As a company familiar with the sale of large, high-profile and high-end properties, we expected this one to be no different – an Edinburgh mansion in one of the best locations in Edinburgh. We had read all the books, seen the films – no one could dispute that the owner of this particular house was an A-list celebrity with global appeal which helped to generate over 16,000 visits to the property listing on the Rettie website within the first weekend of marketing.
James Whitson, one of Rettie’s directors who dealt with the sale confirmed that despite the global profile of the client, it was the Rettie database of buyers that sold this property. And he’s right, of course. It took just 5 viewings for the property to sell, all of which originated from our database of registered buyers, resulting in the house selling within 21 days. Not bad, considering the current average time to sell a detached house at the moment is 145 days.
"People searching for the Rettie brand on Google rose by around 50% overnight."
Thanks to a high volume of mentions of Rettie on various blogs, social media sites and news outlets including the BBC, the Huffington Post and the LA Times, people searching for the Rettie brand on Google rose by around 50% overnight.
James Whitson went on to say “it was a privilege to have been associated with such an iconic house in Edinburgh and it was no surprise that it sold quickly. Time and time again, any property that is correctly priced even at the top end will find a purchaser and this was no exception. The Harry Potter connection was obviously unique to deal with and made the whole process more interesting. Rettie are extremely well placed to help any client sell their property in a particularly challenging market.”
In terms of fan-appeal, there was less to offer than JK Rowling’s previous property market dealings: the sale of her childhood home for a mere £400,000 (in comparison to the Edinburgh property, of course). That property had plenty to offer fans; from Rowling’s own graffiti, to obvious inspirations for aspects of the book: the cupboard under the stairs, the name of the village and the gothic architecture. So was it a case of bigger house, more interest? Certainly, that had something to do with it – especially with the vast increase in visitors from the USA. The fact it was described as a ‘mansion’ by the press seemed to spark curiosity amongst fans, as well as being the location where at least four of the seven books were written. Thanks to large Harry Potter fanbases in Asia, as well as the US, we saw visits increase dramatically from both these continents.