Real Estate Marketing  |  New Home Sales  |  Seattle, Washington

The Hayes

San Francisco, CA

Challenge

This mid-rise project located just off Market Street in San Francisco sold very well through most of its selling cycle. Like many others, this project was affected by the market decline in early 2008. The remaining inventory totaling approximately 40 homes was a mix of less desirable locations along with homes located on higher floors commanding view premiums.

Solution

To bring value to the lower floor locations that were often overlooked by homebuyers, we decided to execute a merchandising campaign that focused on the positive attributes of these homes. Often these homes were larger or included outdoor space not included on the floors above. By merchandising these spaces and drawing attention to the utility aspects, we were able to catch the attention of buyers resulting in sales.

In addition we implemented a monthly list of developer specials that included all product types. Each month we identified and targeted homes that we wanted to sell based on keeping a balance of available inventory in the project. These monthly specials were promoted heavily, and were generally well received in the marketplace. We reached a point where prospects would wait for the fresh list of specials to be published, and then they would buy right away after the list was published.

This pricing strategy paired with our merchandising efforts proved to be a victory for the project. In addition we were able to promote a series of interest rate buy downs into a marketplace that had not seen such a thing in recent history. Buyers were able to enjoy temporary interest rate buy downs with rates starting at 2.875%. When this promotion began there was almost an immediate boost in contracts as buyers were very excited about this ability to have a below market rate not available anywhere else.