Times are changing in real estate.

Properties are not selling like they used to along the Emerald Coast of Florida. Sales within a few hours or a few days are now a rarity.

Suddenly, it seems, prices are too high.

In the first six months of 2022, in the communities of Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Niceville, and Fort Walton Beach, there were about 550 price reductions of properties for sale, including houses, condos, townhomes, and lots. In the second half of 2022, from July 1 to December 31, there were over 1100 price reductions. That’s double.

Fear.

Fear has crept in. Real estate agents, many of whom entered the field recently, aren’t used to working in a normal market. They have never seen a market downturn. They have never asked for a price reduction. They never needed one. After all, if the average days on market is one week, and most listings sold above asking price, where would the skill of pricing be required?

And the past few years haven given rise to much fluffery in the language of marketing. Somehow, words like “luxury”, “prominent”, “unrivaled”, and “superlative” were attributed to almost any listing priced above $500,000. (That’s a fairly common thing along the Emerald Coast.) So, what were agents to do to save from the dreaded use of a pedestrian term when, horrors, a price must actually be “cut”?

Price Improvement.

That’s when the term “price improvement” was introduced.

The three syllable euphemism for… PRICE CUT!

“Price improvement” sounds so grand. It sounds as if the property itself had been improved. As if there were fear of tainting the offering if the truth were told. But truth be told… The price was cut! It was reduced! It was lowered! It wasn’t really “improved”. There is no shame in that. It’s a perfectly normal thing to do when a property doesn’t sell in a reasonable amount of time. (It’s been done for eons, in real estate, and in all sorts of other industries.)

(Just an aside, “price” itself is not the subject of value hypothetically being “improved”. A “price” cannot be improved. How could it, by putting it in bold font?)

Let’s be direct. Enough with the flowery hyperbole. Tell it like it is. The consumer may actually appreciate it.

The post The Euphemistic Price Improvement first appeared on Rulnick Realty.

I recently sent out a mailing to about 40 homeowners in Destin Florida.  One method of securing new listings is to contact owners by mail to see if they may be interested in selling. It may sound old-school, but a variety of marketing is helpful to stand out in this overloaded age of internet. Anyway, to make my letters attract more attention, I thought it would be “sweet” to insert a small chocolate bar into each one.  You know those pint-sized Hershey’s bars? I normally have a big bowl of them on the reception desk at my office, so this brilliant idea just popped into my head as I was walking by.  Brilliant until…

I got the mean letter a week letter.  Apparently, the post office doesn’t treat kindly small non-flat objects placed into letter-sized envelopes!  The letter I received was from one of the Destin owners to whom I sent a candy bar. Apparently, she had to pay for it! There was postage due of $2.41 and she inserted the notice into the letter to me with a note stating she wasn’t interested in selling and it had been “expensive” to receive my letter. Of course, I felt horrible.  I was mortified that my small gesture of goodwill had back-fired.  Since she had taken the time to send me this letter, I wondered how many others also got a “postage due” notice and were silently swearing at me as they traveled back from the post office, chomping on the little chocolate bar that cost them $2.41?  I immediately grabbed a fiver out of my pocketbook and scrawled a hand-written note apologizing profusely for my screw-up and sent it off.

Aghast, panicky, I didn’t know how to make amends to the other potential recipients of “postage due” mailings from me. So, here I go with another brilliant idea! I ordered 40 Starbucks gift cards of $5 value each and am going to mail one to each of the previous recipients. I am hoping this will make up for my idiotic hair-brained idea of mailing chocolates in a regular envelope!

By the way, if you received a “postage-due” letter from me, give me a call! I’ve got a Starbucks coffee for you on the house!

It’s Wendy… It’s Sold!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, Rulnick Realty, Inc.
Call 850-650-7883 ext 204
Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, has been featured in “Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine” and “Florida Realtor Magazine”.  Wendy Rulnick sells real estate in Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, 30A, Miramar Beach, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre.

The post OOPS! Postage Due! first appeared on Rulnick Realty.