Now this is the kind of contest that we at spechomes.com can get into, and (featured to the right) the type of spec home that any home builder would be proud to display.

Congratulations to Craig Sheiles Homes.

This is an outstanding home with unique design elements combined with a clever mix of materials. The introduction of alternative contemporary finishes and innovative design has created an exciting flow-through effect through out this well crafted home.

The Housing Industry Association is Australia’s largest residential building organisation. Members include builders, trade contractors, design professionals, kitchen and bathroom specialists, manufacturers and suppliers.

HIA is the Housing Industry Association – the voice of Australia’s home building industry.

For new home construction or custom homes, you often have a ton of warranty booklets and product information scattered about your new home.

After moving in, you often have additional work done which may have a warranty associated with the work.  Warranty Elephant allows you to organize and store warranty information in a single location.

The past 6-12 months have been difficult for the home building industry, and for us too!

Every day I find stories online exemplifying the challenges that our industry and fellow home builders face, and because I look for it…

I also find hope… I believe that we are beginning to see a solid turn-around in the new home market.

Those of us who have made it this far have an arduous task ahead… changing, adapting, and essentially re-building our industry from the inside out.

People still need shelter – many prefer new homes over resales, but the approach to attract and retain our fellow Americans attention and trust will require a new type of effort.

Without giving the farm away, (I’ve done that before btw,) I’d like to share with you some of the “re-building” and adapting that we plan to implement here at spechomes.com.

Social media seems to all be the rage online these days, but without falling into wanderlust over the idea, here are some features that you might see upon re-launching:

• WordPress has a fantastic code base nimble, yet strong enough to start any online social platform!

With the help of some of the most talented wordpress plugin developers we aim to deliver to you a multi-user blog network centered around the Spec Home Network.

• Each user on our network will have an individual blog community, contain a blog directory, user avatars, and private forum.

More news will be posted on the site soon, follow our progress of our pre-launch development at:

http://twitter.com/lancesonka 

Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to continuing to help you exceed your online home marketing goals!

SpecHomes.com entered the Home Builder Internet Advertising scene with a great brand, and a new take on an established product offering. But a few months later, began feeling unsatisifed with the initial response received within the building industry.

“It just wasn’t enough, we really wanted to make an impact.” Says Lance Sonka, developer of the Spec Home Building Network which distributes home builder inventory listings across the internet.

“Spec Homes Inc. is a smaller company compared to some of the competing players in the new home internet advertising market. The feedback we got after launch was that we had a good product – but the customers were basically saying we are happy where we are at – with the competitor.”

After conducting user research and reviewing internal test results, they changed their approach, and came up with a new way to meet their audience demands, Lance explains how…

“We knew that Home Builders paid enormous sums of money each and every month to the “other guys” for basically the same service that we provided; and that the “other guys” depended on those exorbant fees to stay afloat financially.”

“So we decided to offer the services of the Spec Home Building Network for FREE. It seems that our new pricing strategy solves both the Home Builder’s, and our competitor problem at the same time.”

Chances are you have, but if you haven’t here is a good definition: Viral marketing is a term used to describe a message or information that spreads quickly, effectively, and contagiously through networks of friends, families, and third party relationships.

• Quickly – the viral message is usually passed on effortlessly, as in email, websites, or by word of mouth.
• Effective – the same message (whether broad or specific) usually reaches the intended recipient because it originated from a “trusted” source, and it’s effects can be measured.
• Contagious – well, you get the idea…

Something similar can said about our new housing economy that is developing in the United States.

Information should be fluid (like water at room temperature,) yet the new home information received by the public is being put under abnormal and unbalanced scrutiny at the hand of media networks. Because of low ratings, and loss of participation in traditional mediums of advertising – news sources turn to doom, gloom and scandal to garner attention.

While large media conglomerates are slowly trying to understand the new social media, they still revert to these old standards, even though they are rapidly losing effect. Instead of following money losing, failing business models – why not lead a following through the new medium of social information marketing?

In your industry, market area, and section of the world – aren’t you the expert?

Why not create your own media empire? Deliver your own message to your prospects.

Today, home buyers are being “pressured” by a one-sided argument that now is not a good time to buy a new house. Try as you may to deliver the opposite message, currently you do not have enough credibility with the home buying prospects to change their mind or perception.

Why? The message and information you provide is one sided to your benefit – and it shows! Every time home builders open their mouths, it is usually to blatently benefit themselves with the sale of a new home. Nobody wants to hear about you – they want to hear about things that interest them! 

Traditional media outlets generate revenue through advertising (which the value or cost of said revenue is relative to the attention by which the message attracts.) Usually, the message recipient does not always relate the two because “the sale” is usually not a direct byproduct of following through with the action that the advertisement requested.

Home Builders only generate revenue from the construction of homes, right?

Not so fast! Let’s get back to your media empire…

Today, cost effective web technology fused together with online communities, AKA “social media” allows any business – even home builders to create a dynamic, and compelling audience centered message that when delivered in a viral medium can nearly equal the effect of the traditional news outlets.

Stop being a pawn in the media giants game of doom and gloom that is aiding the destruction of your business.

Instead, take that budgeted money and start a conversation that new home prospects want to engage in! (And not one about yourself,) make it about them, and use social media to do it.