Million-Dollar Club Few Spokane Realtors Get A Chance To Sell High-Priced Properties

It’s a club that has no membership list, no official name.

Fewer than a dozen people are thought to belong. The only requirement to join: sell a home in Spokane for more than a million dollars. Still, membership in this exclusive club of Realtors is growing - albeit slowly.

Currently three houses, out of 2,800, are for sale at that price in the county. They are:

8640 N. Cedar, $1.7 million.

5312 Vista Court, $1.25 million.

On Green Bluff, the exact address is secret, $1.1 million.

“Even five years ago that would have been beyond belief,” said Chuck Fuller, an agent with 20 years working in the Spokane market. “But now, there’s always a few out there for that price.”

Fuller is trying to sell the $1.7 million home.

What’s that much money buy in Spokane? A double lot, a view of the city, swimming pool, 7,600 square feet of living space, five bedrooms and six baths.

Fuller’s house is one of the few million-dollar homes that will be open to the public during next month’s home show.

Not that opening the doors to all will help him sell it. Generally, there is no open house when a seven-figure mansion goes on the market.

“It would be a waste of time,” said D. Jay Williams, a Windermere agent who recently listed a Spokane Valley home at $1.25 million. “The only people who would come would be people who wanted to gawk at a million-dollar house.”

There also is no for-sale sign on the front lawn of a million-dollar residence. “That would be considered gauche,” he said.

Agents even screen other agents claiming to have interested clients.

There isn’t a real estate agent out there who would turn down the opportunity to see a mansion, said Jim Knecht, who listed a milliondollar home several months ago, but cut the price and his chance of making his first seven-figure sale, because offers were not rolling in fast enough. He has yet to sell it.

Often million-dollar houses, like the Gaiser mansion ($1.2 million) on Sumner Avenue recently bought by sports team owner Bobby Brett, never even make “the list.” They are sold behind the scenes. Real estate agents sometimes are not even involved.

So how does an agent sell a swank abode in this city of blue jeans and canvas sneakers? Two approaches: low-profile and pull-out-all-stops.

When Realtors use the low-key approach, even the nearest neighbors don’t know the home is for sale.

Williams said he whispers news of the listing to other “high-end” Realtors and faxes information sheets to the executives in town who earn enough to afford such surroundings.

“You’d be surprised how many families in town can afford places like this,” he said. “Restaurant owners, doctors, some of them make pretty good money.”

There’s also out-of-town buyers. A couple from Texas who made an offer on Knecht’s almost-a-millionlisting were looking for a seasonal home.

“There’s some monied people coming to the area that would like houses like that,” Fuller said of his $1.7 million house. “And there’s not a lot for sale.”

Fuller gained entrance into the million-dollar club by virtue of a custom-built house he handled last year.

That’s really a quasi-membership, according to other agents.

“We’ve seen lots of custom-built homes where the owners have spent more than a million,” Williams said. “But most of those haven’t been resold, to see what the market will bear.”

Honest, card-bearing members of the club have to sell a finished home. Currently Williams, Fuller and Robert Johnson (“My client doesn’t want any press”) are trying sell million-dollar homes. All have prior million-dollar sales.

“You do a lot of things at this end of the market that you just don’t do for a $100,000 house,” Williams said.

From aerial photographs to humoring eccentric out-of-town buyers, “You do what you have to,” he said.

He recently hired an artist to sketch his listing. He ordered cumulous clouds and flying birds.

When the commission comes through it’s worth it, the Realtors said. But they won’t reveal exactly what they get paid when the deal closes.

“Don’t call it a commission, that’s what you get when you sell a $50,000 house,” Williams said. “We call it a brokerage fee.”