What’s a Sale?

An observant reader has been following sales at Brix and wonders why the number has fluctuated so much. I suspect the number has fluctuated because we (bloggers, marketers and real estate agents) have loosely used the word sales to refer to anything from reservations to closed transactions. Unfortunately not every “sale” actually results in someone moving into a unit.

To eliminate confusion going forward can we all never use the word sales again? My proposal:

Reservations: Interested buyers put money down but it’s refundable.
Signed purchase & sales: Committed buyers put money down. Typically 5%. This doesn’t mean they’ll close and moved in though.
Closed transactions: Sales that have recorded with the county.

Going forward I won’t ask condo sales agents for “sales” numbers. I’ll ask them for above.