The Rushmore: Over $20M in Sales in Eight Weeks

funny. There is a long thread on SE about soemone at the Rushmore looking to walk away from their deposit unless they get a discount. Looks like they lost! Fools.

Seems to be a lot of folks following through with their 2007 commitments at $1500/sqft plus...

If by "a lot" you mean 14 closings out of 289 apts which started selling at the peak of the market in 2006. Yea, a crap load.

Seems like a P.R. move. Developers are notorious for exaggerating sales claims. But 2.5 million dollars in closings on a per week basis(I'll approximate...Seems to suggest 1 unit per week); It might be possible. In the good old days developers sold triple that.

A quick ACRIS search will show there has not been a closing for some time. Wonder how they define sales?

so does that mean 275 weeks to go?

Never really understood why developers brag about sales. Either tells buyers they'll have no bargaining power, creates a ploy that they are joining an elite group, starts a false sense of urgency, or generates assurance to previous buyers. Really, what is the point of the information?

why does anyone brag? makes them feel good and sometimes fools others. might have been an effective tool to keep raising $$$ for subsequent projects.

To me the add is pretty contemptuous. I mean how many people do they actually expect to read this and say "HOLY CRAP we better get over there and put down our deposit before they're all gone.."

As a buyer I look for a seller with poor pricing power. Seems counter-intuitive. The more I think about it the purpose is more likely to assuage the concerns of previous buyers.

seems very clear to me....somebody there says to somebody else; "hey, you better do something...we're getting killed here." somebody else doesn't say "hey, the hell with it, whatever we do, we're screwed." they say "hey, i've got a great idea...lets do a spread in the times..." and that somebody gets to keep his/her job for a little longer. buys a little time with the lenders too---"hey, we just did a spread in the times...watch the action pick up."

riversider, i think you nailed it. they want to spread confidence so that those who remain in contract don't rabbit.

http://www.thereddragonhood.com/images/rabbit.jpg

A.R. I hope you found that funny, cause I sure did. That rabbit cracks me up.

so serious, so alert, so wating to jump. yes, that's one funny rabbit. we had a big fat saucy one in our backyard upstate this morning. looked as happy as could be. wasn't thinking about real estate.

We ought to ask the other Rushmore thread how the add has sweetened that bitter taste in their mouths. Any guesses?

The only thing being accomplished by Extell's 6 full page adds touting fantom sales figures from 2 year old contracts is the exact polar opposite of their intention. Its brings added focus (such as this) to these troubled developments, and rubs salt in the wound of those who are weighing the cost of walking on big deposits.

When I quickly add up the sales listed in SE until mid last month, the total is about 14.5 million. That means that in the last 3-4 weeks, they only closed about 5.5 million. Not impressive. While to the uneducated reader 20 million sounds like alot, to someone who understands RE development, this is peanuts especially knowing that this building with 280 some odd units, at sell out was probably projected to be somewhere like 500 million.

spinnaker1, you're right, of course. there's nothing like the sweet smell of desperation in the morning to make many buyers more doubtful. human nature being what it is, there are probably close to half of the people who would use it to reassure themselves. it will have a polarizing effect, and may very well backfire when those people who felt appeased by those representations realize they were duped and decide to be vocal in the future. this development has a long road ahead of it.

Of course, it's fairly typical for a developer to tout the sales achievements for the reasons I previously mentioned. 40% sold , 50% sold over 70% sold. This is nothing new and should be viewed that way.

But this isn't even 5%...(289/14). Amortize the 14 sales in 3 years over 289 units:

Final unit will close in 3019. Apes rule the planet, so I am not sure what the overall effect will be on the maintenence and taxes. Or maybe Will Smith is the lone occupant (Omega Towers?)

Past performance is no guarantee of future results

and the Extell spending continues unabated...

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/20/2009-05-20_finance_woe_cant_keep_tower_down.html

I would think this is the interest of NYC, helping us maitain our position in the diamond trade.

another article; read the LAST SENTENCE (SENTANCE?)

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05192009/business/47th_st__diamond_in_the_rough_169988.htm

ok. maybe the market isn't so hot when the newest condo is well 1/2 a condo

http://afinecompany.blogspot.com/2009/05/extells-alydyn-soars-like-its-boom-time.html

For clarity -- Extell sales office said they were describing new sales (options) contracts, not closings. They closed on 14-17 units so far. They have temp c of o for the base -- not any of two towers, which will not be ready for another couple of months.

On my last two apartments, sponsor closed on 3 apartments per week, maybe more. I had to share a conference room table with another group back in 2000. 14-17 ? And we know developers tend to exaggerate a bit....