Bad Industry News Reveals An Interesting Sales Strategy

With increasingly bad economic news citing slower and slower housing starts, growing unemployment rates, falling consumer confidence numbers and fears about another round of bank and finance company defaults, an interesting strategy is being revealed that many competitive and innovative homebuilders and developers may want to consider.

Nancy Keates of The Wall Street Journal recently reported on her experience in building a new home while making some interesting observations that are a result of the woes of the economy in general and homebuilding industry specifically.

While the article begins by playing on buyers’ perceptions that it is currently cheaper to buy an existing home than construct a new one, for those consumers that conclude a home built to their specifications is superior to one that they might settle on based on cost, there hasn’t been a better time to build new than now.

Baby Boomers and Millennials Enticed by Urban Housing Options

An interesting article, first seen in The Wall Street Journal, surfaced over the weekend in our local newspaper, The Chicago Tribune. In it, the author discussed how urban living appeals to two diverse demographics that you might not think about — Baby Boomers and Millennials, that groups of 20somethings born between the late 1970s and mid 1990s.

Each finds condo and townhome living in our nation’s urban centers appealing — the Baby Boomers favor the wide choices of dining and entertainment — as well as the many cultural attractions — while the Millennials, seeking refuge from the suburban sprawl they typically grew up with, find the nightlife and large groups of similarly-minded peers attractive. Both groups, of course, love the public transportation options, typically rail line and bus, though the relative closeness of everything also appeals to those seeking a healthy lifestyle — or at least those who think they do!

Grand Opening: An Idea Who’s Time is Past or Ready for a Change?

Our favorite marketing maven, Seth Godin, had a small post on his blog today slapping the collective wrists of marketers everywhere for their shortsighted tendency to rely on grand openings and other event-based announcements. He correctly states that a lot of time, energy and money tends to get dumped into initiatives that are — by their very definition — short in duration and (most of the time) impact.

Struggling to Close Out Those Last Homes in a Community?

National Public Radio (NPR.org) the other day told the story about a California homebuilder who’s had enough with holding inventory in an ever-stagnating economy and decided to take a rather drastic action — placing their final new construction homes up for auction during a one day sale.

According to Mike Davin, president of CataList Homes, who the builder, Cal Coast Development, worked with to liquidate inventory, 18 of 24 homes offered sold in 38 minutes at an average of 87% of the last list price. Similar strategies have been taken in Portland, Oregon, Scottsdale, Arizona and Omaha, Nebraska. Of note, most builders or agents are claiming that bidding frenzy is bringing them prices close to their desired selling price.

So we gave this tactic some thought — after reading what one might think is yet another doom-and-gloom indicator of the housing bust — and came up with a strategy for you homebuilders and real estate professionals to consider to capitalize on the buzz and excitement that this rather radical decision seems to have created.

Customer Advocates: Something a Brit Different

Smart marketers should look to their best brand advocates for unique promotional opportunities — past customers who have graphic personalities, surprisingly colorful stories and experiences that trumpet the passions of your organization. Here’s one example, well told, Old Chap.

We StumbledUpon an interesting web site the other day, BeABritDifferent.com — an innovative microsite created by Britain’s national tourism agency, VisitBritain. This decidedly subtle site showcases what it’s like to live in — and travel within — Great Britain from the perspective of a handful of its very outspoken citizen advocates.