With work from home making tiny apartments hard to sell and a luxury market drowning in condos, New York City real estate agents have been resorting to Instagram influencers to lure both young, first-time buyers and wealthier prospects amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sealing the deal with newbie homeowners is requiring even more effort these days—a smile and some hustle are no longer enough. Charles Mazalatis, founder of Maz Group NY, said that when the coronavirus arrived, and New York State shut down showings, people were reluctant to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an apartment they couldn’t go see in person.
Enter Instagram. “It’s all about creating a vibe,” said Christine Blackburn, a New York-based sales director with Compass, of the growing use of social media to move properties. A Covid-19 era sale requires more than traditional staging (fresh flowers and even a bowl of fruit) or even photo-shopping furniture into online ads: Young…