Sunday, September 30, 2012

The one day sale... coming to a condo near you.



Everyone knows the routine.

A retailer has a one day sale in an attempt to get you off your ass and make the purchase.

But is this really an approach for condos?

Infamous realtor Cam Good (absent the yellow helicopter) is back in the news again with another marketing gimmick. From BCLocalNews.com:
This Saturday (Sept. 29), Cornerstone in Langley is offering homebuyers 15 to 21 per cent off as they sell off their remaining 18 condo units. Cornerstone was developed by Marcon.  
The deal is being offered through through CONDOday, a new group-buying service for real estate where buyers get deals when they buy together with others interested in the same homes. 
“CONDOday targets respected home builders that have a genuine business reason to offer homebuyers a really good deal,” said Ben Hurlbutt, manager of CONDOday. 
“In this case, Marcon will sell all of its existing inventory and close the presentation centre so it can move onto the next building. 
“Developers often spend months, or even a year, selling their last remaining homes at great expense. CONDOday negotiates with developers and organizes buyers into groups that save big on opportunities like this. And the homes are guaranteed to never sell for less.” 
CONDOday’s one day sale prices will range from $159,900 for a spacious one bedroom plan to $235,365 for a two bedroom, two bathroom home. 
For those who sign up to join the group – for free – on CONDOday.ca, they will save between $29,000 and $46,000. With savings from CONDOday deals, first-time homebuyers really can find homes that aren’t out of reach financially.
“This is a no brainer for buyers,” says Cam Good, president of The Key, the launch pad for CONDOday. “With CONDOday, buyers get a better deal than they could ever get on their own, and it’s free.” These homes at Cornerstone normally start at $199,900 but with this CONDOday deal, they will be starting at $159,900 for the one day. 
The launch is at noon on Saturday. Cornerstone is located at 21009 56 Ave (corner of 56 Avenue and 210A Street).
Is it a sign of the looming desperation?

Can you really market condo's based on "one day only" sale?

Are you really going to tell me you can't walk in tomorrow and get the same deal?

The news release seems to suggest that you have to 'sign up' with CondoDay to get the deals.  But faithful reader TS happened by The Cornerstone development, and it pretty much seems to be a sale open to one and all who wander by...






It's a site with balloons and signs everywhere, all that seems missing is a checkout aisle and a cashier.

One day only? I wonder if that's until the price drops 30%?

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11 comments:

  1. “CONDOday targets respected home builders that have a genuine business reason to offer homebuyers a really good deal"

    So.. what would be a genuine business reason for the developer:

    - cashflow problem?
    - depreciating inventory?
    - solvency?
    - lack of fools/buyers?
    - All of the above?

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  2. I think the answer is simple.... the race to the top is over and they know how fast the knife is falling on condos. I think Langley, Maple Ridge, and Abbotsford are going to get hammered hard and quick.

    We own a condo in Abbotsford. In April our neighbor listed their 2br which is nice at $225. They sold quickly at $215. Right now a similar unit is $199.9 and it's not selling.

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  3. Gotta love Cam Good's antics. They are entertaining at the very least. Such small time hucksterish marketing might be suitable for used cars or low end furniture, but not so sure about real estate....

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  4. So, let's see...

    If these condos are 15-21% off, does that mean that all the condos purchased before the sale just lost 15-21% of their value? And, anyone who really believes the sale is 'one day only' is a sucker.

    Also, doesn't the line about "the homes are guaranteed never to sell for less" just scream of hubris?

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  5. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!? Now what do I do?!?

    Seriously though, this lookslike the developer wanting to close down marketing operations and move on. But 18 units, at 20% off, is between $500K and $1MM, so they must know the market is lower than their list prices and they don't see reasonable hope of it rebounding anytime soon.

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  6. Very interested to see how this went. Assuming they didn't sell them all, what will the new prices be?

    By saying "And the homes are guaranteed to never sell for less.” they have basically backed themselves into a corner. If they do reduce prices further, I would guess the people who bought into this scam would be pretty pissed off and might even have some chance of getting a refund on the difference between the new prices and the price they paid.

    It's also pretty hilarious the way they gaurentee they will never sell for less when any one of the current owners could put their place on the market for lower than these prices and there isn't anything they can do about it.

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    1. If they sell all remaining condos, they will never sell another condo in this building for less, since they sold them all. Sounds logical to me.

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    2. Well, that might be what they mean but that's not what they said.

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  7. Yes, IF they sell them all. If they don't then they have basically promised to never sell any units for less than this, which will be very tough unless the market comes back.

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    Replies
    1. Honestly nehvabby... who is going to come here and be interested in Philippine real estate? Since I can't remove you advertising links, I just delete the whole comment.

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