Some Guacamole To Go With That Condo?
The Capital reports on the housing bubble in Maryland. “February home sales presented fresh evidence that the five-year housing boom is losing steam in Anne Arundel County. While the median price of homes sold in the county last month reached $324,500, a 13 percent jump from the same period a year ago, that figure fell from $330,000 in January, and was significantly off from December’s record-setting $350,000.”
“Other key measurements, including the annual rate of growth, number of homes sold and time on the market, all dipped as well, appearing to paint a picture of a slowing market.”
“Here, one of the most startling figures in February was the number of homes sold: 484, a 12 percent drop from the same month a year ago. Not only did the volume continue to shrink last month, so did the pace of sales.”
And the Washington Post reports on nearby condo promotions. “Marketers have unveiled their secret weapons in the fight against a suddenly cooling condo-buying market: chips and guacamole. Or a laptop. Or a Vespa scooter. Or just about anything else.”
“To offset the recent slowdown in sales, condominium developers across the region are offering a range of goodies to attract buyers. sales agents have good reason to step up their efforts. More than 51,000 condo units are planned or marketed for delivery in the region within the next three years.”
“The current trend is noteworthy because it marks a shift in tenor. The most popular giveaways are assistance with closing costs and several months of prepaid condo fees, said Gregory H. Leisch.”
“But flashier promos are on the rise. ‘Once in a while, cars are being offered. Plasma TVs are somewhat common,’ he said. And then there are the parties. Those who attended a sales event for a new condo building at 555 Massachusetts Ave. NW on Wednesday evening got the royal treatment. A line of valet parking attendants stood at the ready. Waiters in bowties served pasta hors d’oeuvres and pomegranate margaritas inside a white tent pitched at the entrance.”
“The event, dubbed ‘Massive Party, MassHysteria,’ came just a week after another party at 1010 Massachusetts Ave. NW. That one featured cocktails and DJ Tom B. Those interested in one-bedrooms above the seventh floor were informed of a $5,000 credit, something not available at a similar sales party last fall.”
“Party planners made sure everyone left a winner. On the way out, each potential buyer was handed a plastic tube of candy, stamped with the building logo.”
I’ve never had a “pomegranate margarita” but I’m dying to try one. FINALLY, a condo promotion that’s worth my while!
I saw some pictures of a condo party over in san diego from a link on this site. Girls on a cat walk and lots of food. This is getting ridiculous folks. Who are the stupid people buying this cr@p? Serve me 20 bucks in food and then screw me for 150 grand on a condo? Sounds like a hell of a deal
those pics were incredible. the “neighbors” in the windows were so obviously staged, one has to wonder who could be stupid enough to think it was real. I guess it fits into the same reality where a converted apartment is “worth” half a MILLION dollars.
I’m going to buy one of those $399K studios in 2008 for $89K. Use it for storage.
http://www.capitalstool.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7644
Here’s the link for Condo Potemkin Village 2006. This is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. You can almost smell the desperation when the Condo marketers resort to stunts like this. Note the bovine expressions of the future FBs and “speculators.”
LMAO,
Use it for storage,
Now thats some funny shit.
The girl on the cat walk for 150 grand? That sounds a bit overpriced …
Guacamole? Sounds more like “cacamole” to me!
Man, the people are getting desperate around there…
Stephanie
Methinks that’ll turn out to be the most expensive adult beverage these bagholders-to-be have ever consumed.
The party ends when the bag cannot be tossed to the next fool. The bagholder then realizes, oh I now owe 400k for this POS and actually have to pay the money back.
This whole scheme only works if there is someone to hand off to. To this point we have had pluenty of takers because of the get rich quick scheme involved and no fear of property values dropping. Once you get to the point of no more instant equity we will have a big problem. The fear of losing money has been lost in all of this. I think we are starting to see this finally happening in some areas. They do a lot of tricky things and recruiting to find the next taker. Just pray you aren’t the final taker in this mess
love your last name — ‘reality TV’ for those not up on German
— enjoyment from the suffering of others
I believe he means “Schadenfreude”.
“But flashier promos are on the rise. ‘Once in a while, cars are being offered. Plasma TVs are somewhat common,’ he said. And then there are the parties. Those who attended a sales event for a new condo building at 555 Massachusetts Ave. NW on Wednesday evening got the royal treatment. A line of valet parking attendants stood at the ready. Waiters in bowties served pasta hors d’oeuvres and pomegranate margaritas inside a white tent pitched at the entrance.”
Now if that don’t beat all. Just knock off $100K, thank you, and I’d be happier than a pig in slop.
BayQT~
Get em drunk and they’ll sign.
They should probably bring someone with them to counter their vulnerability. Or, maybe practice their hard-nose move in the mirror at home. No guts, no glory…no guts, HUGE mortgage…no guts, possible foreclosure.
BayQT~
Get’em drunk and they will pay $150K for the girl on the catwalk.
Drink that contract pretty
“‘Massive Party, MassHysteria.’” How utterly fitting. Bedazzle the rubes into signing on the dotted line with flattery fueled by alcohol and a generous dose of NAR cheerleading. Then, as the coming Bubble implosion gathers momentum and the realization sinks in with these “investors” and FBs that no Bigger Fools are coming to the rescue, watch the panic set in.
