Always Be Closing

Back in February there was a blog post on WorkingTogether offering "ridiculous discounts" on apartments in Millwoods (Edmonton).

Step 1: Create the appearance of a discount by comparing sales prices to some higher prices.

The 1 bedrooms normally range in price from $179,900 to $190,900. The 2 bedrooms range from $204,900 to $227,900.

...

The developer, for these first 10 units only, is selling them at $150,000 for a 1 bedroom and $160,000 for a 2 bedroom.

Step 2: Manufacture urgency

He wants the first 10 condos in each building sold right away, and as such he’s offering a ridiculous discount on the pricing.

...

We are willing to place 4 day holds on condos for you to ensure that you can take advantage of these offers. We will also be having an information session on the buildings this Thursday night (--Feb 28), provided that we haven’t sold them all already!

Step 3: Hide these sales from the market so the higher price listed in step 1 remains the "market value". This move was worthy of a previous post here and an Oscar from the Edmonton Real Estate blog.

We WILL NOT be reporting these sales to the MLS system so that these sales don’t bring down the values of the buildings.

Step 4: Profit???

Several of these apartments are now on the MLS. The listed prices are much more comparable to the "ridiculous discounts" than the higher prices used in Step 1.

Also still found here and here.

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See also: Quote of the Day