Urban Homebuyers See a Silver Lining?
There was a great story over at NPR this week about consumers who work in major cities flocking back to urban areas to take advantage of shorter commutes (and, thus, less gas consumption — something becoming more and more of a factor), closer amenities such as shopping and cultural attractions and more time-efficient living (imagine — no more mowing that acre of grass every week!).
Urban homebuilders must be delighted to see their average home’s selling price staying stable, if not rising (the NPR story mentioned median home prices in the city actually increasing 3.5% compared to a year ago). It would seem the allure of home “bigger and better” on the outskirts of metropolitan areas have lost their charm in the face of $120/barrel oil and $4 a gallon gas.
Homebuilder Bankruptcies: Scaring Buyers, But a Builder’s Opportunity
I must be listening to too much NPR these days — that or their reporting too much on the homebuilding industry’s woes! A recent spot on the radio (listen here and see a summary) hit a bit too hard to home. It was a story that originated here in Chicagoland about some of our larger homebuilders that were going bankrupt or having dire financial problems.
The gist of the story was that buyers of new construction homes were nervous to purchase from some of the larger builders as many were either going out of business or drastically curtailing their business. The story told the tale of one family who drove past their half constructed home, only to hear their newly installed furnace furiously pumping heated air through all of the open windows spaces — the actual windows were never installed!
Welcome to the eHomebuilding Marketing Blog
My name is Jim Tome and I am the author of this marketing-driven blog for smart builder and real estate advertising, marketing and public relations professionals. I have a long, storied background in innovative homebuilder-oriented marketing and web advertising in general and you can look to this blog to present some great insight into what builder marketing should be doing online as well as strategies and tactics to accomplish those goals.
