Coldwell Banker’s 10 Day “Sale”: Mostly Another Marketing Gimmick
Many of you have been writing me asking about Coldwell Banker’s nationwide “10 Day Sale” that began on Oct 10th and is supposed to have properties reduced by 10% for the next 10 days.
Coldwell took out a two page ad in the Sunday Chicago Tribune promoting the event.
If you just read the ad, you would think that all of the listed properties were reduced especially for this sale. But that’s not completely right.
I didn’t look at all the properties. Tipsters sent me info on a handful of them. But from those that I saw, to call those particular properties “on sale” was misleading. And that’s being generous.
For instance, take 1129 W. Newport #D, a 2-bedroom plus den Lakeview townhouse. The ad says the price has been slashed from $489,000 to $439,000.
And it has.
But over the past 7 months!
Here’s the price history:
Unit #D: 2 bedrooms, den, 2.5 baths, 1 car parking, townhouse
- Sold in September 2001 for $381,000
- Sold in March 2004 for $425,000
- First listed in April 2008 for $489,000
- Several reductions over the months
- Reduced on Sept 17, 2008 to $439,000
- Currently listed at $439,000
- Assessments of $150 a month
- Taxes of $5,987
- Brian Eugenio and Jim Humes at Coldwell have the listing. See more pictures here.
The property had no “special” reduction just for the 10-day event.
Same with this 2-bedroom unit at 500 W. Superior. The ad says it was slashed from $529,900 to $450,000.
It HAS been reduced. But, again, over the last 7 months.
Unit #802: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1170 square feet
- Sold in May 2005 for $387,000
- First listed in April 2008 for $519,000
- Reduced several times over the next few months
- Reduced on Sept 22, 2008 to $450,000
- Currently listed at $450,000 (plus $45k for tandem parking space)
- Under Contract as of Oct 3.
- Assessments of $693
- Taxes of $5,087
- Gale Goldstick at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See more pictures here.
I did see one property, 2248 N. Fremont #1, that looked to be reduced especially for the sale. But it was the second reduction in the last 6 months.
2248 N. Fremont #1: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage given
- Sold in August 2000 for $437,000
- Originally listed in May 2008 for $699,000
- Reduced in August 2008 to $665,000
- Reduced on Oct 9 to $600,000
- Currently listed at $600,000
- Assessments of $350 a month
- Taxes of $7,242
- Listing says: 10 DAY SALE…PRICE 10% REDUCED FOR 10 DAYS ONLY!
- 1 Year of Pre-paid parking across the street
- Central Air
- Elizabeth Ballis at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See more pictures here.
Such a stupid gimmick. In an actual sale, the prices revert back to original after the sale is over. I’d love to see CB try to raise the “sale” price again after 10 days, LOL.
Coldwell Banker meant that it was a ten MONTH sale. Not a ten day sale.
But the best part about these sales is there will be a twenty month sale ten months from now where these properties will have their ask prices reduced by a further ten percent.
I’ve always wondered who falls for these stupid gimmicks. Does anyone really think the price of an unsold condo will go UP if it doesn’t sell during some limited-time super sale?
Coldwell did this to wake up their unrealistic clients that prices must come down to move properties. Agents are sick and tired of hosting open house with zero attendance. Can Coldwell go bankrupt? I bet you will see major office consolidation in 09.
I recently placed a bid in the upper $400Ks for a new development ready for delivery listed at $600K and the developer hit the bid (within 3 weeks). My Coldwell Broker told me to bid 10% under list and I would get it at a 9% discount. Next year I would have bid an additional 10% discount but I am sick of renting.
The winter chill will wake up their unrealistic clients when the traffic to their open houses drops to zero and they see that no one else they know is successfully selling either. As the winter months drag on and they incur carrying costs many may come to the conclusion that they can’t afford the carry any longer and will either capitulate and cut prices drastically if they can or they will mail the keys into their lender.
