I Did Not See That Coming

I Did Not See That Coming

A large part of the new home buying experience is not just the relationship established between the sales associate and the home buyer, but also the relationship between that same buyer and the whole home building organization.  Nowhere is this more prevalent than in highly amenitized lifestyle communities, where the home owner may actually perceive the builder to be a larger part of their daily routine than the builder realizes.

In these lifestyle communities, the first job of the sales team is to help the buyer fall in love with the community, and, after that, to help those buyers find an appropriate home to meet their needs.  Since so much time is spent extolling the virtues of all the community provided conveniences, the buyer feels that they are truly purchasing more than just a home.  That allows the builder to gain an edge over less amenitized traditional subdivisions.  However, this double-edged sword does have the ability to swing dangerously backwards.  It is the savvy builder that strives hard to make sure that the sword does not cause a decapitation.

Even with a builder’s promotion of lifestyle elements, their main job is to still sell homes.  They are not necessarily geared towards providing all the non-sales oriented community services that the homeowner often feels they are entitled to receive in these communities.  I will give a true example.  During the summer of 2004, several hurricanes rolled back to back to back through the state of Florida.  During this stressful time, a number of well-meaning residents came to the builder’s main office and asked what steps were being taken to secure the life-safety conditions for the residents.  I am not talking about securing construction job sites and implementation of community storm water pollution protection plans (SWPPP).  They wanted to know how the club would be staged as a shelter and how the builder would provide evacuation services for residents.  On one hand, it was heartwarming to see that the community perceived the developer as more than just a homebuilder.  On the other hand, it was concerning that the community perceived the developer to be more than just a homebuilder.  Fortunately, a middle ground was struck to help establish neighborhood patrols that would interface with the appropriately trained and staffed emergency response municipal organizations.

There is a saying that if you are going to run with the bulls, that you will sometimes get the horn.  I think that there is another way to look at this analogy.  If you are going to run with the bulls, then make sure you are adequately prepared to avoid the horn.  I believe that the thrill of the experience will not suffer by taking steps to minimize and downgrade potentially dangerous and uncomfortable situations.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.  This is a busy time for homebuilders as they work hard to reach year-end targets for home sales and closings.  More importantly, though, it is a time of year when homebuilders help families to celebrate and create holiday memories with their loved ones by giving them the gift of new home ownership.  It truly is a special industry.

Until next time…

Keep kicking the dirt!

Jeff Gersh is President of Gersh Consulting Services, a real estate advisory firm, headquartered in Orlando, FL.  He may be reached at jsgersh@gmail.com or 407-468-9328