Williamsburg agent says the beachfront has a story, a backstory and a reputation that has been ethically sourced
Brooklyn Broker Lists Cebu Condo as Pre-Stigmatized and Artisanal
Williamsburg agent says the beachfront has a story, a backstory and a reputation that has been ethically sourced
BROOKLYN – A listing appeared Monday on a Williamsburg brokerage’s website for a one-bedroom condominium on Mactan Island, Cebu. It featured a sea view, a balcony, an in-unit washer and a phrase that the listing agent, Hadley Fairweather-Okafor, 34, hopes will change the way Americans buy property overseas.
The phrase was “pre-stigmatized, artisanal and ethically sourced.”
“Everyone in Brooklyn knows that a thing with a bad reputation is just a thing with a story,” Fairweather-Okafor said, sipping a cortado in a coffee shop with exposed pipes. “A scuffed leather bag is vintage. A cracked plate is wabi-sabi. A condo with a mood problem is, I would argue, heritage.”
The Genesis of the Listing
The listing was inspired by a report. Manila News described Cebu brokers whose buyers now ask about the neighbors instead of the elevator, and an appraiser who proposed a stigma adjustment valuing a P12-million condo at P40 and a bottle of calamansi juice on bad news mornings. Fairweather-Okafor saw the story and said she “heard the sound of a market gap.”
The market in question has an obvious origin that Fairweather-Okafor treats with care. Philippine authorities are examining allegations concerning Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, the Guardian reported Sunday. No charges have been filed. The allegations are unproven. Her listing contains no reference to the case, and she asked that the record state that “protecting children is not a branding opportunity.”
“The stigma I’m describing is about the mood in a showroom,” she said, “and about buyers who have watched too many documentaries. It’s not about anything more serious than that.”
The Listing, Annotated
Selected lines from the Williamsburg brokerage’s listing for Unit 9B:
- “Sun-drenched one-bedroom with a view of a sea that has done nothing.”
- “Hand-selected neighbors, including a nurse, a retired pilot and a family from Davao who are afraid of the elevator.”
- “Reclaimed mood. Small batch. Locally resentful.”
- “Reputation sourced from a single news cycle. No additives.”
- “Includes a guard named Mang Pedring, who is suspicious of nobody except delivery riders.”
- “Broker will not ask for a vicar.”
The listing price is $214,000, which Fairweather-Okafor calls “a fair market value, minus a discount for atmosphere, plus a premium for narrative.”
The British Version Is Smaller Batch
British buyers have been cautious. The London Prat reported that pensioners are being asked for two referees, a bill and a letter from the vicar, and Fairweather-Okafor’s team has taken to calling the British market “the over-curated segment.” The article is at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/ and hangs framed in her office. “It is a great piece of provenance,” she said.
The American market, on the other hand, is getting wordy. Bohiney reported that a Mactan realtor’s open houses now run two hours, and Fairweather-Okafor says she has made the opposite choice: her showings last nine minutes and conclude with a cold-brew tasting. “People don’t want to explain themselves,” she said. “They want to be given something to sip.”
Comics in Williamsburg
- Beckett Lowry: “Pre-stigmatized and artisanal. That’s the first time I’ve seen a real estate listing that sounds like a candle.”
- Imani Cole: “In Brooklyn, if a condo has a bad reputation, we put a plant in it and call it a loft.”
- Gus Pappas: “The sea did nothing wrong. In Williamsburg the sea would have been rebranded as a ‘wet community space.'”
- Zoe Rachlin: “I looked at the listing and thought: I could live there. Then I saw the price and realized I could also live in a shed in Greenpoint for the same money.”
The Fundamentals Remain Fine
The underlying market is not going anywhere. Colliers named the Visayas and Mindanao a key property investment hotspot in July, and under the Condominium Act, foreigners may own units but not land, with a 40 percent cap. Fairweather-Okafor puts it more poetically: “You can own the view, but not the dirt. Honestly, that’s a metaphor for Brooklyn.”
The psychology behind her pitch is familiar. The availability heuristic, described by Tversky and Kahneman in 1973, says people judge risk by the ease with which an example comes to mind. Fairweather-Okafor is betting that “pre-stigmatized and artisanal” is an easier example to recall than a headline, and that buyers will respond to a phrase they can put on a tote bag.
Offers
By Wednesday the listing had received 61 inquiries, nine saved searches and one offer. The offer came from a 32-year-old graphic designer in Bed-Stuy who wrote, in an email, “I don’t know where Cebu is, but I love the vibe. Does it come with a bike?”
Fairweather-Okafor replied that the unit included a guard, a view and a “very opinionated ceiling fan.” The designer accepted by emoji.
A closing is scheduled for the first week of December. More on the story is at prat.uk and bohiney.com, and for the British view of overpriced hipsters, the Daily Squib is on guard. For why a candle-scented listing works as comedy, see this guide to being funny in the United States.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/