Real agents hope $1m house will go for a song

An Auckland real estate agent and professional musician has made a rock video to market a house and challenged other agents to get more creative.

Tim Webb of Wallace & Stratton on the North Shore have released a musical video The Cash Cow Blues which he wrote and made for under $500, appearing in the film with both his teenage son and vendor client.

The video is a marketing ploy to attract attention to 139 Sandspit Rd, Shelly Park near Howick.

Webb expects that to go for more than $1 million and said real estate marketing campaigns were often too traditional so an entirely different approach was needed.

"It's about time agents started giving more value. Most marketing of properties is pretty ordinary but it doesn't have to be," he said.

Webb is a member of professional musical group The House Band which entertains corporate clients.

His video is a take-off of a famous scene from the film The Blues Brothers where stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as 'Joliet' Jake and Elwood meet Aretha Franklin in a bar.

Webb plays Elwood while home owner and acquaintance Greg Longstaff plays Jake and initially appear ordering food at a bar, speaking in American accents.

Webb said he had so little time to make the musical that he asked his son, Jamie, 15, to stand in for Franklin.

"But I think that works. The whole Blues Brothers thing came to me the morning before the video was made," he said.

No other rock musicals have been made in New Zealand to sell houses that he knows of but the technique is more common overseas.

"I'm copying that," Webb said, also telling how he was writing a book, Rock The House, which marries up his twin interests of music and real estate.

The blues song opens with Webb singing: "Well looky here now. I've got something to show down Sandspit Road. She got all the right moves. She got all the right rooves. Gonna make the bank proud. Coz this home and income, she's a cash cow!"

The production of the film and music was professional.

The musical backing was done in the United States after Webb paid a business there $US100. Vocals were recorded at Birkenhead's Earwig Studios and the video was filmed by Beren Allen of MyAgent Real Estate Photography, which charged $275.

Asked if he would consider making another musical video to sell properties, Webb was enthusiastic: "Abso-frickin-lutely!"