They certainly won’t like to come to this conclusion, but it will be in the midst of winter when many are miserable anyway, and whats an added degree of misery to an already miserable season: a lot less worse than a degree of misery to a beautiful summer. 🙂
We dealt with Coldwell’s GC office to sell our condo AND assist us in finding a new home. What a wretched experience that was. Sure, they put together a lovely brochure but that is the sum and substance of their work. “If you print it they will come” is their mantra. The “team” who shall remain nameless for now, attempted to stong arm us into initially pricing our condo at a ridiculously low $$$ amount. We balked because we weren’t in a positon where we had to move. We owned the place outright. Multiple showings later we settled on an offer 1K OVER what CB urged us to begin with as an asking price. BTW all propspective buyers belonged to agents other than the CB “team” with whom we signed. Not one client did they bring in.
As for our new place, CBGC handed us a number of websites for US to peruse in order to find a our home. So, that I did spending hours on the Internet. CB simply provided access to properties I found on my own time. Finally, being completely disenchanted with CB’s “team” I came upon a wonderful place in LV. Rather than calling our broker at CB I telephoned the listing agent of the property. In the end, she not CBGC received the entire commission.
A full 2 months after our settlement date we received a generic “congrats” letter not from our “team” but from the office manager with whom we had no personal contact. Never once did anyone from the “team” thank us for our business. The letter requested that we kindly recommend their office and our “team” to our friends etc. Suffice it to say, I replied with a rather “lengthy” letter.
Margo. Paying for a sale side broker is almost always a major waste of money unless you have a real exclusive property. I used a discount post on MLS broker and paid the buy side comm only. In a condo price is so transparent that it should make no difference. My favorite was when Shills would call wanting to “help me” and list it for me.
Me: “Have I met you yet?”
Shill: “No”
Me: “So you want to list it and you will do this for only 3% your side comm”
Shill: “Maybe even a bit less”
Me: “So why haven’t I met you yet, I would think the 3% buy side comm I am now offering would be equal incentive for you to bring all those customers of yours over”
Shill: Uh, well.. uh…
Me: So basically you want to put your name on the listing and wait for a phone call and take your 3% for nothing? I am already doing that. Ciao!
My favorite was the Shill who told me:
Shill: “Lot’s of brokers wont bring a client to see the place knowing it is a discount MLS listing”
Me: “So you’re telling me if you have a client who wants to buy the apartment in the same line as mine, 10 floors lower, with fewer upgrades, and much less of a view, that is currently offered over my price you would let them”
Shill: “Yes”
Me: “Ever hear of ethics or fiduciary responsibility to clients”
Shill: “Realtors don’t have fiduciary responsibilities”
I Sh*t you not!!!!!!
“Realtors don’t have fiduciary responsibilities”
Anyone who thinks realtors have no culpability in all this needs to read that comment.
Believe me guys I have more than learned a most valuable lesson!
As an addendum, when CBGC brought us our first offer it was a mere 69K below our asking price…of 459K. They suggested it was a good start! Huh?
I’ll use a polite word in deference only to Sabrina…BUNK!!!
P.S.S. CBGC received a 5.75% commish. UGH! I should have taken it to Craig’s List.
Sabrina’s post: mostly just another riling-up-the-yahoos gimmick. She does it well. It worked.
The comments: mostly just another round of reflexive real estate agent bashing.
Fifteen hundred properties participated in this sale locally, Sabrina. Three is a long, long way from “mostly.” Saying “mostly” is dishonest – but then, that’s easy when you’re anonymous.
CB put a great deal of effort into convincing sellers of the need for this. That effort alone makes it much more than a “gimmick.” $100K off a $1M property is a helluva “gimmick” if that’s all it is.
Brian asks whether CB can go bankrupt. But Brian doesn’t bother to look up the cash flow statements from Realogy, the CB parent. If he had he wouldn’t be asking the question.
All you folks who’ve been braying for sellers to lower their asking prices should be embarrassed at the performance that took place on this post.
