July 1, 2008

SF and World Wide: Most Recent, and Most Insane, Sales Incentives

                                            

Sign of the times #1 : The Internet has changed how real estate is bought and sold.

Sign of the times #2: Slumping sales mean sellers sometimes have to sweeten the pot. Not wanting to reduce prices, said sellers might throw in a mo-ped, no interest for the first five years, or free parking. Such incentives are pretty common now in SF, particularly with condos, since we’ve a glut of pricey pads without the reciprocal glut of buyers. For instance, The Heritage bulding on Fillmore is offering free tickets to Yoshi’s, among other incentives. The Cove at Candlestick Point is offering cash payback which you can use to pay down your HOA or closing costs.

But now the Internet, with its complete array users (spanning the full, rich, and frankly comical spectrum of humanity) has brought seller incentives to a new level. Whether this level represents a high or a low, I leave it to you to decide.

My first sad example comes from Australia, where MSNBC reports “Guy auctions off life, selling price disappoints.” Indeed, not satisfied with just selling his home after his divorce, Ian Usher added several unlikely incentives to the deal, basically auctioning his life off an Ebay. On the block were his ”house and all its contents, car and a motorcycle, a jet ski, skydiving gear, an introduction to friends and a trial period in his sales job.” Sadly, he netted just $382,712 (he claims the house alone is worth more), which seems to lend creedance to one pundant’s insightful question: Dude doesn’t want his life, so why would you?

Back in the US, things are even stranger. A Florida single mother, weary of the dating scene and the sluggish market, is offering herself in marriage to the buyer of her home. Kelli Kennedy of the Associated Press writes:

After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.

“I figured let’s combine the ad because I’m looking for love and I’m looking to sell the house,” said Trabosh, who teeters around the nearly 2,000 square-foot house in patent leather heels.

Will desperate sellers in the Bay Area follow suit, offering up first born children, virginity, award winning pie recipes? Is nothing sacred?

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Photo credit: DandTBargains.com

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