Completed in December 2007, this project was in perfect alliance with the beginning of the credit crunch. The project had presold 165 of the 185 homes, many of which closed but some that did not. We were ultimately faced with the challenge of selling 50 homes into a declining market with limited resources and a very restrictive lending environment. And, with the majority of the marketing budget being spent during the presale effort of the project, resources were very limited.
First, we secured a lease on a street front live/work unit in the project and converted it into a sales center. This location made it easy for prospective buyers to find us. The sales center was quickly designed with many of the displays being recycled from the original off site discovery center. Our quarterly “Rewards” campaign continued to drive traffic, and the traffic responded well to our ever changing menu of offerings.
While preparing the sales center and marketing material we were also working in the background gaining project approval to be able to do FHA loans. While this might be commonplace today, this was unheard of at the time. As a result we enjoyed many months as the only “in city” project with FHA project approval. While conventional financing was a challenge to obtain through much of 2008, we were able to offer our buyers a low down payment and low monthly payment financing option not available anywhere else in the market area.
Before re-launching, we took a very close look at the marketplace, and executed a thorough market analysis of all new product offerings in the Seattle core. In order to remain competitive and not reprice the project entirely, we broke the project up into bite sized pieces. We then priced these smaller groups of homes at a point just below everything else comparable in the marketplace, and coupled that with our quarterly “Rewards” program which offered additional incentive to buy. Having a few homes stand out as a terrific value against our remaining inventory as well as the competition proved to be a perfect strategy.
By targeting specific home sites and keeping sales momentum moving in a forward direction, we were able to move product in a market where our competition could not. By always delivering the best value in our market area, and doing it early in this declining market, we captured revenue that would have likely been lost otherwise. We sold an average of 3.55 units per month, and sold out of this project in August 2009.
