2.0 DEVELOPING A NEW HOME TEAM
2.1
PROFFESIONAL REALTORS AT YOUR SITE
What better sales staff could you ask for than a licensed professional
realtor selling your new homes. A licensed realtor who has experience dealing
with purchasers, financing and knows how to communicate effective with people
who are in the market to buy a home. We developed an intense training
schedule that helps the professional Realtor sell new homes and are
supervised by qualified site managers. No Agent is left on their own until
they complete the training schedule. This training schedule is based on 4
areas:
1) BUILDERS PRODUCT & PRICING
2) DATABASE MANAGEMENT & MARKETING
3) UPGRADES Vs STANDARD FEATURES
4) OFFER TRAINING AND FORM PREPARATION
Once a Trained Realtor completes the mandatory training, he/she is able to be
left alone at the site.
2.2 SITE
SCHEDULES
We believe that having short 2.5 hour shifts at the model home will keep the
Realtor alert and enthusiastic. We, therefore have created a schedule that
consists of 2 - 2.5 hours shifts per day, Monday to Thursday and Saturday to
Sunday. We send the schedules out a month in advance and give the team members
5 days to make any changes, if necessary. Once the schedule is set, the only
way a team member can change a shift is by contacting other team members and
both parties contacting the site managers for approval.
2.3 RULES
& REGS
Before a new Realtor joins our team, an in-depth set of rules and regulations
have to be agreed upon in writing and if this policy is in any way
compromised they will be subjected to suspension on their first and second
offense and asked to leave the team on their third offense.
2.4
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Selling new homes is a continuing learning process. In conjunction with the
web site frequently asked questions and regular team meetings, we believe
that if we learn as a team we can help each other better and in the end sell
more homes.
3.0
PRE-RELEASE PREPARATION
3.1
AREA APPRAISALS AND MARKET RESEARCH
When starting any new home site a Professional Realtor should always know
what the competition is doing. When you plan a new development there are the
following areas to investigate:
- Area house
prices (re-sale & new)
- Urban Study,
which would include Political, Religion, Education, Community Services,
Transit & Entertainment.
- Find out who
is building new homes in the area and who is selling them. Establish prices
on similar homes and what the builder charges for upgrades.
- What vacant
land is still available in the immediate area that my builder is in.
The above research will allow you to gear your marketing
efforts to suit the area that you will be building in. Knowledge of the above
items is a key component to be successful.
3.2 BUILDER
STANDARD FORMS PREPARATION
The days of hand writing offers are over; I believe that a clean typed offer
will benefit the builder and the customer tremendously. With the computer era
upon us I can standardize builders forms through word processing software and
simplify the entry fields so it would be simply a "fill
in-the-blank" process.
We have developed An Agreement of Purchase and Sale that is reviewed by the
Purchaser's Lawyer every time a new home is sold. We have modified this
Agreement on many occasions based on the concerns of these Lawyers
recommendations and in the meantime protecting our builders with important
terms and conditions not being touched. By making every offer conditional
upon the Purchasers lawyer reviewing the terms and conditions herein, we
believe that we have a universal Agreement that can be used for every builder
that we deal with and with this program our offers are coming back with no
changes from lawyers. This is very powerful and we will have a counter on our
websites every time our offer is reviewed by a Lawyer.
All other forms such as color sheets, commission sheets, amendments and
waivers can all be standardized to be printed out quickly and with no real
work to the sales staff.
3.3
WEB SITE DESIGN AND MARKETING
Through out this manual we will touch on important areas of New Home
marketing and Web site design, Marketing is the MOST important area.
Currently, based on recent C.R.E.A. stats 46% of New Home buyers consult the
internet in their search for a new home and by 2005, 72% of potential new
home buyers will use this median to find a new home. History has shown us
that for a new homebuilder to be competitive and successful, he must erect a
model home to allow homebuyers to see his product. This is a very costly
endeavor to the builder and the end result may be new homes being sold but he
will never recoup the costs that are associated with carrying the model or
the cost to erect the new home. We have tremendous success in developing a
web site for one of our builders, which is basically a model home without the
costs that are associated with the bricks & mortar. The theory behind
this great tool is simple! create a Website that shows the customer what a
model home offers plus much more. I have developed a template for the perfect
New Home builders web site and here are the following areas that should be on
the Website.
