FROM NZCB —
NZCB Builders Travel to USA and Learn the Value of Presentation First impressions usually take over your thoughts when you look at a home; before considering location, value for money and return on investment. In January, a team of New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) members completed two days of spec home tours in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. We were impressed by how good the Americans are at home staging and marketing. They have a knack for giving that instant feeling of walking into ‘a home’, versus just walking through another spec house. The exterior appearance of the new home builds weren’t necessarily pleasing to the eye (see photo of our members standing outside an LA development, right). The location of some of the developments also raised some eyebrows, but they definitely made up for it on the interior presentation. Every show home had a different style and character to appeal to a variety of tastes. But the thing that stood out was their ability to make each room appeal to their target audience. Each show home had a definitive target audience in mind. If it was a family home, the master suites were always opulent, while children’s bedrooms were fun – always one that appealed to young boys and one for the girls and both filled with toys. If the show home was targeted towards single first home buyers, then the feel was very modern/on-trend but also tugged at all the heart strings and had all the gadgets that any millennial would die for.
NZCB Members Nick Farrelly, Richard Poff, Greg Poole and Andy McRae in front of one of the poorly finished LA new home builds.
The level of detail for researching the target audience was also taken very seriously. For example – pet owners. One show home had its own walk-in doghouse in the master suite because they know that dog owners love to keep their pets close. Giving them the ability to have their own room within the master suite was one detail I’ve never encountered before. The main lesson we learnt was research! If you are selling off plans and have the ability to stage your show homes, then the more effort and attention to detail your presentation can provide, the easier it is going to be to sell. The same applies to marketing material – each development had a theme and its own identity to help sell the story as to why you needed to live there.
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