JUNE 2008 BEACON
How's This for a Promotion?
Buy One, Get One Free...House That Is!
Desperate San Diego developer employs retail-style promo to move inventory
<Reuters><June 4, 2008>In yet another sign of the depth of the struggles in the housing market, a creative San Diego, CA-based developer is taking a cue from a common retailers promotional strategy and offering a Buy One, Get One Free program to move his bloated inventory of unsold houses. With the purchase of a $1.6 million dollar estate home from Michael Crews Development, the buyer will receive a row-home worth at least $400,000.
Says developer Michael Crews, “We are targeting a niche market of investors who are interesting in the opportunity to buy a new home for themselves and get a free rental property or second home for family members.”
And the second home is not your typical shoddy row-home other developers are giving away. These are 2,000 sq.ft luxury row-houses with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, six car garage, and swimming pool.
Says Dawn Berry, the developer’s marketing director, “People don’t expect to get what they are getting with the row-homes. These are well appointed luxury houses.”
The $1.6 million luxury estates are in the city of Escondido in northern San Diego County. Home sales in San Diego County were down 18 percent in April from last year, while foreclosures were up 130% in the first quarter of this year compared to last year.
The special was originally run in May, but the developer decided to extend it to give potential buyers more time to consider the deal. The developer admitted that they were approached by one buyer who wanted to change the deal as he did not want the free home.
The developer’s suggestion, “If you don’t know what to do with your free home, you could always give it away.”
[Photos: Reuters]