$5,000 REWARD for sale of Petersburg home

We’ve all heard of monetary incentives offered to realtors to encourage the sale of houses… but an offer to the general public? In this failing housing market, people are going to new lengths to sell homes. After watching their house sit on the market for nearly nine months, and dropping the price more than $50,000, […]

June 6, 2008; 10:39 PM • by brenda p

We’ve all heard of monetary incentives offered to realtors to encourage the sale of houses… but an offer to the general public? In this failing housing market, people are going to new lengths to sell homes.

After watching their house sit on the market for nearly nine months, and dropping the price more than $50,000, (from $324K to $269K) home owners Christopher and Christine Shorr have gotten desperate.

The Shorr’s purchased the dilapidated sixteen room mansion in 2000, and spent five years restoring it—putting in modern upgrades, but retaining the house’s nineteenth century character.  The historic 3800 square foot Colonial Revival style house was built in 1891, and sits on a corner lot facing Petersburg’s Central Park.  Christopher Shorr, a theatre director, founded a performing arts venue in Old Towne Petersburg called Sycamore Rouge.  Christine Shorr, a kitchen designer and artist, is the owner/operator of Artistic Interiors, which provides decorating and kitchen design services. 

“It’s a gorgeous house, and its priced to sell,” said the Shorr’s realtor, Gina Harrison of Joyner Fine Properties in Richmond.  “It was even featured in the Times-Dispatch as an example of how much house your money can buy.  But in this market, even a great house at a great price doesn’t guarantee anything.  It’s frustrating, but that’s the reality of this market.”

The couple is relocating to Pennsylvania, where Mr. Shorr will be running the theatre program at Moravian College.  “We kept putting off the move, hoping to sell the house first,” explained Mr. Shorr.  “But at some point we had to go ahead and schedule the move and hope for the best.”  It seems that hoping was not enough.  The couple decided to take action.  Mrs. Shorr commented:  “In this economy, everyone needs money.  We thought–an easy $5,000 for anyone who convinces a friend to buy our house?–someone’s going to jump on that!”

So what exactly is the deal?  The Shorrs are offering $5000 (to be paid at settlement) to any person who refers a buyer to them resulting in the sale of their house by the end of July.  The buyer will need to confirm that the person made the referral.  With a total of $5000 available, multiple people cannot receive the reward.  Who do the Shorrs think will rise to the challenge?  “It could be a realtor, it could be the buyer himself, it could be some random guy who tells a friend, ‘hey—I know this terrific house—you should really take a look,’” stated Mr. Shorr.  “We don’t care.  We’ve got $5000 up for grabs for whatever person helps us close the deal.”

For more information about the house, contact Gina Harrison at 804-640-2237, go to www.joynerfineproperties.com, or take a virtual tour.

June 6, 2008 10:39 PM 0