Buyer incentives are nothing new in real estate transactions, but they usually take the form of negotiable closing costs. Here’s one we haven’t come across before: five years of free hoagies from Taylor Gourmet. That’s the deal offered by Casey Patten, co-owner of Taylor, to the buyer of his Penn Quarter condo. The one-bedroom apartment, on Seventh Street, Northwest, is listed at $489,000. In addition to the hoagies, there’s an attractive kitchen with a breakfast bar (a good place to chow down on a hoagie) and a private terrace, another good place for sandwich-scarfing.
We reached out to the condo’s listing agent, Jay Bauer, with a few questions. For example, how many hoagies and how often? One a week, he says, at any Taylor Gourmet. Whose idea was it? “I pitched it to Casey as a one-year hoagie deal,” says Bauer, “but he said, ‘How about five years?’” The freebies come in the form of a gift card worth $2,470, and the buyer can use it any way he or she chooses—once a week, four a month, all at one time (though if choosing the last option, Taylor asks to be notified 24 hours in advance).
While Bauer says he’s familiar with buyer incentives, this is a new one—“definitely on the unique side.” Blushing only slightly, we asked if there’d been any “nibbles.” Bauer says, “There’ve been shark attacks. I have people calling me already”—even before the open house, which is this Sunday from 1 to 4 PM. If you are superstitious, consider this, too: The apartment is on the seventh floor of 777 Seventh Street.
One last obvious question: Will there be hoagies at the open house? Bauer laughed. “There will be plenty of Taylor Gourmet there for everybody.”