Disclosure: my company prepares Coldwell Banker’s advertising in Chicago and in Southern California. I am not authorized to speak for CB, and I’m commenting here solely on my own behalf.
Joe – Sabrina pointed something that I myself had noticed; quite a few of properties that had lowered their price weeks before the sale were included in the “10 day sale”… I don’t doubt that CB used this sale in an attempt to give sellers an incentive to lower prices and to get buyers out; not a bad idea IMO. But the misleading inclusion of properties. Yikes.
No one here seems to have felt any need to pay attention to facts.
The press release, which outlined what the sale was, said:
“Starting on October 10, 2008, the nation’s oldest residential real estate brand will kick-off its first-ever national “10-Day Sales Event” – during which participating home sellers from across the United States will reduce the listing prices of their homes by up to 10 percent. The Coldwell Banker 10-Day Sales Event will run nationally through October 19, 2008.”
“Up to 10 percent” is what it says. Sabrina misstated and everyone went off on that without reading. I’m sorry, but that approach is irresponsible and unfair.
Sabrina is very good at a number of things. Accuracy isn’t one of them.
Joe you’re good at a lot of things. One of them is being a shill for the developers and brokers who got us into this real estate mess in the first place.
Your website features overpriced shoddily built homes that very people can afford to purchase without the neg am option arm NINJA loan. Look at today’s news – single-family housing starts hit a 26-year low. Go back to your website, please.
You’re damn lucky Sabrina doesn’t censor dissent as you do on you worthless shill crap laden website. If it were up to me I’d ban your IP and your username.
homedelete,
Where does all that anger come from? Wherever it comes from, it’s made it difficult for you to see straight.
Get a dictionary and look up the word “censor.” We don’t do it. You’re eager to do it.
We have banned two or three people who contributed nothing but mindless, irrelevant and hateful bashing to any discussion. Were you, perhaps, one of them?
Its okay.
On Joe’s site he documents that he hates these anonymous boards and blames them as one of the key factors behind the disappearance of demand lately. I’m not sure how one could verify that, however.
I think the drop in demand is likely due to many of the catalysts that enable the bubble to grow in the first place being removed: no more negative ARMs, no more 0 down loans, no more no doc loans.
Just think of all the artificial demand that was created during the boom: this all has to be subtracted now. Many of the people that bought between 2003-2008 were not qualified to be homeowners. Sorry. So now we need to flush them out of the homeownership game and yes it is reaking havoc. Now this artificial demand must be subtracted from current figures. Real estate is going to contract, theres no preventing that.
At least Chicago never got so bad that there are tent cities popping up sporadically all over the most affected areas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities
If Joe really thinks he is the victim here maybe he should meet some real victims. They’re not down on their luck realtors or bankrupt developers. They’re people who are homeless due to this insane ponzi scheme.
Zekass, I was hoping you’d be back. How does it feel to know that the real estate market as we know it is crashing all around you? You claimed for so long that sellers won’t be lowering their prices. Well, you’re half right. Some sellers won’t lower their price, and their properties are the ones that just sit on the market forever.
Zekass accuses of us of mindless realtor bashing even though Margo gave numerous reasons why she was not pleased with one of Chicago “finest” agencies. Then Zekass comes in and mindlessly bashes pretty much everyone on this forum without giving anything resembling real evidence. Joe, you sure were a smug son of a bitch when the market was going nowhere but up and many people could not afford to buy. Now you’re just bitter and angry at the thought of buyers being able to have a say for the first time in almost a decade. Having a say means they no longer have to pay list price, like it or not.
I love it. The goodness of CB. “Their” sale. As if they owned the product. They just want their numbers. It is a profession that should be outlawed.
I have two private showings this afternoon, both were made by my doorman.
Hey JOe – What is CB good at? How did that special “10% off sale” go? Did you give them 10% off your commission?
The almighty, graceful JZ bestows upon us commoners, “That effort alone makes it much more than a “gimmick.” $100K off a $1M property is a helluva “gimmick” if that’s all it is.”
