iPad Fever: How Apple’s Newest Creation is Being Used to Market DC Real Estate

• April 20, 2010
• 11 Comments

by Mark Wellborn

Apple’s iPad has unquestionably been the most anticipated new technology of the year. Like a new Star Wars movie, its arrival prompted crazed fans to sleep outside Apple stores for days before it went on sale.

The hype surrounding the iPad has not been lost on a couple of DC real estate companies that have recognized that the new technology could be the perfect marketing tool.

UrbanLand Company started the promotions about a week and a half ago. The Florida Avenue based company ran a lottery of sorts in an effort to grow the number of fans on its Facebook page. To draw fans, UrbanLand promised to choose one lucky fan on Monday April 12th to received an iPad.

The promotion did the trick as not only did the company increase its fan base significantly, but a forum of sorts started with people who anticipated being the winner.

“I am now stalking your page for my ipad!” one hopeful fan wrote on the page.

However, UrbanLand is not the only company that recognizes the promotional benefits of Apple’s newest creation.

Madison Investments, a developer of boutique condo developments around DC, has a new project called Trevelyan House coming on the market soon in northern Columbia Heights. The nine-unit development will be located at 1436 Ogden Street NW (map) and the units will range in price from $265,000 to the low to mid $400’s for duplexes.

Oh, and every unit comes with an iPad.

“We decided early on to create a wireless network for Trevelyan House that would provide free internet access to its condo owners,” Barry Madani of Madison Investments told UrbanTurf. “As such, the hype and purpose of the iPad was perfectly married to that idea as a coffee table tool for browsing the web and having fun online.”

The Trevelyan House is expected to be complete by mid-June, but by then, the units may have been snatched up by buyers lured in by the world’s newest high-tech toy.

Similar Post:

DC Apartments Roll Out the Move-in Incentives

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ipad_fever_how_apples_newest_creation_is_being_used_to_market_dc_real_estat/1994

11 Comments

1. Amir said at 7:27 am on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   One of the better incentives I have seen. Throw in a new iPhone and we’ll be talking.

1. Jonquil said at 12:07 pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   How is this a great incentive? Don’t people realize how relatively cheap these things are? Your buying a house and your excited about a $600-1000 iPad thrown in?

1. John said at 12:22 pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   Kind of ironic since the iPad can’t display flash animation and MRIS photo slideshows are all in flash, as well as most of the fancier photo shows.

1. Millie said at 12:28 pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   i love it. give me the satellite version, please.

1. Richard Elliot Baron III said at 1:29 pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   Nice idea, clearly this is getting the marketing buzz it was intended for. I certainly would not say no to a new Ipad.

1. swester said at 9:37 pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010:

   Better deal - pay for my iPhone or iPad SERVICE PLAN for a couple of years.  Then we’ll talk.

   Plus, I thought this article was about how the iPad was used a piece of technology to market real estate (as in virtual listings, etc).  Sort of a let down that they are just using them as crappy purchase incentives.

1. Aimee said at 7:37 am on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   By using them as incentives, they are a marketing tool. I know that if my agent had told me that an iPad was offered with some of the listings he showed me, it definitely would’ve sweetened the deal.

1. swester said at 8:52 am on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   But how is it any different than the plasma TV’s, etc, that were regularly included during the boom times?  Or throwing in an “upgrade” like granite countertops?

   It’s just a gimmick.  You know they are making the price up somewhere else, and personally, I’d rather be able to negotiate on price than get a $500 piece of technology that will depreciate faster than the condo.

1. hoos30 said at 10:03 am on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   Boo! Bait-n-switch! I thought the article would talk about, ya know, actually USING the iPad in an interesting way, not just as a throw-in bobble like free socks.

1. Amy said at 10:47 am on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   Would love to see photos of the Trevelyan House. Are there any?

1. Barry said at 2:03 pm on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   Hi, Trevelyan House is still under construction, however as soon as pictures are available they will be available on the website. Floor plans and other info will be available sooner so feel free to check back at http://www.trevelyanhousedc.com regularly

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