Targeting the rich: Broker opens office in Rolls dealership

Would you like a Rolls-Royce with that house? A luxury real estate brokerage is opening its office next month inside a Rolls-Royce showroom.

Shawn Elliott, owner of Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes and Estates in Woodbury, N.Y., says he believes he will be the first residential real estate office inside a car dealership. He’s opening up his brokerage inside Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ 9,200-square-foot showroom, which also displays Bentleys and Lamborghinis.

From inside the dealership’s showroom, he will have a 75-inch flat screen TV in his glass-enclosed office that projects images of his $5 million-plus listings. He’s hoping car shoppers will also be lured into shopping for a new home. And, of course, they’ll be able to tour homes inside a Rolls-Royce.

The alliance with the Rolls-Royce dealer grew from invitation-only soirees and showings where the Rolls Royce Motor Cars Long Island dealer would help stage Elliott’s listings by parking luxury cars outside as curb appeal.

“It adds dimension,” Elliott told The New York Times. “You put a Rolls-Royce in front of a home and it creates more excitement for a home. The perception is the home is worth more.”

By being inside a car dealership’s showroom, Elliott said that he hopes while shoppers peruse cars they’ll also be tempted to “find a home for their new car.” He said the markets for $250,000 cars and $5 million houses share overlap. “The audience that is here is targeted for us. You don’t buy a $250,000 car if you don’t make a million dollars a year.”