News

BY LESLIE BERKMAN, BIZ PRESS

Home builders nationwide have a lot riding on the long awaited spring home selling season and are doing all they can to lure in buyers. That’s what the Builder online report found in an informal survey of 20 home builders.

The survey discovered that although plenty of people are visiting new communities, too many shoppers walk out without opening their wallets.

Dave Barisic, vice president of Southern California builder Brandywine Homes, is quoted as saying, “We have seen quite a drop in buyer urgency over the past few months. Our sales agents see plenty of qualified traffic in numbers that seem very healthy, but they just can’t seem to get buyers to commit.”

Meanwhile builders in realization that buyers are extremely price sensitive have been offering discounts and working with trade partners to cut costs, Builder found.

Also social media and web-based marketing are becoming more popular this year . Lancaster, Pa.-based Charter Homes added a live chat feature to its website.

“It’s been a gold mine for the online marketing and sales effort,” said Rebecca Fowler, Charter Homes’ director of communications.