea by a person, who is not a Realtor. The author of the idea - Clementina Marie Giovannetti - offered her Ocala Mansion for ... the best pet lover story of 300 words or less plus a $200 entry fee. So, if you win, you owe a $1,250,000 (according to the owner) mansion on a very large lot with mature vegetation free and clear in this beautiful part of quaint Ocala.
The rules were quite elaborate, but the idea behind was pretty simple. Ms. Giovannetti would only do it if she gets the minimum number of entries (over 6,000) so that she gets her $1,250,000 that she claimed the mansion was worth. If she could not get the set number of entries, she would return the $200 entry fee minus $20 processing fee. There was an attorney involved, which was clear from the well thought rules.
I first saw it on our Central Florida TV, checked her website and was fascinated with the idea. Knowing how tough the market was, I was curious to watch how this would play out. I did not know whether all the heavy artillery that Clementina employed would help to melt the iceberg of the real estate slowdown.
After I posted a blog about the Ocala Mansion sale for the best pet lover story, I received the comment from... Clementina Marie Giovannetti herself. Obviously she was monitoring Google, and came to AR from there. As a very aggressive marketer, she went way beyond commenting on my blog, and one day spammed everyone leaving comments with the link to her site (http://www.ocalamansion.com/mansion.html) 
on every post she could find. That raised a lot of eyebrows of us. I sent her a comment regarding spamming, and she stopped (maybe not because of me, but it is always warm to feel that you are important, so here I am).
On March 23 (if memory does not fail me) I went to the kick off ceremony. We toured the property, and, when leaving, had a chat with Clementina (she is posing for me on this photo). She told me that she was viciously attacked by AR members in private e-mails sent to her. She threw some well known names at me. She said there were threats, cursing, and everything you can imagine. She even promised to send me them by e-mail, but did not, and I did not insist, as I believed she got some nasty stuff just from what I have seen myself on AR. Some of that stuff was simply hilarious. Claims that this was not her real name, that she is a man and other funny and not funny stuff.
I drove around this gorgeous very stable higher end area, made a few calls of for sale signs to get the idea of the prices, then sent an e-mail to a local broker asking for CMA. He did not do CMA, he did not like the whole thing about the owner, told me that the house was for sale since she had bought it, and that the last price was $995,000 and there were no takers.
I wanted to write a blog after visiting Ocala, but got busy and dragged, and dragged and dragged. Recently, from curiosity, I went to her blog, and read the announcement that due to lack of interest she cancelled the pet lover contest and that every cleared check is being refunded in dull. She did not take $20 fee, so it is clear that she had quite the expenses with this endeavor, and she spend some money on this idea.
So, now it is listed by Tom Heller. I communicated with Tom by e-mail, he thinks that the price is somehow supported. For me, if it did not go for $995,000, and the market is still on a downward trend, I would be very surprised to see any activity on this house,
Me wife and myself both thought that the value range was more in the $700s to $800s, but we could be wrong.
After all adversaries are happy that she failed, I want to look back at that whole Ocala Mansion thing.
I guess there is some lesson in that story, At least for myself.
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That's a very interesting idea, anyway. Too bad it didn't work out. $200 would have been well worth the price for a chance at that beautiful house.
You (and your wife) are correct about pricing. In this market, if you are not realistic about price, you are just not going to sell.
Chris - I also, was hoping something like that succeeds. She was running a very shrewed and active campaign. But you can't change the basics.
That's a wild story. Too bad her home hasn't sold. So, are the pet lovers stories posted somewhere?
Your first comment about fooling the market is dead on. No amount of hype will sell a vastly overpriced property. It's a shame she didn't sell the house and even worse that she was roasted some some folks with hate mail. That's a little much.
Elizabeth - I knew it was going to happend this way, but I still hoped that one dedicated and forceful person could succeed.
She really impressed me with the way she was building this marketing plan, the strategy and the implementation. She obviously has the vision, and the determination to push it to the limit.
I feel sad it did not sell, we all love winners. I am still fascinated by the attempt.
Jesse - Here was a fun part. If that would go as planned, whoever wins, only downpayment would be $200. So, the whole notion of $1,250,000 being overpriced is only relevant for us as professionals.
For me the lesson is that getting people excited is enormously difficult. She enlisted the help of TV (and several channels reported it, and, if I am not mistaken, even the major ones), she got press, she promoted it as actively as few agents have ever done.
I still has not figured where she made a mistake, what could have been done differently that would result in getting the required number of entries.
Thanks for the post and comment on, Is That What i Sound Like?" I had no Idea about the contest for the mansion. I did notice a lot of white on white in the pics. Clothes, cars, mansion, shoes, is that an Ocala thing?
TriCity Real Estate Brokers, Inc - Oh, that's funny. I didn't notice that. I think it is more Clementina Marie Giovannetti, than just Ocala.
But it bodes well with Ocala. An interesting place. A horse country. Old and rich Florida...
I remember her spam - as well as seeing some media coverage of her contest. It reminded me of a contest that was held every year in Whistler, BC (may still be held), where a condo was more or less raffled off. The tickets were around $150 if I recall. I bought them a couple of times myself . . .
That's interesting. So that means that they were selling enough tickets to get the set price. Is it that they were actually selling even more tickets that the set price, and, thus sell for more money as planned?
I will try to Google if I can find more info on that Raffle. I would play that myself. Hey, there is still chance like on in 2K-4K. The chances are so much higher than in state lottery, that it should make sense for any gambler. And if you lose, you are not going to shoot yourself. In casino we tend to spend more.
well, she made herself and the house quite famoust. She spent so much time and as a result listed with an agent. Hmm. Thank you for a story.
Irina - THough I do not want to get into the details, but there is not way in hell it can be sold for $1,250,000. I think Clementina was caught in making all her calculations of this amount, Well, it did not matter much before, as, basically, the winner would have bought it only fo $200.
Now, that she had to go to traditional way of welling through the agent, she can't go and list for $800,000, as this would not be perceived as nice.
I spoke to the agent, I was not convinced that this price is justified. THe agent is actually not from Ocala, and I am not sure he has all the necessary data.
There should be the reason it did not sell for $995,000 when the market still was better than today,
It is unfortunate, as she really generated a lot of effort and ran a shrewd campaign. I still think that should that be a $200,000 house, she would most probably sell it with $200 entry tickets and pet lover story. I think she could have handled 1000 tickets. 6,250 was too big a number.