Homebuilders

WebWe are excited to announce that New Home Source TV is now airing in Austin, Dallas and Raleigh!  New Home Source TV presents a fresh show & tell-style take on the traditional real estate shows you may be used to. Each week, host and Certified Home Inspector, Brett Tutor will take viewers on a behind the scenes tour of several beautiful newly-built homes from the hottest new communities in these areas as well as highlight design trends, green features and neighborhood amenities.

You may not know how desirable new construction is amongst home shoppers in these markets. In fact, more than 50% are considering “new” as they begin the shopping process!  What a tremendous opportunity to reach these home shoppers on a weekly basis and showcase the benefits of modern construction techniques and lower cost of living that comes with owning a truly new home.

If you are in the Austin metro area, tune in to FOX (channel 7) every Sunday at 9 a.m.  New Home Source TV will air in Dallas every Sunday on to CBS (channel 11) at 10:30 a.m. and at 11:00 a.m. in Raleigh on NBC (WCNC Channel 17).  Visit www.NewHomeSource.TV to see the beautiful communities that are featured on the program.

Want to learn more?  Watch the video below to get a preview of New Home Source TV.

Lights, camera, ACTION! Interested in being on future episodes of the show or want to know when it’s coming to an area near you? Contact us to put the spotlight on your homes!

Look out Washington D.C., NewHomeSource TV is coming to a television near you!  If you are in the nation’s Capitol, tune in weekends this spring and see some of the best truly new homes the city has to offer.  The show will air Sundays at 11 a.m. EST March 16 – June 8 WUSA (CBS, Channel 9).

NewHomeSource TV, the companion television program to the leading new home website NewHomeSource.com, provides a glimpse of the latest floor plans, design trends, green features and neighborhood amenities from the new home builders in the Washington D.C. area.  Architects, designers, contractors and other experts will also contribute to the show by highlighting the more subtle benefits of today’s new homes, such as modern construction techniques and the lower cost of living that comes with owning a truly new home.

“We are excited to work with so many terrific local builders and product suppliers to bring NewHomeSource TV to Washington D.C.,” said Tim Costello, chief executive officer at BDX. “We know that over 50 percent of home buyers are considering new homes as they begin the home shopping process[i], this show will help shine the spotlight on new home advantages.”

In addition to the weekly broadcast on a local network, the show will also be distributed online and be available for viewing on NewHomeSource.com.

Interested in having your homes in the spotlight? Contact us today!

A first of its kind campaign in the home building industry, “Start Fresh. Buy New.” was launched in the spring of 2013 and already thousands of home shoppers each day are responding positively to the advertising and are engaging with the interactive website, StartFreshBuyNew.com. The campaign highlights the numerous advantages of buying a new construction vs. a “used” (i.e. existing) home. StartFreshBuyNew.com includes educational facts, useful features such as a Cost Savings Calculator as well as intriguing diagrams on how energy efficient appliances and features operate. BDX is promoting the site through over 37 million advertisement impressions each week and reaching nearly 50% of new home shoppers. With over 50,000 weekly visits to the “Start Fresh. Buy New.” website, potential home buyers are now equipped with the knowledge of what attributes really make a new home more desirable than a used one. (Click here for more background information about the new campaign.)

While the site is informative and has already been nominated for design awards, “Start Fresh. Buy New.” also boasts some impressive results which prove visitor interest in new homes. The campaign is driving over 10,000 visits per month to NewHomeSource.com, a site that connects new home buyers with builders. In fact, new home searchers who spend time on the “Start Fresh. Buy New.” site are converting to leads on NewHomeSource.com at a rate of 40% higher than the site’s average visitor. With research predicting the demand for new homes to grow to nearly 1.2 million each year, the market is clearly rebounding and will benefit from this focus on new home buyer education.

“Start Fresh. Buy New” has also connected with Pinterest users to drive awareness of the perks of owning a new home. Pinterest users had the opportunity to win a grand prize by creating a board of their favorite pins from NewHomeSource.com as well as answering a few trivia questions. With nearly 4,000 followers of NewHomeSource.com on Pinterest, the sweepstakes was a hit with over 2,300 Pinboards created to promote new homes. In fact, just last week the grand prize of $10,000 was awarded to a young mother in Chicago, Illinois. (See the “Start Fresh. Buy New.” Facebook page for more on the story.)

The “Start Fresh. Buy New.” Pinterest page isn’t the only social media site getting attention from buyers either. The campaign’s Facebook page and Twitter account have also grown into platforms for buyers to connect with builder professionals and other buyers to speak about their experiences with their own new homes. (Wanna get social with “Start Fresh. Buy New.”? Follow our Twitter account for daily new home buying tips and inspirational home designs.)

The campaign has also gained national coverage and attention from over 360 publications including spotlights in The New York Times, The Austin Business Journal, The Financial Times and Builder Online.

 So what’s next? Following the success of our previous study last summer, we are currently gearing up to start our annual Home Buyer Insight Study which is going to expand beyond our original 25 markets. This year we will add Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Columbus and San Francisco to the study. So stay tuned! We will keep you posted on the results of this research and the progress of the campaign.

If you are a builder and want to get involved in the campaign, we have created a Builder Toolkit exclusively for BDX clients to leverage the campaign marketing resources and research. This toolkit can be found within BDXLive, our client portal. If you’re not a BDX client and are interested in finding out how we can help your business succeed, email us to learn more.

