Sell the Sales Models As-Is

            Sales model units receive thousands of prospective buyers throughout the course of a large multi-unit project.

            This amount of traffic creates wear-and-tear in these units in a variety of ways. 

            The builder should sell the sales models on an as-is basis.  Most sales models are decorated with wallpaper, wall treatments, optional decorator features, and upgraded flooring.  Sometimes sales models are purchased with all of the furniture.

            For these reasons the sales model prices are often negotiated with the homebuyer.  Like a demonstration automobile with low mileage at a car dealership, the homebuyer must understand that the sales models are slightly used. 

            The builder wants to avoid a purchaser demanding that entire areas of vinyl flooring be replaced in the kitchen, for example, because of a small cigarette burn discovered after move-in and occupancy.

            The builder should not intimate to the buyers that the sales models will be brought up to the standard of quality of the new, untouched by sales traffic, production units.

            For the negotiated sale of a model-unit to have any meaning, the words as-is in the sales agreement must mean as-is. 

            This should be the arms-length understanding, even when the builder engages in some final prep-repair work in converting the models into livable units.