Wine plus chef helps sell homes

At a swish cocktail party/ marketing event held at a luxurious, southwest-Edmonton home, it was hard to tell exactly what’s for sale.

The food? The personal chef services? The wine? The art?

Well, yes, all of the above. But mostly, the house itself.

It was an “open house” open only to an exclusive list of invited guests, plied with appetizers prepared by a personal chef, wine donated by local suppliers and entertainment provided gratis, all in the hopes of striking the right note with the right buyer.

The Edmonton event was at the 3,000-square-foot resale home of artist Angela Lee, which was on the market for $898,000.

Stephen Lau, the local realtor who helped organize the sales party, worked with event planner/ personal concierge Shannon Berry to create the event.

Lau plans to continue the model for future, high-end clients.

“For a lot of million-dollarplus homes, people don’t want the general public at large to come in and gawk at their house,” he says.

Berry, owner of Capital Concierge, first experimented with the idea just before Christmas, organizing an open house for a friend while showcasing women in business.

Sponsors provided products and services for the event, including food, wine, reflexology, skin care and a centre-piece-making workshop, inviting more than 100 women.

The house, a more modest, $360,000, 1912 character home, sold 10 days later.

Berry and Lau are planning another one of the “Luxury Nights in Edmonton” events in April at a $2.15-million home Lau is selling in the far west end of the city.