New home sales up and existing home sales down…according to HanleyWood’s Key Indicater Alert today.

“New home sales increased slightly while existing home sales continued its downward spiral in October. New home sales increased 1.7% in October to a seasonally-adjusted 728,000 homes, up from a downwardly revised September figure of 716,000. Revised new home sales figures showed that sales were at their slowest pace in September since January 1996. At the current sales pace, there are 8.5 months of new homes supply on the market. Inventory levels continued to decline as builders have been scaling back production until the market stabilizes. The number of new homes for sale declined to 520,000 which is the lowest it’s been since December 2005. The median price for a new home plunged 8.6% from September levels to $217,800. Median new home prices are now at their lowest levels since September 2004.

Existing home sales declined for the eighth consecutive month as seasonally-adjusted sales of existing homes fell 1.2% in October to 4.97 million units. That is the lowest sales pace recorded since August 1998. Sales of existing homes are down 20.7% from the 6.27 million units in October 2006. Median existing home prices fell another 1.2% from September levels to $207,880; the median price is at its lowest levels since March 2005. Inventory of existing homes jumped to 10.8 months supply at the current sales pace, while the number of existing homes for sale increased 1.9% to 4.370 million units. Inventory of existing homes is at an all-time high.”

Hey in the current times any good news is GREAT news.

Other interesting news in the report:

“Inland Empire, CA - Despite Housing Slowdown Growth Remains Strong

Fueled by strong economic growth the Inland Empire has benefited from strong migration patterns from coastal areas. Drawn to the area by affordable homes and employment opportunities, the region’s population has been growing by 3.5% on average for the past five years”

You can subscribe to their email here: here: http://www.hwmarketintelligence.com/meyersalerts/newsletter.asp

Let’s face it there are several hundred companies out there right now all saying they are #1 in the renderings/animation industry, all of which are banging on your door saying “look at me and my wonderfully pretty images”. At first glance you can easily bring the number down to what looks like 50 qualified firms. Upon further review I’m sure you will find that the number of qualified proven VR Firms in North America is somewhere between 5-15 (and even fewer that handle the deliverables AND content…most are just content) depending on your vertical. Here are some questions to ask yourself when bidding out your next project…

What is their track record?
Does their portfolio reflect multiple projects over several years? A qualified vendor may cost a little more on the front end but will no doubt save you thousands in lost time and resources during the production of a project. The reason you may be getting a “deal” could mean many things i.e. they upcharge during production, few staff (longer timelines), their proposal leaves something out or of course quality.

Who have they worked for?
Doing VR for one custom home in Muskogee, Oklahoma or a new church in Bismark, North Dakota is a little different than a 1200 home master plan or urban infill project in a major market. Make sure they can handle the workload that you will be entrusting them with. Another thing to keep in mind is if their portfolio only shows condo/multifamily and you are developing a single family home project then I would ask to see something similar in scope to your project.

Where does their specialty lie?
If their portfolio shows print renderings only and you are asking them for renderings AND animation keep this in mind………

Number of Images to make up a rendering: = 1
Number of images to make up a 2 minute animation = 3600

A still rendering for print may take anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours to “render” a final image. Therefore if you have a change and need it quickly then not a huge problem for a “Renderings” company. An animation frame can take anywhere between 15 -45 minutes to render. Mutiply that by 30 frames per second of animation, 60 sec per minute and you can see how an unqualified firm might get in over their head quickly. One change in an animation may take several days to render even with a rendering farm of 20 computers……….. If the firm does not have full rendering farm of cpu’s then you are asking for numerous delays and will need to purchase plenty of Aspirin!

Ask about the production process?
Their process should outline when you will approve architecture, when you will see preliminary images for comment, when you will be seeing revised images, how many rounds of comments, what constitutes an extra charge during production etc etc. If this question draws a blank face from the sales person…….RUN! Without a standard production process they simply won’t hit your deadline or any critical dates along the way.

Brad Jaycock, Vice President
Imagenius.com Inc.
888.439.4633

If you are going to go through the time and money to build a website portal to generate advertising revenue then follow up on ALL inquiries or don’t offer the service. I’ve inquired twice via email and twice via phone to BuilderOnline’s new Sponsored Videos on their website without a single response. No wonder their reputation is what it is with the builders. Drives me nuts when companies don’t follow up with their customers.

Note to CSR managers everywhere, if you have a person responsible for exactly this function for your website…test them regularly by sending inquiries through your site. In a time where the public voice has never been so loud, a single experience like mine can cost you more than one lost sale.

