Model Homes that Sell

With the slowdown in housing starts, it’s even more important than ever to keep your model homes in opening day condition. If your homes have been open for awhile, now might be a great time to think about making some changes to update your interiors.

This apartment model had been open for six years, and the owners didn’t think they wanted to make a large investment in replacing the model but wanted to attract a younger, more established client than the models were attracting. The Home Idea Factory went in and by making minimal changes were able to make the model look like it was brand new.

This client was more interested in seeing window treatments that they could afford and wouldn’t be a huge investment. By using ready-made treatments from Country Curtains they were able to see drapes that were readily available and they could purchase and install themselves. Taking out the over sized armoire opened up the living room and hanging a prop television on the wall made the room look on-trend.

Even something like changing out bedding, or towels and rugs in the bath can make a world of difference.

Think you can’t afford to keep your models updated? If you want to continue to attract qualified buyers for your home you can’t afford not to.

A lot of the country may be in a housing slump, but the Western New York area and @home Builders are steadily moving forward. I was fortunate enough to be invited back to work on some homes and apartments, and part of the customer service that I give my clients is re-visiting homes after they have been open for awhile and see if we did reach our target market, and also to see if they are still in opening day shape.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years since The Hammocks at Orchard Park opened and I was anxious to return to see how things looked. Happily everything looked great, and the colors and styles of everything we did were still current and on-trend.

When you know that you are working on a room or home that is going to be open for awhile the best idea is to steer away from trendy colors and styles that will date the design quickly. By tuning into the lifestyles of the potential buyers you shouldn’t have to worry about costly re-designs before you are ready.

I’m in Rochester! It’s finally time to put the items we want for the Ronald McDonald Showhouse on the truck and make some magic happen! I think everyone will be surprised at what we have come up with and how all of it will flow together. I know that some of the volunteers that I worked with today were scratching their heads trying to understand my vision.

Most of my day was spent digging through boxes, containers, and piles of goodies looking for the buried treasure that I knew was there and it was. Wait until you see the aqua typewriter I found in perfect condition! I want to buy the entire study just so I can own that gem.

Making a house or room come together is about being flexible and being willing to step away from an idea if it just isn’t coming together. Today we had to make some tough choices, but I feel that we made the right ones and we are going in the right direction.

Tomorrow is moving day and I finally get to see the items in the house. All of the items will be sold by an online auction that will be up shortly. As soon as I have all of the information I’ll post it here.

It’s hard to believe that Fall is around the corner when the temperature is still in the 90’s, but Fall is a great time to sell houses so it can’t get here soon enough! School has started, and there are lots of holidays coming our way that focus on the home.

Now’s the perfect time to walk-thru your homes and make sure that everything is in it’s place, and if things are missing or damaged replace them. When people are looking for a new home they often times are moving because the home that they are in is showing it’s age and may be looking a bit worn. A model home with dirty carpets, burned out light bulbs and overgrown or dead landscaping is not going to help convince them that your home is the house of their dreams.

Warm colors can really warm up how cozy your model home feels. This can be accomplished by just changing out pillows on your sofas, and it’s amazing how a small change like this can change the way your home feels. Adding seasonal accessories to your homes can make them feel like a home and get the buyer into the mood of buying and being in their new home by the holidays.

Ask your merchandiser about working with you on a seasonal maintenance plan where they will come back in 2 or 4 times a year and help you keep your models opening day fresh.

We have finally been getting some much needed rain which always tempts me to curl up and read a good book.

Anny Ortiz, an on-site agent for KB Homes uses her time much more wisely. A few weeks ago I got this letter from her:

Suzane, this is a short note to tell you how thankful I am from all the learning received during the Lifestyle merchandising, advertising and promotion strategies seminar. I keep applying consistently in my daily work while providing customer services and maintaining our model home attractive to homebuyers interested in affordable homes near Downtown Dallas.  Suzane, please take the time to stop by to see me and to visit my new community, best regards, Anny

She then followed up on our rainy Monday by phone, letting me know how she was using the knowledge she gained from the Institute of Residential Marketing class that I instructed and she attended, and invited me to come and visit her new community. This is a woman who obviously has taken ownership of the community she is now representing and will do an outstanding job.