LMAO. The “gimmick” was the $1M price.
Will the shills ever admit that the problem was the run-up in prices, and not the inevitable correction?
JZ declares, “CB put a great deal of effort into convincing sellers of the need for this.” Then why don’t they cancel the listings of those who didn’t participate? Or did I miss that? Who listed at the higher prices to begin with?
There was so much BS with this campaign. I am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that Joe Zekas was involved with it (in CA and Chicago, as he claimed above.)
IB and the SHill both bring up something interesting. If this was a sale by CB, shouldn’t they have discounted their products and services, and not their clients’?
It was a scam. CB tells their clients where to list their properties. Obviously they did not do a very good job. Any chance that property will sell after they return the price to the original beofre the sale? What a joke!
There is a psychological aspect that works for CB way beyond the gimmick. Did they really expect immediate sales or did they know that group psychology makes it easier for them to get previously hesitant individuals listing with them to lower their offering now that the individual acts with a group. Then going forward they got that person to accept a lower benchmark. Necessary I think but CB gave up nothing. It was between no sales and sales at lower prices. No brainier. I can see it in a meeting now.
“If we can only get these idiots to lower their price we can get some sales done”
“Ok, apply group psychology”
Very smart actually.
Joe: The whole point of the post is that the “sale” really isn’t a 10-day sale. Many of the properties were marked down weeks (or months) ago. So they’ve been on “sale” for quite some time now.
I’m waiting to see how many of these sellers actually raise their prices on Monday (now that the sale is over.) I’m betting many do not. But we’ll see.
I also think it’s interesting that you said it was difficult to get the sellers to lower at all.
But isn’t that true of every real estate downturn? Sellers are always slow to face the reality of a different kind of market. And isn’t that why we’ve seen sales fall off a cliff?
There’s a disconnect between buyers and sellers now.
IB, I hear you but it still amounts to a plan to chase the market down. Yes, that should work.
Unless the idiots you refer to in the quote below are the CB brokers at the time of listing?
“If we can only get these idiots to lower their price we can get some sales done.”
““10-Day Sales Event” – during which participating home sellers from across the United States will reduce the listing prices of their homes by up to 10 percent.”
Well, JZ? Do you want us to believe that “during which…will reduce…up to 10 percent” includes those that Sabrina noted? How many of the other “1500” participants were falsely claimed? Or, is your point that 0pct is a reduction?
I was commenting on how realtors view their prey (i mean clients)
It seems I’ve provoked a frenzy of bizarre mischaracterizations of my site and the positions I’ve expressed both here and there.
Not a single person has addressed the substantive points I’ve made here.
Sabrina – whoever s/he is – blatantly misrepresented the terms and scope of the sale. Three is not 1,500. Up to 10 percent is not 10 percent. Agents asked their sellers to adjust their prices to market – in some cases that adjustment was less than 10 percent, and the sale contemplated exactly that.
The significant effort CB put into this sale – and it was a sale, not a “gimmick” – was directly responsive to what you folks have been claiming you want. It’s up to anyone attacking the integrity of that effort to come up with more solid facts. Two or 3 out of 1,500 just doesn’t cut it.
Anyone care to address the substance?
“Agents asked their sellers to adjust their prices to market” and in many cases it should have been more than 10%….
Significant effort? Maybe they should charge 7% for all that hard work.
Cell A1 * Cell B1 = Cell C1
Teaching a realtor to use excel. Priceless!!!
JZ,
Look, nobody here is buying your BS, and they’re definitely not buying overpriced real estate.
I am beginning to wonder if you really are smarter than all of us yahoos combined if you can’t even understand these simple facts.
Well… how many of the listings sold during the “sale period”?
G,
Address my substantive points. Is it fair or accurate to characterize the CB sale as “mostly another marketing gimmick” based on isolating 2 or 3 of 1,500 participants?
