Paul Taramona
- House bows are becoming a popular way for real-estate agents to add pizzazz to newly sold homes.
- The bows vary from a few hundred dollars to thousands and can be as big as 15 feet.
- Whether for holiday decor, transaction closings, or even gifts, bows get put on homes year-round.
Inspection, check. Closing date, check. New keys, check. A new addition on real estate agents’ to do lists: a giant bow for their clients’ new home.
Orders are up for the oversized house adornments, according to the niche group of larger-than-life bow makers, even as they’re down on their more popular offering: the big red car bow.
The Wall Street Journal reported that sales for car bows, a hood or roof embellishment that was popularized by a Lexus ad campaign 20 years ago, may be an economic indicator that foreshadows a drop-off in the number of cars given as gifts this holiday season.
While the house bow market gets a boost during the holidays, it’s more of a year-round business, which might contribute to its buoyancy this year despite being a much smaller piece of the equation for the bow makers.
House bows are often purchased by local realtors to celebrate closings or drum up interest in a property, and by particularly spendy gifters looking to surprise their family members or spouses with a new abode.
“It’s something that we’ve done for several years, and it has really become popular in the last couple years,” said Amber Hughes, owner of King Size Bows in Costa Mesa, California. “This year we’ve seen a huge jump in people doing bows on their houses. Business went up a good 15%, at least.”
The biggest bow Hughes has been commissioned to make, pictured here, measured 15 feet across. It adorned a commercial building.
King Size Bows
Steven Rosenfield, the owner of Giant Bows in Old Lyme, Connecticut, has observed a similar bump in business. “It was a bit surprising, because it’s a pricey item and I get the drift that the economy is withdrawing a little bit,” he said, noting that the decoration can range in cost from the hundreds to the thousands of dollars. And shipping for the oversized goods can often exceed the product cost, depending on the size of the bow.
Hughes charges around $600 plus shipping for an average 6-foot, two-loop house bow. “And the wrapping — the part that looks like a ribbon — that’s additional,” she added.
Rosenfield specializes in full-house bows that wrap around the facade of the building like a ribbon on a present. Like shipping, he said installation can sometimes exceed the cost of the bow itself. The extra-large bows are often hung by putting screws or attachment points into the building, but if a building owner doesn’t want to alter the facade, it takes some creativity — which comes at a greater expense.
Rosenfeld loves to see his products installed, and often asks customers to send photos of their decorated homes. “When somebody sends a photo of their finalized installation, and they’re just beaming with pride that they wrapped a new house or a new addition, it’s just nice to see that joy that comes out of it,” he said. “It’s an intangible fringe benefit for our products.”
A King Size Bow used for decoration.
King Size Bows
The bows aren’t one and done. They’re weather-resistant and often reusable. Hughes’s clients are worldwide, so being able to contend with inclement weather is a must. She said the bows have a structure inside of them and a weather-resistant fabric on the exterior. She wasn’t willing to go into the details — it’s a trade secret.
Hughes said realtors often nab her extra-large door bows, which run a more modest $49.99, for their clients on closing day to welcome them to their new home. “They’ll order a dozen at a time so that they have them on hand,” she said.
Not everyone in real estate is on board with the trend.
“When I first heard about bows being put on homes I thought it was absolutely ridiculous,” New York agent Lauren Hurwitz told Insider.
She doesn’t foresee it catching on in her area of Westchester County, though she admits after some contemplation she can see why agents might spring for the holiday gesture.
“The special touch could help a realtor show they go the extra mile,” she said.