Jim Warren, CEO

… you can implement easily and affordably:

1. Offer some form of Rich Media experience: video, audio, more photographs/renderings. 95% of your competition aren’t … you will be noticed and remembered.
2. Put Video content first and upfront…not hidden…they are looking for it.
3. If you have some form of internet concierge or person assigned to leads generated online…track and monitor their communications. It should be frequent, personalized and offer value in return for their permission.
4. Measure, Measure, Measure…there are enough tools (google analytics, campaign manager) now to see what your response rates are for marketing initiatives and fine tune what you are doing.
5. Show something better than traditional black line floor plans and line elevations…the additional costs are minimal and you will stand out from everyone else.

…and more importantly do something with this data now that you know. Below is a collection of statistics that I used in preparation for a speaking engagement I had to the largest product and home manufacturers in the U.S. on Rich Media.

- 80% of all Home Purchasers start ONLINE

- 60% of Internet users have broadband connections (projected to be 84% by 2008)

- 55% of all searches are through Google

- 23% of all searches are through Yahoo

- 80% of Internet-driven physical traffic NEVER registers on builder or third party websites

- Email Campaigns sent between 6am and 10am have higher delivery rates than any other time period no matter which day.

- Monday delivery rates are highest overall, followed by Tuesday, Thursday, and Wednesday.

- People spend the most time viewing floor plans than any other presentation graphic online or in the sales center - Condo Market Specific

- A recent Online Publishers Association study indicated that the median age of online video viewers was a not so young 40, with 28 percent being 50 plus years of age and mostly male who view some type of video content containing information such as news and sports.

- Nearly 70% of online video viewers are upper to middle class. Advertisers have responded to these numbers by spending 251 million in streaming video marketing last year and increasing that to 344 million in 2006 and nearly one billion dollars by 2010.

- Nearly half of all condo buyers choose their new homes without considering any other style of housing, according to a new survey by NAHB examining the preferences of condo buyers.

If you are looking to make a difference in your effectiveness of your marketing dollar these statistics all point to one thing…improve your online experience and you’ll get results.

I just read a great article in Advertising Age by Abbey Klaassen titled “Do Home Pages Have a Place in Web 2.0’s Future” where the results from a survey of 500 consumers to figure out how people arrived and purchased from websites to determine what will be important in web design in the coming year(s). The real surprise to me (because I realized I do the exact same thing) was that more than 54% of people start their online shopping with a search even if they already know the Brand they are looking for…

“The idea that more consumers are coming to brand sites through the side door of search means search engines are starting to circumvent brands when it comes to online shopping. While a consumer looking for a pizza stone offline might drive to her nearest Williams-Sonoma, in the online world she’s more likely to just type the product name into Google and see what comes up.”

This really is an interesting design issue when considering that users will most likely enter your website NOT from the main page so that your designs should provide your key value statements and objectives on all pages.

The other interesting finding was..”More than 85% of people on the panel used “most popular” links on sites to decide what to look at and more than 55% made purchase decisions based on user reviews.” so get those testimonials up there on your site.

If 80% of all people start their new home search online, you have to give them all of the information they are looking for if you want them to come to your sales center. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Directmail a DVD or CD Rom to your interest list or database.

2. Show more content on your website BEFORE sales center launch than your competition.

3. Communicate with your interest lists frequently (minimum every 45 days) and personally via email, mail and phone.

4. Hold a private opening for online registrants only before your public opening and advertise this!

5. Offer insentives for people who to pre-register, visit your sales center or purchase a home to refer others to you.

These are in order of importance.

1. Reduce your marketing budget by 50%! You can/should leverage the animations for all your renderings for your website, brochures, direct mail, wall art.

2. There is no better way to communicate a sense of community or neighborhood.

3. Show select animations on your website. Create an emotion online NOT just a message. What would generate greater pre-launch registrations? A few paragraphs and a logo on a website? Plans and
Renderings? VR of the community, amenities and/or model home?

4. The price is finally dropping (much like websites have).

5. You can build fewer model homes. A model home costs 100 x more than an interior animation.

6. How are you going to stand out and be remembered after a family tours 5 sales centers?

7. There is no better way to generate interest for people that are too far to visit your sales center.

8. It’s alot easier to revise an animation or rendering than a topo table or traditional hand rendering.

9. Create and communicate a consistent vision of your community through narration.

10. A picture says a thousand words…how much does video communicate of your unique selling proposition.