Champagne and...Cheesy Poofs??

Not exactly what you would expect. And managing expectations is critical in business, so never create a narrative you don't have the budget to execute well.
Why? Because brain chemistry can be a double-edged sword...

Psychologically speaking, when our expectations are not met, we experience disappointment. Disappointment fuels anger and frustration. Now factor in the negativity bias, where our brains have been hardwired through evolution to focus on the negative, and things just got harder.

When the narrative our marketing messages promise isn't reflected in the built environment or experienced on the property tour - people are disappointed. Those most frustrated with their experience turn to social media, poisoning a whole new crop of potential prospects. So now we have to increase that reputation management budget and maybe even start modeling bigger concessions than we planned. At the end of the day – if you disappoint your target audience enough, you could end up having to lower effective rents to put heads in beds, but that won't put profits in pockets.

You guessed it, it's still all about the money. So the goal is to always stay grounded in the realities of real estate development and be very mindful of creating a narrative that is realistic, relevant AND can be executed within budget. If you miss this simple fact, it can cost you.

It might not be caviar, but it is food for thought.