The Cassie Chronicles

For newcomers to Tasty Sauce, The Cassie Chronicles are fictional stories narrated by new home sales representative, Cassie Petersen. Here's the latest glimpse into Cassie's world.

The Way It Started

The Bella Vista models first opened on a hot Saturday morning in August of 2005. Opening a model complex is like a Broadway show. Once the date is set, there’s no stopping it. The scenery must be in place, the actors in costume and ready to emote. The show must go on as advertised.

The night before we opened, landscapers, designers and construction crews buzzed furiously under floodlights, planting flowers along the walkways, accessorizing rooms, painting, and hammering. In the sales office, Sarah, Judy and I prepared lot files, arranged displays and stuffed brochures with price sheets that hadn’t arrived until 8:30 that night. We were on temporary power, and at nine the generator blew, plunging us into darkness. The ones who were able to work by flashlights and candles kept on working. By ten the electrician fixed the generator and we were all in business again. We worked until midnight, when the project manager said, “That’s it, folks. Bring on the buyers.” We cheered with what little energy we had left, and as the floodlights clicked off, we made our way to our cars and headed home to get a few hours of sleep before we had to be back the next morning.

 

 

None of the frenzy leading up to the model grand opening was new to me. It’s always a whirlwind of last minute activity no matter how well you’ve planned. But even though the previous few years had seen a growing demand for new homes, I was unprepared for the frenzy of buyers who descended upon us Saturday morning.

Our PR releases touted ocean views and breezes, but on that opening weekend all you could see or feel was the crush of people wanting to get in on the ground floor and make a bundle of money in real estate. Over a thousand people coursed through the models that weekend. When we closed on Sunday night, Sarah, Judy and I fell into a heap on the sales office floor, exhausted, but thrilled. It looked like we had a success on our hands. Looks can be deceiving.

 

 

By the time Bella Vista opened, everyone – and I mean everyone - was jumping on the bandwagon, desperate to play the real estate game. The ultimate goal was to buy in Phase 1. As each subsequent phase was released, the prices would go up. Phase 1 buyers would be sitting pretty, making tens of thousands of dollars in appreciation before their houses were even built.

The key was getting on the priority list, and not only getting on the list but being on top, having first choice. When you had first choice, you could buy the best lot at the best price. Competition was fierce.

In the old days priority was on a first come first served basis, and people camped out before a phase release. As the market heated up and people’s emotions hit a fever pitch, campouts became unwieldy, confrontational and dangerous. More than once I found myself in between two angry buyers trying to break up a fight over who was ahead in line. I’m a sales professional, not a referee, so I was relieved when we finally went digital to let the computer sort it all out.

Here’s how it worked. The Monday following a grand opening weekend the website would go live and people could submit an online pre-qualification form. The ones who were quick on the computer ended up at the top of the list. People hired computer nerds to get them onto the website first. People devised systems to fill in the forms at warp speed. People cheated, lied, cried and connived to get higher on the list.

So, at noon on Monday we braced for the onslaught of calls and sob stories as the site went live. Immediately the phone began to ring as people jockeyed for position on the list. People called to confirm that their forms had been received. Panicked seniors couldn’t access the site and begged us to accept a paper application instead. People called to find out what number they were on the list, then yelled at us and threatened lawsuits when we couldn’t tell them yet.

At 2:05 the site crashed - overloaded, with over 300 names already on the list for an initial release of ten homes. That’s when I should have known the worm was starting to turn. Like our website, the whole system was overloaded and something had to give. But no one recognized it. We were all – buyers, builders, lenders - caught up in the excitement of a boom market that was putting money in everyone’s pockets. We just didn’t notice there were big holes in the pockets.