Is it fair or accurate to say, as Sabrina did, that the sale was “supposed to have properties reduced by 10%” when that is not what CB represented the sale to be?
Does it make sense to assail CB for coordinating a large number of price reductions when that’s exactly what this group has been clamoring for?
I may not be smarter than some of the people here, but I am smart enough to understand the simple fact that some of the people here don’t want to hear simple facts and prefer to call BS on any facts they disagree with.
JZ – CB marketed this to their clients as a reduction of 10% from their current price. I know 5 people who were asked to participate by dropping their current price by 10%. All 5 declined! 2 of he listings actually cancelled as they lost confidence in their agents knowledge of the market.
Steve,
CB marketed this – openly and publicly – as a reduction, up to 10%, necessary to bring the price to market. In some cases that was less than 10%. The 5 people you know, of the 1,500 participants, don’t exhaust the universe and don’t contradict what I’ve said.
Do I recall correctly that you’re a real estate agent?
Yes, I am! It is safe to say you have received extremely low reviews on this marketing. I have heard rumblings from across the industry that it was quite pathetic. Just passing on what I have heard.
We’re merely an ad production shop, Steve, and have nothing to do with the marketing and no say over the content.
Some people might want to wait until after the sale is over – the 19th, tomorrow – before passing judgment on its success or failure.
What state are you licensed in? I can’t find anyone with the name of Steve Heitman who holds either a broker or salesperson license in the Illinois database?
I don’t advertise for clients here and feel no reason to disclose my name on a message board. I speak honestly and tell people to avoid certain areas of real estate (new construction, conversions, high rises, ect).
Sabrina,
Just noticed your comment.
You say that “Many of the properties were marked down weeks (or months) ago. Until you back up that statement, one can only fairly assume that you’re making it up after the fact to defend your indefensible characterization of this event.
The sale isn’t over yet. It will be, soon.
You find it interesting that I “said it was difficult to get the sellers to lower at all.” I said no such thing. I simply said that CB put a great deal of effort into this sale.
Your broad generalizations about how buyers and sellers behave in a changing market doesn’t address my substantive criticisms of your post. You mis-stated the terms of the sale. Period. And, you’ve mis-stated what I’ve said. You’re on a roll.
Joe your posts make this ad seem even more pathetic then I have heard it was. Your like that creepy guy at the bar sizing up everything in sight….you desperation is clear to all. Sorry your little gimmick was exposed and fell short of its goal. Good luck though.
Joe avoiding extrapolating subsets to the universe on your substantive points you are technically correct. Makes no difference though. CB made no sacrifice of their own and lowering prices is in their best interest, which is all one should expect. If i were a client i would prefer being treated as an individual with my property being seen for its individual aspects whether or not that meant 5 – 10 -20%, being grouped as “all clients” and being treated as a universe would actually bother me. This was doing something that was best for CB only. The market is already lower than the offers existing or they would have traded already.
Oh and back to the psychological tricks. Amazing to me but “up to X% off” to my wife always seems to come out of her mouth as “Oh, X percent off” Every freakin time!!!
JZ,
I bow before you then stand corrected. Sabrina was incorrect to include “Mostly Another Marketing Gimmick”
in the title of this post.
I would suggest that she drop the “mostly” to make it right.
I haven’t “clamored” for a price reduction from anyone. I have repeatedly noted that price dops are inevitable regardless of what any agent or seller does.
You sure don’t seem to want anyone generalizing about CB’s gimmick (or you or Yo for that matter,) so why do you do it to the posters here?
gimmick
gim·mick [gim-ik]
–noun
1.an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.
2.a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal: An offer that good must have a gimmick in it somewhere.
3.a hidden mechanical device by which a magician works a trick or a gambler controls a game of chance.
4.ElectronicsInformal. a capacitor formed by intertwining two insulated wires.–verb (used with object)
5.to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, esp. in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc. (often fol. by up): to gimmick up a sports car with chrome and racing stripes. –verb (used without object)
6.to resort to gimmickry, esp. habitually.