Being successful in every thing you do isn’t only about having the knowledge - you have to use it. If you have a beautifully furnished model home and don’t walk through with a potential client and explain all of the exceptional features that the home has you are wasting your time, the clients time and the builders investment.

The next time you have a rainy day think about Anny and make it a profitable day!

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and when a customer enters your model how it feels can make the difference between a “we are still looking” to a “This is us! I can see us living here!”.

Two things that can make all of the difference are color and space planning. If there is too much or not enough furniture, or if it isn’t placed in the right area of the room furniture can make a big room feel small, or a small room feel spacious. The room that is shown had special circumstances - the marketing “hook” of the home was that it was to be fully merchandised using thrift shop merchandise that had been donated, so this sofa was the best choice, we just had to play with it a little bit to have it enhance the architecture and size of the room. When people walked into the home we wanted to draw them in and be able to focus on the open plan and the beautiful two way fireplace. Using the sectional in it’s original form added 15 inches to each side making the sofa not only monopolize the room, but also have you walking into the back of it when you walked in cutting off your view of the fireplace. Since both sofa pieces had only one arm we couldn’t use them facing each other, and even if we used an end table as the turning point for the sectional you were still walking into the back of a sofa.

The solution we came up with was taking the two sofa pieces and made one long sofa. It opened up the room, made it possible to highlight the fireplace and the flat screen television, and made it possible to look into the rest of the home.

If something isn’t working, move it or lose it. The profit you will lose having a model open that doesn’t help you sell homes will always be more costly than finding the right solution.

Opening Night - Homearama

I’ve been quiet lately because thanks to David Riedman and the very talented team making up @Home Builders I had the opportunity to show how all of the things that we teach in the IRM classes can make a difference in the success of a community or project. The Home Idea Factory has always been based around the belief that it’s Your Life. Your Style. A home should be designed around what the clients wants and needs are, not just based on trends and fads. This home was the most moderately priced home that was in the show, and with over 20,000 people anticipated to be touring the home we wanted to do something that would appeal to and inspire the masses. How do you stand out in a show with seven other builders having larger budgets, square footage and price tags on the homes? Design something newsworthy. The Rochester Home Builders Association and @Home Builders invited The Ronald McDonald House Charities to be a part of the show by having the interior of the @Home house merchandised using only donated furniture, artwork and accessories that had been donated to the Ronald McDonald ABC Sale. David Riedman of @Home knows this Lifestylist loves a challenge, so he gave me a call and I couldn’t wait to get started.

It worked! The home had lines out to the street of people anxious to experience the home. People were amazed that everything in the home was gently used, and loved the fact that all was available for sale and that the proceeds would all go to the Ronald McDonald House. The media also love the concept and we had features twice in the newspaper and on four television stations. And the builder was thrilled because he was able to track visits at his other communities that came from the editorial on the home.

We packed a lot of activities into the two weeks that the home was open. To see more photos of the home please visit the site we did just for the home, and I’ll feature more of the ideas that we used in the home here in the future.

When I teach the Institute of Residential Marketing classes, one of the things that I am constantly stressing is how important teamwork is. To have a successful project everyone needs to be brought together as early as possible. This way everyone can be on the same page, and a team member that you typically don’t include might have some insight or suggestions that can change the path you are going on in a more successful and profitable way.

You would be amazed how rarely my clients take advantage of this service, but one of the exceptions is Patriot Homes. I had a meeting yesterday with their Texas division and we discussed changes for 2009, including what were realistic expectations of the cost of these changes that could be considered in budget meetings. By planning ahead we all not only understand the direction we want to move in but we also will know what we can afford.

The meeting included the sales team which were extremely helpful in letting me know what worked and what didn’t in the past and what we are missing that clients are asking for. Feedback like this can make all the difference in the success of future projects.

