Beauty, eh?

Back on August 31st we made a post about the latest marketing gimmick from the sales team team at Rennie Marketing for the Olympic Village.

The website hailed: "We’re kicking off a brand new promotion tomorrow—an amazing move-in package of essentials for every buyer—it’s everything you’ll need for life at The Village!"

The list of goodies and incentives for you to make your purchase included:

• A hybrid bicycle – for your 5KM ride along the seawall to Stanley Park
• A portable BBQ – for Saturday’s BBQ with the in-law’s, on your balcony or at Hinge Park
• A one-year Aquabus ferry pass – for a last minute trip to Granville Island or Yaletown
• A single person kayak – get to know the neighbourhood sea life
• A year’s worth of one-zone Translink FareCards – the skytrain is only 5 minutes away
• A coffee per day for a year at Terra Breads Café – just downstairs
• A pair of running shoes – run the seawall in style
• A year’s worth of groceries from Urban Fare – an elevator ride away
• A year’s membership to Modo Car Co-op – for your day trip to Seattle
• A set of All-Clad cookware – for your Miele kitchen

Well it seems the R/E freebie promotion is starting to spread.

Over in Calgary, Realtor Robyn Moser (rhymes with hoser) has a distinctly... umm... Canadian approach that lacks only the endorsement of Bob and Doug Mackenzie of SCTV fame.

After reading a newspaper story in Chicago wherein a seller saw showings of a property skyrocket by 300% when free beer was offered with the purchase of the home, Moser decided to offer a similar promotion in Cow Town.

As the Vancouver Sun notes, two Calgary homes she currently has listed include the sales incentive of $1000 worth of beer as part of the list price.

The buyer gets the beer on possession.

Moser, meanwhile, proudly smiles with the suds. 

No word on whether or not the offer includes Realtor toques or not.

Good day, eh?

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Regular people... just gettin screwed

Over the next few years keep the polaroid camera handy.

Because there are sure to be many classic photo opportunities from friends in a situation like this one from Dany Cote of Calgary.

Our buddy Dan put down $20,000 on a Calgary condo in 2007 when he signed a presale contract to buy for $420,000.

Cote was pre-approved for the money and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) agreed to insure the loan - so no worries, right?

Now we all know that the real estate market took a bit of a dive in 2008 and while it has completely re-inflated itself in Vancouver... apparently that's not the case in Calgary.

According to a recent appraisal, Cote's condo is only worth $335,000 now - down from the presale purchase price of $420,000.

And with that appraisal, CMHC will only insure a loan of up to $313,000.

What about CMHC's pre-approval, you ask?

Richard Cho, a spokesperson for CHMC, breaks the bad news.

"Typically, when a property is approved for CMHC insurance, CMHC does tend to honour that agreement during that period. However, there are times when an application is reassessed."

Ummm... reassessed?

Well, Dany-boy fell into the reassessment category and is seems that he's on the hook for the difference when the market went cold.

For our buddy Dany, that means he must come up with an $84,000 donation to complete the sale.

Does he have that kinda cash sitting around?

"My wife and I aren't in the position to advance the money and get over the bad situation. We're just regular people trying to get by." says Cote.

On Tuesday, the builder sued Cote for breach of contract seeking both the $20,000 deposit and the difference between the presale contract price and the condo's current market value.

Watch for this type of story to play itself over and over again once interest rates shoot up and trigger a drop in real estate values.

More and more Regular people just trying to get by are gonna be regular people just gettin screwed.

Isn't funny you don't see that scenario in the sales brochures?

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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
Click 'comments' below to contribute to this post.

Please read disclaimer at bottom of blog.