By the time these herd creatures begin stampeding for the exits, I hope some merciful ex-renter/lowball buyer is there to hand out bottles of Ripple and Thunderbird to dull the pain.
I drove through downtown DC yesterday and they’re building high-end condos in some really bad neighborhoods. I can’t imagine someone paying top dollar to have a view of boarded-up houses, liquor stores, litter, and vagrants.
I dunno. It might add zest to your life sprinting from muggers or making a mad z-shaped dash to and from the parking garage to escape the occasional hail of gunfire.
I just wish I could find a link to an article published last summer (in the Washington Post I believe) that talked about the gifts that buyers were offering sellers in the metro area to try to get them to pick their bid over the multiple others. Buyers were offering things like cases of imported wine or a vacation in the Hamptons. (Of course, the article pointed out that it wasn’t working, b/c sellers just went with the highest bidder.) My how times have changed–the DC bubble all grows up!!
….ARIZONA GETS HONORABLE MENTION IN al-QAIDA THREAT….
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49224
Islamic websites carry
al-Qaida’s ‘last warning’
Threat of 2 operations designed
to bring Americans ‘to your knees’
——————————————————————————–
Posted: March 11, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49224
wasn’t Al K. Da a character in the Sopranos?
Thanks to my pal in Florida for sending me the link!!!
OT, but we’ve seen homes that have been listed, for example, 120 days at $615K suddenly going pending at $700K. Loan fraud is happening to move houses now. They’re kicking back money to the buyer to subsidize their mortgage payments. I’ve reported four examples to the FBI…
It’s probably not illegal in itself, actually. If it’s listed at $615K but the appraisal says it’s worth $700K, and the seller sells it for $700K and kicks back $85K to the buyer, it’s not the mortgage company that’s the chump, it’s the seller — he’s sold a $700K house for $85K.
If it’s a phony appraisal, that’s another matter of course, but I believe the seeming kickback is not quite illegal.
oops, I meant “he’s sold a $700K house for $615K”.
There should be a new website: a guide to eating for free at Condo Promotions!
I used to stroll around my neigborhood on sunday afternoons, going to open houses and eating the free cookies and drinking the lemonade….now it looks like the food has gotten better.
(A little off topic–when I bring my 10 year old Saturn in for service, I walk next door to the Lexus dealer to use their waiting room. Free deli sandwhiches and internet access!)
..more seriously, if there are promotions from “free Plasma TVs” to Lowe’s gift certificates, these need to be deducted from the value of the house for
1. Tax assessment (not likely to be done because the Gov’ment will lose)
2. Assessor’s valuation for mortgage purposes (for example, the bank should all 20K to the equity requirement for purposes of reducing PMI)
3. Value of the house when establishing FMV for pricing neighboring houses.
What’s happening is poeple are now subsidizing their “free” Plasma TVs with tax-deductable mortgages. That’s just wrong. As taxpayers, we should be outraged.
what do you think helocs do? same difference
I check ziprealty San Diego County inventory daily, it is still going up by a reliable 50-100 every day. Now 17,672. Amazing how Phoenix area is more than double that at 37,000 plus with about the same population.
http://www.ziprealty.com/registration/register.jsp?usage=&level2=socal&cKey=3t2k4jf1&pageLink=%2Fregistration%2Fregister.jsp%3FcKey%3D5l0h54pg%26&metro=sandiego
Just wait until those planned 11,000 downtown SD condos come on-line.
SD condos for everyone!
Count me in!
Ziprealty or the MLS is now playing games. Ziprealty now shows 6916 listings instead of the 37000 they showed yesterday. There must have been a lot of successful open houses today!
Zip is funky. Went about 10 days without any new listings in the SF Peninsula. Now they’re back in sync with the MLS. Hopefully the MLS is correct!
In the same edition of the Post, another article titled “Buyers and sellers need to be more realistic” states:
On the flip side, buyers shouldn’t expect to negotiate prices that are far below 2005 levels, unless the property they want is in an area that has been affected by heavy employment layoffs or excessive supply in a niche segment such as investor condos.
Does the free guacamole at condo openings count as excessive supply of investor condos in DC?
I like this one myself - get paid to come to the open house!!!
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/rfs/141028297.html
This owner bought this condo 05/28/2004: $494,500. He can afford more than lottery tickets… geesh.
A piece of interesting info to show how poorly sales are proceeding at the “555 Mass” condos featured in the Washington Post article. They had a party last Monday, in which they had three prizes (laptop, $5000 furniture store credit, etc) they were going to award THAT night drawn from the people who signed a contract that night.
The had a huge party, but only had ONE contract signed - so could not give away the prizes and cancelled their prize giveaway that night and extended to all buyers by this Sunday. Great sales.
They may be running an illegal lottery! Someone should ip off the Washington AG
The OC guy probably couldn’t come up with more than lottery tickets. He already spent that $100K on a Hummer, a boat, and a down for his next flipping property in Palm Springs.
As for the flopping party. at least they sold one? It will probably fall through also. Voila - sorry we missed getting fed for free, and wearing a nice Mr Housing Bubble TShirt, would have been a topper (see end of Patricks Bay area Housing Crash blog)
Mmmmm….. pomegranate margarita….
I really need to start attending some of these parties err… promotions. Food and royal treatment are always nice especially when they’re free. I wish I had known about this one, I would have gone.
http://www.novabubble.blogspot.com