Ultimate Open House
Proven selling tool: The Ultimate Open House™
HBA’s Scattered-Site Tour happening April 20-22 and April 27-29, 2007
By Sandra Bishop
for the HBA
When The Ultimate Open House™ scattered-site tour premiers in April of 2007, a steady flow of visitor traffic will begin touring new homes across the entire Portland Metropolitan area.
“We are aiming to showcase at least 100 entries this year, but that is an open ended goal at this point,” says show chairperson Margie Tucker, member builder and President of Crown Construction of Oregon.
According to show manager Patti White, early registration in November tallied one lot and 34 homes of all types – representing a wide price range and in many Metro areas. “We have homes entered from Forest Grove to Happy Valley and many places in between,” says Patti.
Regardless of the number of entries, with their combined years of experience producing other tours, HBA staff and volunteers are looking forward to producing a well run event that will round out HBA of Metropolitan Portland’s tour offerings and open up opportunities for all member builders to showcase current inventory.
Scattered-site show participation is simple – the main requirement being that the property is complete and/or ready to show in time for the event.
Unlike a Street of Dreams or other area niche tour events, The Ultimate Open House™ is open to every member builder, and promises to be especially popular with the public because attendees can choose from neighborhoods that are of particular interest to them.
In addition to enjoying the latest in design and building techniques & trends, The Ultimate Open House™ will provide attendees the opportunity to find a new home that’s perfect for their lifestyle– whether they’re in the market for a townhome, condo, production or custom home, or a lot on which to build – all within one event.
Though a tour entry never guarantees builders a sale, the marketing opportunities are matchless. Of other area HBA’s who have produced scattered-site tours, Central Oregon Builder’s Association is considered a veteran. “We have several builders who have invested in our tour for the entire 19 years we’ve been producing it,” says Executive Vice President, Tim Knopp. “Whether they are a national builder or a local one, this event provides great exposure and return for everyone who participates.”
“Because no one has to build anything specifically for the show, it’s a great opportunity for every member with marketable inventory to participate,” says Carmine Torio, Executive Director of HBA of Portage and Summit Counties in Akron, Ohio.
“Even though our area saw a significant downturn in home sales last year, I’m advising our member builders not to get left out because they feel like they need to scale back on expenses due to market trends. The truth is when sales are down, marketing spending should go up.”
“Even so, when the show rolls around, there are always some who hedged their bets, then end up wishing they’d participated. I’m telling everyone not to miss out – especially this next year, because all our local market opinions indicate that sales are going to increase by the 2nd quarter of 2007.”
Back on the west coast, the nation’s largest affiliate HBA, Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties is still compiling results of their first scattered-site tour this past October. Because builders and participating vendors can receive business as a result of participation for a good six months following an event of this kind their data is not considered final.
“But,” says Communications Manager Melanie Workhoven, “we can report that we had 105 homes on the tour and 40-some home sales so far. These are not necessarily all tour homes but homes builders sold as a result of consumers seeing their product.”