When You Have this Kind of Money, You Can Afford to be Arrogant

In a shot across the bow to the Clark County Board of Commissioners, WalMart has finalized purchase on a piece of property in Salmon Creek where they intend to put yet another “SuperStore”. Commissioners, in a welcome spurt of common sense, had recently rejected WalMart’s proposed venture for the site.

According to The Columbian, WalMart paid about $6.78 million for the parcel on which they had been previously denied the ability to foist yet another traffic-clogging megamart on an unsuspecting and ill-equipped neighborhood. Almost $7 Mill, for a site in which their proposed store had been declined. That’s some serious coin to throw after a failed deal. Or is it?

That may sound like a lot of money, but if you put it in perspective, it’s nothing more than some loose change on the street to the behemoth corporation.

According to the most recent filing, WalMart did an annualized run-rate of $363.5 Billion in Net Sales (yes, with a “B”). I had to count the zeroes twice to make sure I got it right. Just so you can see the magnitude of it, that’s $363,520,000,000. (Thank goodness I had a big calculator.)

So, in perspective, that purchase is about .000185 of their annual net sales. That’s like the average person, based on average per capita income, spending about .68. (I had to do that math twice, too). Again, just so you can see the magnitude of THAT, that’s about SIXTY-EIGHT CENTS to you and me. Must be nice!

Sounds to me like the county commissioners are in for a tussle. WalMart was willing to toss $7 million at the site – after a denial. How much will they throw at it now that they have a couple of bucks invested into the mix.

That type of corporate arrogance and defiance (let alone the money to fight the will of the people) doesn’t bode well for the community.

Some of you may say, “but Mitch, you’re in the real estate business, you should be happy about that type of money flowing in to property sales.” Yes, I am in the real estate business, but first and foremost I’m in the quality of life business, both for my own family and those of my neighbors and clients. Another megamart at an already over-packed interchange (which is only one freeway exit away from an existing WalMart, by the way) just isn’t a step in the right direction.

Here’s hoping our local commissioners don’t turn tail and run like the recent events that transpired surrounding the WalMart in Woodland. Our Clark County Commissioners found some backbone when they listened to their constituency and stood up to the corporate titan to reject the flawed, unneeded and unwanted development application… let’s hope the weight of all that money being tossed around by WalMart doesn’t ultimately break their backs.

Methinks thou Doth Protest too Much…

Look, I am big fan of the glass-half-full, rose-colored-glasses concept. I appreciate folks at the NAR (National Association of Realtors) are doing spending my ever increasing dues. I applaud the efforts of the local builders and their association who scream (not so subtly) that NOW is the time to buy.

But really, to paraphrase Billy Shake, “methinks thou doth protest too much”.

Sorry, but to the average Jane homebuyer out there, the Association of Realtors and the Builders sitting on loads of inventory are not the greatest, most credible source for, shall we say, unbiased information. They want houses to sell, NOW. And don’t get me wrong, so do I (and Mrs. Broker would like me to sell a house or two, as would baby, who needs a new pair of shoes.)

But you can’t push a string. You can lead a horse to water, but… Well, you know the clichés. And I think you get it. Not sure I can say the same for those with the much deeper ad pockets than me.

Candidly, it may get worse before it gets better. I don’t know for sure. Anyone who tells you they know for sure that NOW IS THE TIME to buy… well, I’d say “run Forrest, run”, away, as fast as you can. I’m not going all negative here, but call me a realist.

I will say, the one thing we know we have little (any?) control over is the future. Are interest rates going up? Will that house you absolutely love still be on the market in six months? My point is, while I don’t think you can make a blanket statement that NOW is the time to buy, if you find the right home, at the right price and you can get the right financing (read: NO teaser rate, negative amortization deals) then sure, it would be the right time to buy. But NOT because someone else told you to.

So despite my words of caution, there are deals out there. But what I am finding is that only the very best deals are getting done. Priced really right, staged right, marketed right, managed right. No room for errors. But I’m all good with that, because that’s how we’ve always done things. We just find we’re now doing more work, for a longer period of time, than we were in the heat of that unhealthy frenzy of 2003-2005.

But fortunately, since we removed those rose colored glasses, we think we can better assist those folks who need straight answers, not just a well-tuned and deep-pocketed marketing message.