BDX Signs State-wide Partnership with Home Builders Association of Utah To Bring Free New Home Listings, Educational Programs, and More To Building Association Members

May 10, 2013 – Salt Lake City, UT – Builders Digital Experience (BDX), leading provider of digital marketing solutions for builders, announced today that they have signed a state-wide partnership agreement with the Home Builders Association of Utah. BDX will work with the organization to create a listings website for home buyers to search for new homes across the state.  All Association builder members can list their homes for free on the new site which will be launching in the next two months. BDX will also help educate members on a variety of digital marketing topic through in-person road shows, webinars and articles.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with BDX on what will be a great program for our builders. With 90% of consumers starting their new home search online, this is a great opportunity for a builder to expand their reach to consumers looking for homes in the state of Utah,” said Jason Peterson, president, Home Builders Association of Utah. “We believe that this will be a great benefit to the builder members of the Home Builders Association of Utah and encourage all builders to get involved with the BDX program — the more builders that take advantage of this resource, the greater impact we will have on the market.”

BDX currently brings a similar program to over 45 home building associations across the country on a local scale. This is the first state-wide association deal for the company. BDX will bring member benefits to the following local Utah associations as part of the partnership: Bear Lake, Cache Valley, Iron County, Northern Wasatch, Park City, Salt Lake, Southern Utah, and Utah Valley.

“Our HBA program is directly aligned with our mission to help builders sell more homes and we are looking forward to taking a program that we’ve built over the past 10 years to a new level with this partnership,” said Tim Costello, chief executive officer, BDX. “Recent research we conducted shows that 20% of home buyers go into the buying process with a preference for new homes. We are excited to work with the Builders Association of Utah to connect these home buyers with a Utah builder.”

The state-wide new home search site will be built on the NewHomeSource.com platform and create a complete digital experience for homebuyers. Builders will be able to include videos, an array of interior and exterior images, and enhanced floor plans. The site will allow homebuyers and builders to connect in a variety of ways: leads, click-throughs, driving directions, phone reveals, social media shares, and more.

Builders who are interested in signing up for a free listing on the site should visit www.builderhomesite.com/listings/hbas  or contact John Zolty at JZolty@thebdx.com for additional information about BDX online marketing solutions.

About BDX

Builder’s Digital Experience, LLC (BDX) from Builder Homesite, Inc. and Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE) was founded in October 2009 to combine the industry’s leading new home resources under one roof and offer builders innovative online marketing options, streamlined customer service and support, and greater value. Capitalizing on over 12 years of building industry experience, BDX includes the top two new home websites, NewHomeSource from Builder Homesite and Move New Homes. Additional services include video production, rich media rendering, mobile search, custom website production, connections to real estate professionals, and more. Together these online and interactive resources help builders create a true digital experience for their buyers. For more information, visit www.thebdx.com.

By: Builders Digital Experience

As housing continues to recover, it is important to make sure you are building homes with features potential buyers actually want.  The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently surveyed 3,682 home buyers to see “What Home Buyers Really Want” when purchasing a home.  The results were quite interesting, as people’s preferences and priorities have changed quite a bit over the past couple of years. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the size of new homes has steadily increased over the past three years to 2,524 sq. ft. in 2012.  Additionally, the number of homes with three or more baths and three car garages has gone up.  And as you might expect, the average sales price of homes has increased for the last three years since bottoming out in 2009; the average price in 2012 was $279,000.

It is no secret that resale homes are still outselling new.  In order to capture this share of the market, a new home must have the functionality and features that a used home cannot offer.  The survey suggests removing rooms people don’t use from your floor plans and add that space into places where they spend the most time, such as a separate media room or into a larger master suite.  A kitchen continues to be one of the most important rooms in a person’s house.  Make your kitchens more interactive – 85 percent of respondents want a table space for eating and 76 percent still want a central island. 

We live in a fast-paced society that is always on the go, so why not add features that are convenient and meet the needs of today’s lifestyles?  Seventy-four percent of respondents said they like an open floor plan where the kitchen flows into the living room.  With more people being environmentally conscious, green features have become very important.  Ninety-four percent of buyers said they want Energy Star appliances in their home and 91 percent want an Energy Star rating for the entire home – an older home can have upgrades that are energy efficient, but it will never be as efficient as a new home.  Community amenities featuring resort-style pools, hike and bike trails, great schools in or near the community with easy accessibility to shopping can also have a serious influence on buyers. 

Below is the complete list of the most wanted – and least wanted – characteristics home buyers want in a new home, followed by the percentage:

The Most Wanted List

  • Energy Star-rated appliances — 94 percent
  • Laundry room — 93 percent
  • Energy Star-rating for the whole home — 91 percent
  • Exhaust fan in bathroom — 90 percent
  • Exterior Lighting — 90 percent
  • Bathroom Linen Closet — 90 percent
  • Energy Star-rated windows — 89 percent
  • Ceiling fans — 88 percent
  • Garage Storage — 86 percent
  • Table space for eating in kitchen — 85 percent
  • Walk-in kitchen pantry — 85 percent

The Unwanted List

  • Elevator — 70 percent
  • Golf course community — 66 percent
  • High-density community — 56 percent
  • Only a shower stall in master bath — 51 percent
  • Gated community — 48 percent
  • Mixed-use community — 44 percent
  • Two-story family room — 43 percent
  • Wine cooler — 42 percent
  • Wet bar — 41 percent
  • Laminate countertop — 40 percent
  • Two-story entry foyer — 38 percent
  • Laundry chute — 32 percent
  • Outdoor kitchen — 31 percent
  • Game room — 31 percent
  • His & Her baths — 31 percent
  • Glass front cabinets — 31 percent
  • Countertop — 30 percent

We all know that a new home provides a care-free lifestyle so that homeowners can enjoy their home, not work on it.  Let us help you sell that message to today’s buyers by showcasing your homes with area photos, videos and renderings.  To learn more about our packages, please click here.