Barbara Corcoran shares how she created a real estate 'buying frenzy' that made her $1 million in a single day

Corcoran founded Corcoran Group in 1973 using a loan of $1,000 from her boyfriend at the time. BI

• The businesswoman recalled a time in the early '90s when a single idea saved her company from bankruptcy.
• Corcoran said on TikTok she sold 88 "terrible apartments" in New York City in a single day.
• The strategy involved making the listings seem highly sought after by buyers, thus generating buzz.

Barbara Corcoran is sharing business lessons on TikTok to her one million followers — including a strategy she said once saved her company from bankruptcy.

In a video posted earlier this month, the 73-year-old "Shark Tank" co-star got ready for a TV interview while telling the story of how she made $1 million in a single day selling less than desirable apartments in New York City. According to Corcoran, the sales took place amid a turbulent economy in the early 1990s when her real estate company Corcoran Group was struggling to stay afloat.

"I was way, way overextended. I owed a ton of money," Corcoran said in the video. "I had 88 apartments that were sitting on the market for three years."

Corcoran said she devised a strategy to sell the "terrible apartments" and earn a $1 million commission as a result. She recalled pricing each apartment the same before announcing a secret 24-hour sale only for the best customers. 

The news of the sale spread through word of mouth as the units began to sound exclusive and highly desirable, CNBC reported. When the time came, her risky plan appeared to pay off, she said. 

″(I said) bring only your best customer, because there's not enough to go around," Corcoran said. "The day of the sale, I had 150 people waiting in line for those 88 apartments. It created a buying frenzy."

When the last unit of the nearly 100 apartments sold that day, Corcoran said there were still 50 people waiting in line. 

Corcoran's key takeaway from the strategy: "In business, everybody wants what everybody wants, but nobody wants what nobody wants."