BDX News

The latest news and updates on BDX solutions.

HDC Vert 4c RGBWe are happy to announce that now your BDX new home listings are featured on the number four real estate website, Homes.com. This is an exciting opportunity for our home builders to reach the widest possible audience and with 90% of Homes.com visitors actively searching for their next new home, this is great added exposure. Homes.com is already a trusted online home search website with 13.2 million unique visitors each month.

Benefits include:

  • Placement in a dedicated new homes section on Homes.com.
  • New home plans are also featured within the main search results page alongside resale homes.
  • You will receive direct leads from your listings on Homes.com as well as reporting through the BDX client portal, BDXLive, on search views, detail page views, driving direction views, and click-thrus to your website.

BDX’s vice president and general manager, Peter Brumme, says that “We know that 56 percent of homebuyers go into a home search considering new construction, and now through our relationship with Homes.com, homebuyers have access to additional new home content in their search for available home options in their area.”

What do you need to do?

If you are already listing all of your communities through BDX, your listings information will automatically be distributed to Homes.com and displayed on the site at no additional charge. Be sure to take advantage of the leads and traffic that will be generated by this exciting development!

Haven’t listed your new home communities with the BDX yet? Now is the time to do so! Increase your visibility, traffic and sales with one simple decision. Contact us today at info@thebdx.com to learn more about the benefit of listing your communities with BDX

NHSPro_verticalYou asked and we listened! We recently made improvements to the HTML style lead emails you receive from New Home Source Professional in an effort to help you quickly and easily identify the leads you receive from agents versus consumers.

Key updates to the lead email include:

  • The New Home Source Professional logo is clearly displayed at the top of the email
  • A source identifier near the top indicates the lead is coming from a real estate agent rather than a consumer
  • The lead source is specified as New Home Source Professional
  • Name of the brokerage, agent head shot and company logo is included when available
  • One more reminder in the comments field that this lead is coming from an agent!

NHS Pro Lead Form

Real estate agent leads can be some of the most qualified and motivated, so following up is the key to closing more deals. This means that you should review your responses to these leads to help maintain productive, long-term relationships with agents in your markets. As you know, the message you send to a real estate agent is going to be vastly different than a consumer. Make sure you have a successful strategy for agents using the following tips:

  1. Be sure to include agent-specific messaging in your communications. Avoid putting agents into a consumer email marketing campaign – this only serves to alienate agents (and their buyers) in your markets.
  2. If possible, reach out with a personal email or call, as opposed to an automated email campaign.
  3. If you use an automated email campaign, limit the number of emails and include an unsubscribe link. Providing them with meaningful content and inventory updates should keep them engaged to actively read your emails when they come through.

We hope that these improvements and tips will help you to properly nurture agent leads and foster strong working relationships that yield sales for years to come. For questions about New Home Source Professional or lead follow-up strategies, contact us at info@theBDX.com!

New Home Source tied with Bloomberg News for top honors in the 65th Annual Journalism Awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) with seven awards each. The Wall Street Journal was second with six awards.

The journalism awards, presented on Friday, June 26, 2015, at Miami’s InterContinental Hotel capped a four-day meeting attended by more than 150 real estate writers and editors from the nation’s leading newspapers, websites and magazines. To insure impartiality, award judging was done by a retired profession of journalism from Ohio University.

65th Annual Journalism Awards of The National Association of Real EstateFor the second year in a row, Patricia Garcia, BDX Content Manager, was honored with an award for Best Newsletter. This year’s Bronze Award follows up her Gold Award last year for The New Home Source Home of the Week newsletter.

Four other contributors to New Home Source were also honored, led by Camilla McLaughlin, who received three awards for her work for NHS. Also honored for articles for New Home Source were Ken Harney, who also writes a nationally syndicated column for The Washington Post; Marcie Geffner, who contributes to The Los Angeles Times and other media; and Lew Sichelman, who writes a nationally syndicated column on real estate in addition to his work for New Home Source.

The NAREE meeting included speakers and panelists on a variety of topics as well as tours of cutting-edge, Miami area real estate projects. Several CEOs and presidents (as well as six chief economists) spoke from leading organizations and companies that included the National Association of Home Builders, Crescent Communities, the National Association of Realtors, leading MLSs and brokers, and Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com.

Other media honored included The New York Times, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, Bankrate.com, The Denver Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Inman News, The Boston Globe, Reuters, Consumer Reports, Professional Builder, The Chicago Tribune, RealtyTrac Reports, The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Business Journal, The New York Daily News, The Arizona Republic and others.

65th Annual Journalism Awards of The National Association of Real EstateFor the second year in a row, Jay McKenzie, BDX Director of Content and Social Media, was a panelist and speaker on new media models emerging in real estate. Patricia Garcia, BDX Content Manager, represented New Home Source again this year in a round of three-minute Meet the Press meetings with attendees at the event.

BDX is very proud of New Home Source’s recognition by NAREE and applaud our winners!

nhs-redesignDid you know that 35% of shoppers who searched for homes on New Home Source visited a builder within a week? In March 2015, NewHomeSource.com, the #1 new home site, shattered a 15-year old record with more than 1 million unique visitors in a single month. That’s the highest traffic in a month in the site’s history – and an impressive audience, given that only 529,000 new single family homes are forecasted to be sold in 2015*.

These stats are not surprising. The authoritative and complete new home listings on NewHomeSource.com offer homebuyers access to far more builders, new home communities, buildable home plans, and spec or quick move-in homes than any other resource. And with an overwhelmingly 63% of New Home Source site visitors preferring new homes, builders are connecting with highly qualified shoppers.

In addition to world-class new home real estate listings, more than 350 inspiring and informative articles, slideshows and videos at NewHomeSource.com/ResourceCenter answer important questions that new home shoppers have. Combined, the authoritative new home listings on NewHomeSource.com and this unmatched article content on new homes have clearly established NewHomeSource.com as The New Home Authority.

Are you ready to put the power of The New Home Authority to work for you? Contact BDX at info@thebdx.com to learn more about our listing solutions.

*Source: NAHB Housing Forecast, April 2015

 

responsive websitesThe amount of internet searches from mobile devices has increased by a huge rate over the last few years. Did you know that 35% of shoppers will view your website on a mobile device?  Have you checked to see if your website is responsive and display correctly on all mobile devices including cell phones, tablets, and iPads? If not, then you may be in trouble.

On April 21st, Google started using website responsive design or mobile-friendliness as a ranking tool. When a buyer is searching for homes from their mobile device, Google will give your website a boost in ranking as long as it is responsive and displays correctly on mobile devices.

How do you know if your website is responsive? Keep the following in mind when you view your website from a mobile or tablet device:

  • Your website pages display correctly on your mobile or tablet screen without having to resize
  • Text is readable
  • Links are not too close together
  • Images are displaying correctly

If you want to be sure that your website is ranking higher in search results, Google has offered a Mobile-Friendly Test. You can enter your website URL and the test will report if the page has a mobile-friendly design.

Need help getting a responsive website that is mobile and tablet friendly? BDX can help! Click here to learn more about our responsive builder websites or email us at Info@thebdx.com.