Membership Drive...how much new Blood can you recruit?

Currently in the lead with the most new Blood

Gus Rubio with Gabriel Builders
welcoming: Evan Farner
                   Tony Freeman
                   Alan Carver
                   Julie Eldridge

Todd Usher with Addison Homes
welcoming: Diane Jackson
                    Eddie Woodard
                    Ted Bragg

Rhett Brown with Allen Tate Realtors
welcoming: Shelly DeVreese
                    Julie Howe
                    Christy Grear

Bill Kane with Ryan Homes
welcoming: Trina Montalbano
                    Christina Brooks
                    Brittany Bailey

You still have time to recruit new members, contest winners will be announced at the Annual Meeting sponsored by PestBan on November 13th with featured speaker Jerry Howard, CEO of NAHB.

SMC's ABC's of Green Construction, Behind the walls of a zero energy home!- November 11th

Ready to Learn More, Earn More? Come see what it looks like behind the walls, and one of Greenville's first Zero Net Energy Homes at that. The SMC will host it's Education Kickoff on November 11th sponsored by Addison Homes at Trailside Communities starting at 10:00 a.m.
Come grab a bite to eat and drink, walk through the home and speak to those that are making this home Zero Energy. Todd Usher, President of Addison Homes will conclude this event with information about the home, making you more confident when your client asks you about going Green.
Vendors invited to the event to share information about their contribution to this home include Dow Solar, Dow Building, Palmetto Exterminators, Prime Energy Group/Icynene, and Wood Insulating.

                                                                                  

Greenvilleʼs first community built to
rigorous ChallengeHome &
ActiveHouse standards

 
Best value available,
utility bills that approach zero

Managing Online Leads Through Marketing Automation

When the home building market was struggling, most chose to take advantage of as many lead opportunities as possible. Now, as the market rebounds, record numbers of new leads are coming through the pipeline.

And it should come as no surprise that more than 90% of home shoppers begin their search online. So, in an upswing market, how do you find time to deal with the onslaught of new leads?

Enter Marketing Automation: A Smart Way to Manage Leads
Marketing automation offers an answer to this problem with ready-made, analytic information on lead quality and customer profiles, as well as automated methods to prioritize and nurture leads based on where they are in the home buying process. Using this type of software gives you the ability to capture online leads with little effort, and spend less time qualifying prospects and more time closing sales.

How Marketing Automation Works
Marketing automation works with your existing customer relationship management software, and scores leads based on their browsing habits and other customer profile information. It then generates and distributes tailored, valuable content to prospects through your website, social media and email marketing — all designed to nurture consumers through the buying process.

Automated analytics allow you to spend more time developing high-quality content, while the software progressively scores, profiles and prioritizes leads. With that information, you can ramp up your marketing efforts in a calculated way, providing useful, well-timed content and interaction to your customers.

The Benefits of Marketing Automation for Home Builders
For most home builders, automated scoring and categorization of leads is a huge breath of fresh air. There are plenty of tire kickers out there anxious to learn every detail of every floor plan with absolutely no intention of buying. Automation allows you to focus only on the leads worth the effort, saving yourself time and money.

Consumers don’t want their time wasted either, and will appreciate original, relevant content and outreach. A customer just beginning the research phase may not respond well to an immediate, head-on sales approach, when they simply need more information about a particular plan or feature.

Through the methodical process of progressive profiling, you learn whether a contact is a qualified prospect, and if so what makes them tick. And then you can provide them information of real value through relevant event invitations, personalized email content, graphics or other important communications.

This article originally appeared in the May/June issue of Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine. 

FHFA Index Shows Mortgage Interest Rates Continue To Decline in September

Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased slightly from August to September, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts.

The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders index was 4.06 percent for loans closed in late September, down 2 basis points from 4.08 percent in August.

The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.07 percent, down 2 basis points from 4.09 in August.

The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $417,000 or less was 4.31 percent, a decrease of 2 basis points from 4.33 in August.

The effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.22 percent in September, down 2 basis points from 4.24 percent in August. The effective interest rate accounts for the addition of initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage.

The average loan amount for all loans was $281,000 in September, down $6,100 from $287,100 in August.

To find the complete contract rate series, go to www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=251. ​​​

Skirting Lead Paint Certification Doesn’t Pay

Recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions indicate that contractors who are operating without proper certification or training to remove lead-based paint will be held accountable for being non-compliant.

Last week, the EPA announced settlement agreements with nine California-based companies that failed to get certified before advertising, bidding on, or performing renovation and repair projects in older housing and schools. Each company was ordered to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and, in most cases, required to complete training and obtain certification.

Contractors and renovators who are not certified pose a potential health risk to consumers if they are working in pre-1978 homes and schools that may contain lead-based paint.

Under the Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule remodelers and other contractors are required to be properly trained and certified by the EPA before working on these types of structures. The RRP program is designed to protect consumers, especially children, from exposure to hazardous lead dust caused by renovation and repair activities.

Contractors and renovators who are not certified undermine the intent of the RRP rule and the good work being done by those who are trying to comply with EPA’s home owner/tenant lead-based paint pre-work notification, lead-based paint safe work practices, post work cleaning practices, and reporting requirements under the RRP rule.

The agency said in a press release that it will continue to pursue enforcement against companies that are not certified, using public information to help identify violators.

Your Home Builders Association has been actively engaged in EPA’s lead-based paint program for the residential sector since its inception and has been an advocate and supporter of the required training completion for its members.