This was an interesting heading I saw on a listing. It said "110% Money Back Guaranteed".  I was like, what's the catch, so I immediately clicked into the link to see what the catch was.

It would be great for all buyers to buy something and if they had to sell or wanted to sell, they could just get 110% back, no questions asked...

Well, as suspected, that's not quite how it works.

"The Company Guarantees your Investment.  Should you decide for any reason to sell your condominium after 5 years, we will buy it back for an unprecedented 110% of the purchase price."

So many things going on in this statement.  The average person moves every 4-5 years.  For the guarantee to work, you must be there at least 5 years, which is on the higher end of the average.  Then, you have to think about appreciation in your area.  Do you really think you won't be able to make 10% in 5 years?  That's less than 2% appreciation each year.

I understand that there are some areas across the country whose values keep going down, but most places are at the bottom and working their way back up.  The above "guarantee" is for a condo in New York.  I thought NY was holding steady if not appreciating at normal pace for NY. I could be wrong...

For a company to give such a guarantee, it's because they know they'll never have to honor it, yet, it sounds good to the uneducated buyer who doesn't realize it's meaningless.  Who is going to go into a purchase with the knowledge their value is going to decrease?  I would think the average person is smarter than that.