By Jeff Harrell, Sales Leader - New Home Star//
Creating a favorable thought process for buyers at a community level means creating the sense of a growing and productive community. The majority of today’s home buyers begin their research well before ever making it to a community. This means when a buyer enters your community, the home buying process becomes about the experience. The sights and feel of the community can make or break a deal before a customer even gets out of their car. This is why it’s so important to proactively check communities on a regular basis and treat the entire community as a storefront. Proper signage, activity, and cleanliness create a desirable, cared for community, with a builder who pays attention to detail.
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When driving into a community that has tattered signs, the buyer’s assumption is that their new home is going to be similarly neglected. Attention to subtle details such as properly aligned lot signs can sway a customer’s mindset on the quality of a home they expect. Picture for a moment that you are standing on one end of a street. To the left are broken and dirty lot signs. To the right are clean and well-aligned lot signs. That split second has already guided you toward the most favorable thought process and helped you decide where to go first.
In a community that has open lots, keeping the raw dirt and ensuring there are no weeds matters. To a customer, this activity makes a community more desirable. Leaving the impression that a lot is ready for a home to be built on it creates real urgency in the eyes of prospects and allowing weeds to grow on any lot creates the perception that no one is interested in what you and your builder have to offer. Even when a buyer is interested, they are much more likely to negotiate simply because the appearance implies they have time to make a decision.
Cleanliness in a community is also a way of showing the community, and your prospects that you care about them and the homes you deliver. This is especially important in communities where some homes are occupied while others are being constructed. Potential customers can see this nuance. Maintaining a presentable job site throughout the entire build process represents quality. Alternatively, seeing excess trash implies a builder is wasteful. No one wants to feel like they are living on a job site and having to clean up trash blown from surrounding construction. This idea of living in a construction zone will negatively affect a customer’s thought process. Although dumpsters can sometimes feel like an eyesore, they are far more appealing than nails in a car tire.
These details are all part of maintaining your community storefront. As sales agents, community managers, construction supervisors, and trades, by regularly checking the condition of a community you are creating the most favorable thought process for every single prospect that steps foot there. Even more, you are driving the overall success of a community.
