After months on the market, Adam Stolpen might have wondered what he had to do to create a buzz for his stunning 1928 Frazier Peters stone house on Spring Hill Road, off Wilton Road.
Then the New York Times came calling.
Before becoming a realtor, Stolpen’s agent — Dorothy Salisbury of Weichert — had done PR for Calvin Klein. Twenty years ago she rolled out Obsession, so she knows something about publicity.
(Photo by Douglas Healey/The New York Times)
Intrigued by the house’s lineage — Peters’ unique stone houses are revered, for good reason — and its amenities like a sun porch, guest cottage and pond, Salisbury called the Times‘ real estate section.
A reporter spent several hours walking through the house, and interviewing Stolpen. Three days later, photographer Douglas Healey arrived; he too spent nearly all day, taking shots.
That Saturday, Stolpen’s home appeared in the Sunday Times’ “On the Market in the Region” — in print and online.
The texts started immediately. By the time Salisbury got to her snowy office on Sunday, she’d received 40 calls. They kept coming.
A woman in New York was particularly fascinated by the house — and the town. She said she’d be up as soon as she could — she wanted it for a weekend place. She asked Salisbury not to show it to anyone else. She said she’d pay the asking price: $1,999,999.
(Photo by Douglas Healey/The New York Times)
Stolpen, meanwhile, was hearing from friends in California, Texas, Washington — all over the country. A cousin from New Jersey asked: “Is that your home in the Times?”
Stolpen wondered: “Why do all these people look at the real estate section, when they’re never going to buy here?”
I have no idea. But I do the same thing.
So was there any downside to having his house featured in the New York Times?
“None,” Stolpen said firmly. “When you’re selling residential real estate, any publicity is good.”