I went from camping in a tent, to a 19 foot trailer, to a 28 foot trailer and then to the ultimate in grandeur (ok, ok....grandeur might be a bit of an exaggeration)....a 34 foot RV which is old,rickety and pre-dented. I've always said, though, that I really missed camping in a tent. Ummmmm....
Fast forward to the end of April in BC. My brother - Rusty Lugnuts - and his wife - LouLou Lugnuts - decided rather suddenly that it was time to downsize from a home to a condo. Now, normally, you would expect that the buyer (the Lugnuts) would go to the seller (Yorkside) and say that they wanted to buy a condo. At that point, they would look over the models, pick a suite, pay a deposit and exit happily on their way to Dairy Queen for a sundae in celebration. You would be wrong!
Yorkside told people that they would open pre-sales on May 7th but, before that date, anyone interested in buying had to line up outside the sales office for pre-buying pre-sale pre-sales. You got it - anyone interested in even potentially buying a suite had to line up 24/7 outside the sales office, get a number (the Lugnuts got #30) and wait for 10 days for the real pre-sales to open up.
Now anyone with half a brain - or at least a bit of common sense - could see the stupidity of this plan. Or maybe the brilliance - after all, it generated a lot of publicity and even TV and newspaper articles. To be fair, the TV and newspaper articles intimated that it was a ridiculous way to sell condos, but still.... On top of that, the developers chose to feed all of us dinner AND give us $100 in gift certificates every single night - all while saying that they couldn't understand why so many people would line up for pre-sale pre-sales.
And so it happened that I wound up outside the pre-sales office, prepared to camp out for the cause. The first night I brought my air mattress and 2 thin afghans..... I'd forgotten that 99% of my blankets were in the RV, in Ontario. Lucky for me, the temps were reasonably mild and it wasn't raining, for a change. So, for the first time in my life, I slept outside with a bunch of strangers, a bunch of dogs, and several porta-potties on a busy street in Langley. The next night, we got a tent which, at that point, looked like the height of luxury.
Although it was a stupid way to sell condos, the truth is that it was a lot of fun. And, you know what, I still miss camping in a tent. But, just in case, I'll keep the RV handy.
The best part is that the Lugnut family got the suite they wanted and will be moving in to their new condo in about a year! Yay!
Yorkside told people that they would open pre-sales on May 7th but, before that date, anyone interested in buying had to line up outside the sales office for pre-buying pre-sale pre-sales. You got it - anyone interested in even potentially buying a suite had to line up 24/7 outside the sales office, get a number (the Lugnuts got #30) and wait for 10 days for the real pre-sales to open up.
Now anyone with half a brain - or at least a bit of common sense - could see the stupidity of this plan. Or maybe the brilliance - after all, it generated a lot of publicity and even TV and newspaper articles. To be fair, the TV and newspaper articles intimated that it was a ridiculous way to sell condos, but still.... On top of that, the developers chose to feed all of us dinner AND give us $100 in gift certificates every single night - all while saying that they couldn't understand why so many people would line up for pre-sale pre-sales.
Although it was a stupid way to sell condos, the truth is that it was a lot of fun. And, you know what, I still miss camping in a tent. But, just in case, I'll keep the RV handy.
The best part is that the Lugnut family got the suite they wanted and will be moving in to their new condo in about a year! Yay!
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