Last week I promised that I would talk about creating an effective project marketing budget. I would like to save that for a later post, and instead tell you about an exciting new initiative MAC has undertaken – MAC BULK.

The MAC BULK concept (www.macbulk.com) was first created in response to a client’s (in this case Onni Development Group) need to “liquidate” a large standing inventory of condominiums. The first MAC BULK effort generated fantastic results – selling almost all of the 400 inventory condos in just eight weeks. It launched in the midst of a “frozen market” and is now recognized as a major catalyst for the much improved market activity we are currently experiencing.

Onni must be credited for the bold and decisive action that they strategically determined would be the best solution given the market conditions at that time. In January 2009, Onni was in a very unique position of having almost 400 standing inventory condominiums spread across seven projects throughout the Greater Vancouver area. Onni is a strong, prolific and well diversified organization and they simply evaluated their marketing and sales programs and concluded that the MAC BULK liquidation sale was the best business decision. This decisive inventory sale was accurately coined “Vancouver’s Largest Real Estate Liquidation”.

The MAC BULK program allows the developer to create a new “storefront” for large inventories they may hold; a vehicle or mechanism that rationalized the large discounts they were prepared to offer. In the case of the Onni initiative, a “liquidation world” was essentially created where Onni could showcase all their prime real estate via a single source. The massive effort included a large advertising investment (the bold yellow ads were everywhere!), a central call-centre staffed by a knowledgeable “MAC BULK Liquidation Team”, and individual project specialist teams that worked from their respective project sites . In total, some 40-50 people were involved on a full-time basis. They were needed, as over 7000 new prospects were generated during the eight week program.

At the start of the MAC BULK Onni Liquidation Program, the market seemed adrift at even determining the fair market price for a condo. The MAC BULK program established a price level – it set a market price, one where the consumer was prepared to get off the fence and engage in buying a home.

Now, MAC BULK is getting ready to launch the next wave of “liquidated” inventory to the public. This invenotory will be made up of inventory from leading Canadian developers. Much like our previous effort with Onni, this new liquidation will offer incredible deals on beautiful homes located around the Vancouver lower mainland. Once again the opportunity to buy (and sell) is strongly presenting itself. Get ready.

Happy Selling!

Cameron McNeill