The housing crisis has been like the Super Bowl for sales-gimmick fans. This latest one comes from a Michigan couple struggling to sell their home.
...they decided to use a more creative sales approach: Buy a miniature replica of the home for $169,000 and get the real thing thrown in for free.
"After a year I was thinking, 'I don't know, I have this dollhouse sitting in my basement; let me see if I can do some creative marketing,'" Gerry Mann, 60, told the Battle Creek Enquirer for a story Tuesday....
Cindy Mann's father, the late Ron Caldwell, fashioned the dollhouse to resemble the home. Using a scale of 1 foot to 1 inch, he built the model about 15 years ago for the couple's three now-grown children to enjoy.
The retired engineer toiled for more than a year. He cut the wooden swinging closet doors, trimmed the sandpaper shingles and wired the electric fixtures himself.
The Manns estimate the dollhouse is worth a couple thousand dollars. They are hoping the addition of their digs will ease the pain of the $167,000 markup.
of @ Sep 11, 2008 12:35:03 PM