Just giving the Idaho Statesman my daily read, and I came across an article where Kastera’s Wayne Forrey claimed that you could buy a 3 Bedroom 2 bathroom house in Boise metro for $110,000. Here’s his exact words:

Forrey said Boise remains one of the most affordable places to buy a first home. “Anyone in this room today can buy a brand new three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car attached garage in Boise metro for under $110,000,” he told the audience. After the meeting, he said some builders are now offering homes in places like Caldwell below $110,000.

So . . . prima facie this is a ridiculous statement. But I decided to go out to the MLS and take a look at all these 3 BR 2 BA houses that are available for <$110,000. Since the listings change every day, there’s no use attaching the search string here, but let me tell you, there ‘aint no houses for sale in Boise with those parameters.

My search returned 8 houses for sale in Boise, between $109,000 and $125,000. Only one of those had 3 BR and 2BA, and that house was over Forrey’s $110K.

So there’s two reall oddities here: 1) that Forrey made such a statement, because he didn’t get to his position by not having his faculties, and 2) that builders in Caldwell would react to heresay (or what some Idahoans might call bull****.

Business lesson from your entrepreneurial friends at LGM: Don’t start a firesale on your products without checking “the Internets” first. Business lesson 2: Coke isn’t the same as “cola” anymore than Boise is the same as “Boise Metro.” So don’t try to sell me a bill of goods when there is a clear distinction between brands.