Google search “colorful languageâ€. I couldn’t tell you exactly what I expected to find, but the results were far from surprising: Colorful Language – The most innovative K-5 grammar program. I stumbled upon an elementary tutorial on how to say the same thing differently, or in similar words, how to have your child bullied because he speaks smart. Yes, he speaks smart, at a certain point in life we all believed the bigger the word, the smarter we speak, and it’s only logical someone turns a small profit over it.
Maybe someone still believes it?
Either way, here’s the problem: at a later point in your life you realize the big words often have more to say than their dumbed down dictionary definitions.
They might say: I am sensationalized because I lack substance.
They might say: I am intimidating to discourage confrontation.
They might just say: believe me because I speak smart.
And if you’re smart, you’ll instead find yourself looking for whatever that big word is hiding, and in Commercial Real Estate, often it’s value.
Up for a dip in a “Resort-Style Sparkling Swimming Pool and Heated Spa?†Of course you are: because you’re ambiguous and sensually activated. You feel your own body temperature rising at the warmth of the spa, you visualize the sparkling pool reaching out to you. Omitting a careless landlord, ever heard of an unheated spa? Ever seen water refuse to reflect sunlight? Ever seen the definition of Resort-Style?
Again, search Google for the “Resort Style Definitionâ€. Once again, not surprisingly, you’ll find the new definition of resort style living is available in one and two bedroom apartments in San Bernardino. Forget the original definition, it seems the magnificent and gorgeous community of Del Mar is too rich for plain ol’ resort-style living.
Something I learned when I was nine: you can always triple stamp a double stamp.
The purpose of this blog is two-fold: to bring attention to a segment of the Commercial Real Estate market we wouldn’t normally discuss, and to poke a little fun. I think we’ve had our fun, so we’d like to offer our perspective on marketing packages: find the substance if you’re reading, offer substance if you’re writing.
Unfortunately, colorful language is so ingrained in our marketing, if it’s missing, we’re suspicious (why isn’t the pool sparkling?). But I think if you just remember the tricks of language while you’re reading, or while you’re writing, the substance tends to come through. In commercial real estate, value is amplified far beyond what most of us experience in our personal lives, it’s best to root it out.
There’s no denying the value of qualitative analysis, but be sure to always stack it side-by-side quantitative analysis, although the “colorful language†of math is just as real, it’s overcome when you understand the numbers, especially when you understand the assumptions.
Here at REsheets, we hope you’re enjoying a hot August and insist you take every chance possible to dip into a sparkling swimming pool.
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