[Origin: 1925–30, Americanism; orig. uncert.]
That was from dictionary.com
G,
I applaud your fair-mindedness on the issue of “mostly.”
Gimmick, as you noted, has some highly charged and negative connotations. “Sabrina” hasn’t supplied facts to justify the use of the word, and hasn’t waited to assess the sale’s results to see whether it proved to be more than a gimmick in the positive sense.
No one should lose sight of the larger question here. The cloak of anonymity alone calls Sabrina’s motives and credibility into seriuos question.
For all anyone here knows “Sabrina” may have been employed by a CB competitor to bash CB. My identity and motives at least are transparent.
JZ,
Thanks for your concern.
I don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight with the suggestion of such nefarious motives haunting my rainbow and puppy-filled dreams.
For all we know, Joe Zekas is paid under the table by developers to feature their developments on his site, to remove all negative posts, and to keep things generally positive within the bounds of realism.
Not that I believe that, but hey if I throw it out there maybe I’ll discredit his site and accomplish my goal of having Yo Chicago shut down.
To be fair – YoChicago has been listing more negative discussions/articles on its site recently.
Oh – just wondering how long you think it will take until sellers in areas like LP/North Shore realize that with the recent crash, a lot of wealth (that people could have used for downpayments) has evaporated? And price their homes more realistically?
Investor,
As anyone can see at our site, we are sometimes paid on the tahle for what we clearly identify as Sponsored Posts.
Anyone who thinks I’m being paid to remove negative comments has to conclude I’m completely incompetent: there are thousands of negative comments about projects on our site. I frequently caution people to be suspicious of the motives of anonymous commenters and have, on occasion, called out commenters who bash a project and whose IP address traces to a competitor.
I truly could care less whether this site disappears or prospers. But I do believe, very passionately, that trashnig legitimate businesses anonymously and unfairly, and encouraging others to do so, is a dirty, dirty business. Anyone who allows that to happen should have the plain decency to state who they are and what their motives are.
“What state are you licensed in? I can’t find anyone with the name of Steve Heitman who holds either a broker or salesperson license in the Illinois database?”
One must use one’s spidey senses! Or maybe just Google? How about this is a guy named “Steve” who works at one of the RE firms named “Heitman”?
In the online yellow pages, we find: Heitman Properties on Monroe, Heitman Properties on Wacker, even Heitman Building Services on LaSalle…
am I getting warm?
Joe Zekas,
It seems you missed the point of my post. I don’t believe a word of what I suggested about you and your site. I was merely showing how throwing around suggestions as to someone’s motivation with absolutely no proof whatsoever (as you did) is wrong.
Nah I doubt Steve H here is the same as the Stephen from Heitman. That Stephen is an investment banker MD who deals mostly in commercial real estate. The Steve on here has never demonstrated he knows anything about commercial real estate.
Steve’s identity on here will remain a mystery as everyone elses is.
Investor,
You’re right – I did miss your point.
And perhaps you’ve missed some of the facts (not proof, just facts) I’ve previously mentioned here that provide a solid basis for questioning Sabrina’s claim that s/he just does this for the love of it.
I put my credibility on the line by putting my name on everything I write wherever I write it. If you don’t do that you have to stand solely on the authority of what you write. When the authority isn’t there, and there’s a patent unfairness to what someone has said, coupled with a disregard (at best) for plain facts, no proof is required to question an anonymous author’s motivation. It’s automatically suspect.
Joe Zekas,
I can’t speak for others, but by nature I take anything I read off of blogs with suspicion. From my occasional reading of this blog, it doesn’t seem that anyone takes what Sabrina says at face value, but often argue with her. I’ve seen it mentioned that she’ll take a few samples and extrapolate it to the whole market without warrant. And I’d agree it’s true at times, although that doesn’t mean she isn’t right – she just hasn’t provided the data needed.
That said, I think saying “For all anyone here knows “Sabrina” may have been employed by a CB competitor to bash CB” is counterproductive.