Sometimes it really pays off to keep an open mind. I had the manager of the Rochester Country Curtains call me about the Ronald McDonald Homearama House I’m doing with @Home Builders and express an interest in being included in the home. The name scared me because the home is anything but country, but I told them to send me a catalog and I’d take a look.

What a pleasant surprise! The colors were right on trend, the styling was beautiful and the prices were great. They have been an absolute delight to deal with as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything installed.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the airline industry is in worse shape than home building, and with the steps that American Airlines is taking the press could forget all about any customer service issues we have ever had.

American announced today that they were increasing the price of their drinks and sandwiches by $1.00, this on the heels of deciding to charge a fee for every bag that you check (and I read tonight that they made this decision before conferring with TSA).As someone who travels frequently I am dreading my next flight - summers are bad enough traveling with people who don’t fly very often and don’t know “the rules” or etiquette that goes with  the experience, but now with  American charging for checking bags I just know I might as well take a sleeping bag with me (as long as it would fit in the two carry-ons I’m allowed) because getting through security is going to be a nightmare. So you have to pay to check your luggage but you can’t carry on many of the essentials you need on a trip (contact solution) - I’m beginning to feel very taken advantage of.

And then you finally get on the plane, somehow you got switched to a middle seat, and you make the mistake of asking a flight attendant who hates life and her job to try and help you out. Let me just say on my last trip from Vegas to Dallas on American -where they changed the departure time from 12:30am to 6am- we finally got on the flight and the window of the plane in the row in front of me literally fell into the lap of the woman sitting there. We all started pressing those attendant call buttons and the flight attendant looked annoyed that we bothered her with such frivolities. They had maintenance come on, he pushed it back into the hole and put duct tape on both sides and we took off. I swear the woman called her lawyer before we took off and sent him photos of the window in case anything happened.

What the heck does this have to do with model homes and home building? More than you would think. Let’s recap people’s opinions of the airline industry right now and how that applies to us:

Flight attendants - on the major airlines (except for Southwest) they seem to hate their jobs and want to be anywhere but on the flight they are on. Keep in mind, these are people that we are truly entrusting our lives to if there was ever a problem, and that scares me.

Sales Agents - in a way the sales agent also has the buyers life and happiness in their hands. The buyer is entrusting that agent to help them buy the home that will be perfect for them and provide a safe haven for their family. If they act like they can’t be bothered when a potential home owner walks through the door, why would that buyer think they should trust the agent or the builder?

The airline - right now I want to go to work for an airline and ask them what the heck they are thinking. Some of it is so basic, and I don’t understand why if it is so obvious to me why it escapes them. On paper it looks like they are doing everything possible to alienate the customer. American is truly nickel and dime-ing us to death  and in the process is losing the trust of their customer.  I made a reservation a month ago to visit my grandbabies in Orlando. They got my money up front - I thought we had an agreement on what the terms were.  Since then  they have decided to charge me for not only one bag but for two, food, drinks… $2.00 per bag plus tip to check at the curb… so what  does/did my ticket price cover? I thought we had a contract.

The Builder: Does the customer feel like your word is as good as the paper they signed/ agreed to? Do they think that is what the home will cost or is the “greedy builder” going to try and add on every cost that they can? Does the builder really appreciate my business or am I just another contract to them? Is everything I saw in the model home that I fell in love with going to be an additional cost that I can’t afford and make me end up with a house that isn’t what I had dreamed about? Will I have to settle?

Airline Security: I can’t think of many things that I like less, but appreciate more in the big picture. I want to be assured that my safety is the first priority and to be honest that my business is appreciated. Call me crazy, but I long for the days when the airlines courted my business instead of feeling like I had no other options.

The Construction Process: Do the new homeowners feel like they are an important part of the process or a thorn in the construction managers side? Do the homeowners feel like they are a thorn in the construction teams side or a client to be appreciated, listened to and nurtured?

Walk a mile in your customers shoes. If you make the buying process a pleasant experience where the customer feels appreciated, your model homes are in great shape (and no windows are kept in place with duct tape) and that the price they are quoted is the price - you will have a customer and a great referral for life.