Battle Creek, MI (B.C. Enquirer) - Even though their Battle Creek house has been on the market for a year, Gerry and Cindy Mann are feeling generous.
They want you to buy a $169,000 dollhouse replica of their four-bedroom, two-bathroom home. And to sweeten the deal, they'll throw in the real house for free.
"The Realtors do the normal thing; they put us in the book, they have an open house," Gerry Mann, 60, an assistant superintendent at Battle Creek Public Schools, said. "So 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."
The residents of 221 Bradley St. are perhaps an extreme example of the nation's exasperated home sellers, who in increasing numbers have been thwarted by a weak economy and a fledgling housing market.
Existing home sales numbers released by the National Association of Realtors last week show a glimmer of hope. Residential sales inched up by 3.1 percent in July from the previous month.
Figures in Battle Creek still underscore an uphill battle, though. The number of area home sales are at their lowest level since the recession of 1990-91, according to statistics compiled by the Michigan Association of Realtors.
Foreclosures also have driven the average sale price of a Battle Creek area home down by more than 14 percent in the first half of 2008. This is the largest decline in 20 years of available data, and has sent the average home price down to a level seen almost eight years ago.
So what are a pair of sellers hoping to retire to Brighton to do?
The Manns used the handiwork of 57-year-old Cindy's father, the late Ron Cadwell, as a hook.
Using a 1-foot-to-1-inch scale, Cadwell fashioned an exact replica of the Mann house about 15 years ago for the family's three (now-grown) children to enjoy.
The retired engineer toiled for more than a year on the structure, eschewing dollhouse kits for elbow grease. He cut the wooden swinging closet doors, trimmed the sandpaper shingles and wired the electric fixtures himself.
All in all, the Manns estimate, the dollhouse is worth a couple thousand dollars. Gerry and Cindy are hoping the digs will soften the blow of the $167,000 mark-up.
As consummate salespeople, the Manns would like to point out that the dollhouse is not an exact replica. The spacious pool, the cabana and the large backyard with a garden plot have not been captured by Cadwell's adroit hands.
"I've seen funny signs, like, 'Hey, honey, stop the car,' but I haven't seen anything like this," said Marshall's Matt Davis, president of the Battle Creek Area Association of Realtors' Board of Directors. "I mean, it's a pretty creative idea, and God bless 'em if it works."
The husband-and-wife team is hoping to break through the current glut; to knock down the first domino so that maybe the area's frustrated sellers can obtain at least one more prospective buyer.
"We're anxious to move on with our lives, as I think many people that are in this situation," Cindy Mann said. "We need to think outside the box and look at other ways to attract buyers. We've had a lot of interest in the house, but everybody here has homes to sell, too."
By Ryan Holland, Battle Creek EnquirerIn your voice
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