To view a builders web site that
meets the above criteria please visit Green Haven-Homes This site has been
the model home for the builder prior to the completion of the bricks &
mortar model and all prospective & existing Purchasers use this website.
To give a proper overview on the financial savings here are some interesting
points to mention.
- 1. A properly designed and
maintained web site will save thousands of $$$ in pre-model marketing.
- 2. The builder will save on
advertising; all the Builder will have to do is advertise his .com name,
i.e. YOURNAME.COM
- 3. Most Builders spend $$$ on
brochures and marketing materials. With a properly designed website, you
have now created an interactive brochure that you can give to your
potential customers without any real costs that historically has been
very expensive.
- 4. Your homes will sell
quicker. The customer who eventually enters into your model or office
has been educated and knows what your company offers. Most homebuyers
are ready to purchase at this point.
- 5. Any
effective Website has to be updated on a regular basis, most customers
will come back to your Website time and time again. As you sell each lot
your site must be updated announcing that the lot is sold, this keeps
the purchaser involved in the development.
3.4 SIGNAGE
AND BROCHURE DEVELOPMENT
It is my opinion that the costs to develop FULL color brochures are not
warranted if a well designed website is created showing all floor plans,
renderings, standard features, site plan and all other vital information. For
example, once we had our website up and running, the number of brochures that
we handed out to potential customers decreased dramatically due to the fact
that all the information that the customer wanted and more was on the web.
After the customer visited the website they were impressed that the site was
so user friendly and complete that they could print off what information they
needed.
As for the issue of signage. It is important to have signage leading the
public to the development. It also should be noted that the web address
should be on all signage. The model home will need large rendering of each
house plan displayed in the model.
3.5 M.L.S.
PREPARATION
The major key to this whole marketing plan is to reduce the marketing costs
to the builder so that he can afford to pay commission to the sales staff.
The key area is the ability to sell new homes through the M.L.S. system. As
soon as possible, after the builder has required the land, each lot should be
listed on the M.L.S. system, showing a rendering and a list price. The
benefit of this is to sell out the site quickly and without investing capital
in a model home and marketing costs. This system works great if the builder
is well known and there is product out there to show.
The web site address should be on all listings and also proximate possession
date. Direction to a Virtual Tour should be on the listings to show other
Realtors and the prospective clients what the Builders homes look like.
Another program that I have developed is the After Sale Service Program. A
lot of time and effort is invested by the Listing Broker with the Purchaser,
after the Agreement is negotiated and accepted. Most Selling Brokers will
introduce their clients to the builder, draft the offer then sit back and
wait for the deal to close. Meanwhile the Listing Broker has a lot of work to
do with the client a fee should be warranted. We charge a $500.00 after sales
marketing fee to all selling brokers under our program. I have received no
objections because in most cases the realtors would have lost their clients
to a new home site and not earned anything, so they do mind paying this fee.
This fee comes off their selling commission on closing.
Please keep in mind that when a Purchaser uses his/her own agent, that agent
represents the interests of such purchaser and therefore does not work for
the Builder. In many cases the selling broker will be the voice between the
Purchaser and Builder and be required to draw up documents, arrange
appointments and educate their respective purchaser.
3.6
PURCHASERS MANUAL
One of the key components is the ability to educate the Purchaser. There are
many problems that can be alleviated by delivering important information to
the Purchaser at an early stage. This is done as soon as the offer is
accepted.
A New Home Manual has been developed that can be adapted for any Builder, and
this is given to the Purchaser as soon as the offer is accepted. This manual
clearly outlines and educates the Purchaser from the date of acceptance and
closing. In this manual we identify what is covered and not covered under the
Ontario New Home Warranty Program and time frames for selection of colors and
extras. We also educate them on construction safety and why they should not
enter the constructed premises without permission.
I have learned that very few people truly understand what is covered and not
covered under the ONHWP and if taught early in the process this will
alleviate many problems down the road.