While you’re right that anonymous bloggers should be read with more suspicion than someone who signs their name, I don’t think it’s right to start suggesting devious motivations with no proof whatsoever to try to further undermine their credibility.
Investor,
Extrapolating from a few data points to conclusions about the market is one thing, and harmless. Doing the same thing as the base for a direct attack on a business, and doing so anonymously, is quite a different thing.
Sabrina’s posts appear predictably, usually 3 times a day, on a predictable timetable, Monday through Friday, holidays excepted. That’s generally – not always – an indication of someone who’s doing a job, not doing something for the love of it. And, the timing of the posts is an indication that whoever is behind this blog is attuned to maximizing revenue from Google AdSense.
“Sabrina” knows his / her audience well. S/he had to knew this post would provoke CB-bashing. S/he (carelessly or deliberately) misstated facts in a way that accelerated the bashing and has done nothing to correct them. I’m an old-school type who thinks you undertake a responsibility when you publish something and that part of that responsibility includes acknowledging your mistakes. That’s one of the ways to earn credibility, which is not an entitlement.
Is any of that “proof” of anything. You’re correct that it’s not. Am I setting out to undermine Sabrina’s credibility? No – I’m saying that s/he hasn’t any. If everyone approached blogs as you do, it wouldn’t be necessary for me to say that.
Joe Zekas,
It seems you take two issues with Sabrina’s post here:
1. She extrapolated from 2 or 3 data points and generalized to “most”. I’d agree, she didn’t give enough data points and perhaps hastily drew a conclusion.
2. She misrepresented CB’s discount as 10% when it was supposed to be “up to 10%”.
On 2 I don’t believe she was doing this intentionally. I too was under the impression it was 10% across the board. And I’m not the only one. Doing a quick google search:
http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/news/1212537,HOF-News-coldwell10.article
Realtor chops 10 percent for 10-day sale
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810070334
Local business report: Coldwell Banker lowers home prices 10 percent
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/11/coldwell-banker-hopes-10-price-cut-spurs-home/
Coldwell Banker hopes 10% price cut spurs home sales
And there are too many other examples to list.
Perhaps when we hear “up to 10% off” we just hear the “10% off”. But, to be fair, when you do a 10 day-10% advertising slogan, people just assume 10% off for 10 days, not up to 10% off.
You are right she should retract, but let’s refrain from suggesting devious motivations.
Wow- here we go again.
I stand by my statement that it’s a marketing gimmick. That’s all it is.
Why doesn’t CWB just say outright that many of these properties have been “reduced” for months and that this isn’t a “sale” by any stretch of the imagination? It’s simply a marketing ploy (which is working- if for nothing more than we’re talking about it here today.)
Don’t know how many properties went under contract in Chicago that were on that list in the last 10 days (that already weren’t under contract when the sale began- as some already were)- but Coldwell Banker should really let us all know. I’d gladly post on that information.
Crib Chatter is a “job” and not something I simply love doing? Ha! Don’t even make me laugh. I do it for fun Joe. Imagine that.
How about you?
Joe,
Itjs hilarious that you think you put your credibility on the line. You don’t have any credibility. Don’t delude yourself.
Secondly, the CB bashing is deep rooted and stems from more than than the 10% gimmick. It comes from the last 10 years of NAR and realtor BS that fueled the boom. Thirdly and lastly, alleged mischaracterizations and misrepresentations are present on internet. Try reading a political blog once in a while. The nonsense, BS and outright lies that are disseminated about the presidential candidates is shameful. Especially the lies and nonsense that people post about Palin. She’s gotten an unfair and undeserved beating, and not just on the blogs, but in the mainstream media too.
Sabrina,
You stand by your position. I stand by mine. Case closed.
whowhatwhenwherewhy – Palin? Come on already! She is the worst and I am a republican. Either have her actually express her policies or simply throw her in a bikini. I can’t see a reason to watch her otherwise.