Posted on 06/03/2008 6:38:53 PM PDT by blam
Buy one home, get one free: US agents try to beat property slump
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 10:03PM BST 03/06/2008
A California developer has devised a radical sales pitch to shift new homes amid the current property slump – buy one house, get another one free.
Sales of new homes have plummeted by more than 40 percent across the US since their peak almost three years ago
"Don't miss this incredible investment opportunity! It's never been done before and may never be done again!" reads the advert promoting the two-for-one offer from Michael Crews Development.
The Escondido-based company says it will throw in a free four-bedroom home worth $400,000 (£200,000) for buyers of one of its luxury detached houses, which cost from $1.6 million (£800,00).
"Yes, as cheesy as it sounds, it's real," Dawn Berry, a marketing specialist with Michael Crews Development, said yesterday.
She said the idea, initially a joke, came out of a weekly brain-storming meeting as the company sought for way to stimulate the slow market by "creating a buzz".
"We were talking about the market and what's going on and it's all foreclosures, short sales, all this negative news. People were throwing out ideas and somebody said, 'what about a two for one deal?' as a joke. And Michael kind of chewed on it and said, 'well, we could do that'."
She said it was a legitimate deal with no catches and they had been inundated with inquires since the deal was announced. "Tons of people are just curious about it.
"I think a lot don't believe it or they can't believe you can get that quality of a house for free," Miss Berry said. "A lot of people are thinking, 'that just shows where the market is right now'. Builders have to try something different because we have to stay in business."
Sales of new homes have plummeted by more than 40 percent across the US since their peak almost three years ago and California, which helped to lead a nationwide real estate boom before the economic downturn, has been particularly hard hit.
Other developers in the area were slashing prices, auctioning properties or staging promotions such as dropping the price of a house every day for 10 days in a bid to sell homes, Miss Berry said.
The luxury home boast features such as a pool, Jacuzzi and giant garage capable of housing up to six cars or a 40-foot motor home while the smaller "free" houses have "trendy skylights" and patios.
"Great for your children, parents, grandparents, guests or rental property," says the advert on the company's website.
The promotion has been running three weeks but so far no-one has gone for the deal. The company has one offer on one of the luxury properties but the buyer has said he does not want the free home. Instead he wants to trade in his current house towards the asking price, something the company has done in the past and is considering.
The offer, now extended a month until the end of June, has also prompted a number of unexpected calls, Miss Berry said. "People want to ask (prospective buyers) if they want to be a philanthropist and give their free home away to somebody who needs it. And one recently married couple asked that if someone bought it, maybe they would sell them the free home at a discounted price."
I this is true, that is unbelievable.
JoMa
Hope the houses look better than the one in the photo...
It’s true. The ‘free’ houses are located on the east side of Escondido, California. Crews built a really nice looking row house project there, but he built it in a badly chosen location. Instead of putting the development near the city’s recently re-amped downtown, he stuck it on a busy road in the middle of a working class apartment district. They’re very attractive residences, but the occupants will be living with traffic speeding by ten feet from their front doors.
Looking at the whole package, with the 1.6 million dollar main house, it looks like it’s essentially a twenty percent reduction, which is not unheard of at the moment.
And, interestingly enough, the ad I saw said the deal ended May 29th.
Not the homes mentioned in article.
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