4.0 MODEL HOME
Historically, the best way to sell new homes is through the model home and to
be successful a model home is necessary for now. But, times are changing.
According to a recent poll out of the Canadian Real Estate Association, 57%
of all new homebuyers will consult the Internet when looking for a new home.
We believe, that a "virtual" model is also as important. We can provide
more information, answer more questions and offer a better home buying
experience for Purchasers with a well thought out web solution.
4.1
SET UP AND DESIGN
A bricks & mortar model will help the purchasers make a final decision to
purchase easier if they have been to your "virtual" model first.
There are hundreds of ways to attract visitors to a builder's web site and
especially before they even get in their vehicles and visit a model.
A properly designed model should be laid out so that the visitor cannot enter
the constructed premises or receive any information until they sign in, which
we will discuss later. The Model home should always be well lit and always
clean and visually appealing.
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4.2
DÉCOR CENTRE
Most builders will always upgrade their model homes. They will have upgraded
kitchens. Flooring etc. We believe that if the model home has upgrades that
are above the standard features, a décor center should be available for the
Purchasers to see visually what comes standard. Identifying what is an
upgrade is also very important so that no misrepresentation will happen.
4.3
CHECKLISTS
We have developed a series of checklists for our new home team to use for the
maintenance and smooth operation of a model home. Starting with a checklist
on opening the model and one for closing the model.
4.4
OFFERS AND PRESENTATIONS
By hiring professional Realtors to work for you, you also receive the expert
assistance of a major Real Estate Company in Durham. Re/Max Ability Real Estate Ltd
will protect the builders on many different areas. 1/ All offers will be
reviewed by the site managers then presented to you by the Director of
Marketing and Sales. But it does not stop there. 2/ Dan Goldsmith
the New Home Specialist, reviews all offers personally and makes sure that
you are protected.
4.5
STANDARD FORMS
We have standardized all of your necessary forms. Color sheets, Purchaser
Extras, Quotations, Commission Record Sheets etc, all in digital format so
that you will receive clean ( no hand written documents) forms.
4.6
VISITOR TRACKING AND STATS
As outlined above, all visitors to your model home have to sign in before we
give them access to your model. We ask for their general information, name,
e-mail, phone, address etc, plus ask them to answer some additional questions
to help us serve them better and improve our marketing.
We will provide you weekly, monthly and annual in-depth statistical analysis
of all visitors to your model showing:
- Durham, GTA,
Outside GTA
- How did they
find the model, drive by, advertising, web site etc.
- Have they
been pre-approved for financing?
- Would they
like financing?
- Do they have
a home to sell?
- Would they
like an opinion of value on their home?
This is a powerful tool to have because you can now
analyze your marketing efforts and understand who your buyers are.
5.0 SUMMARY
As you can see by now this program
that we developed is obviously the best way to market and sell new homes. Durhamnewhomebuilders.com
in conjunction with Torontohomebuilders.com
will be the vehicle in which home buyers will flood to your own Corporate
Website. We firmly believe that our program will accomplish many things such
as:
- SELL YOUR
HOMES QUICKER
- SELL YOUR
HOMES AT LESS COST TO THE BUILDER
- TRACK YOUR
VISITORS TO HELP WITH MARKETING
- SAVE ON
MARKETING MATERIALS, ADVERTISING & SIGNAGE
- HIRE 18000
SALES PEOPLE TO SELL YOUR HOMES
- INCENTIVE
PROGRAMS FOR PURCHASERS AND PURCHASER REFERRALS
- STANDARDIZE
FORMS WHICH ARE APPROVED BY 58 LAWYERS (TO DATE)
- REALTORS WHO
ARE SPECIFICALLY TRAINED TO SELL NEW HOMES
- EDUCATE
PURCHASER EARLY TO AVOID PROBLEMS DOWN THE ROAD
The list could go on and on. We
personally guarantee our program. Whether you are building 20 or 200 houses,
we will never hold any of our builders to a contract. If at any time you are
not happy with the service or program and we are unable to rectify the
problem we will give you full releases and let you return to your old way of doing
business.
If you would like to discuss this program in detail or see how we can help
you sell more homes quicker with less cost to you please contact:
