Legacy Home Builders

Housing construction begins a slow rebound in Harford

After more than three years of a Depression-era like performance, home building in Harford County is slowly showing some signs of revival.

Midway through 2011, more permits have been issued to construct new single family homes than at a similar point in either of the previous three years, according to the June permit report from the county government.

In addition, the county has issued permits for more new housing units of all types in six months than it did in all of 2010.

The latest county report shows permits issued through June for 107 single family homes, 81 townhouses, 212 rental apartment units and 12 condo units, 412 in all. During the 12 months of 2010, the county issued 378 permits in all categories.

While this year's total is inflated somewhat by the apartment construction permits that were issued in June alone, single family home construction activity is typically considered the best gauge of the local industry's health because those homes sell for more and hold the most potential for profit for both developers and builders, as well as the most potential for rising resale value.

Harford's single family permit activity in the first six months of this year compares favorably to 2009 and 2010, when 81 and 87 permits, respectively, had been issued in six months. Those figures do not include the municipalities of Bel Air, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace which issue their own permits.

Though the gain in single family home construction activity is still relatively modest, there are indications the long hoped for BRAC boom is starting to finally take hold in the local home building industry.

Anecdotal evidence from developers and builders suggests, as one said, that the 21014 ZIP Code — Bel Air, Emmorton, Rock Spring, Fountain Green, North Bel Air — is hot and is attracting BRAC buyers moving to the county.

Other hot areas are the 21015 ZIP which includes the middle Route 24 corridor in Abingdon and 21001 along Route 7 between Riverside and Beechtree Estates just west of Aberdeen.

At Richardson's Legacy off Tollgate Road near West Ring Factory Road near Bel Air, builder Richmond American Homes has sold about half of the units in the 42-lot first section, developer Mike Euler said recently. The three-, four- and five-bedroom units start in the mid-400s.

Euler said his development is seeing BRAC buyers coming from northern New Jersey who, he said, want the Bel Air area schools and proximity to shopping, eating out and medical services. And, he added, they also want homes with public water and sewer services.

Home Builder Marketing: Creating a Legacy Brand | Builder Target

How many homes do you want to be selling? What profit margin do you want to be achieving? What kind of people do you want to be working with? How do you want to be thought of by your homeowners? What do you want people to be saying about you around the water cooler or at the Starbucks in the cities and towns where you build?

Now let me ask you this. Which of the following will lead you there:

Incentive-based selling is a reality of our business. And it’s true, these might work to sell a home today. But does that mean the same thing as growing a legacy home builder brand over the next few years?

If we are doing the same things to sell a house today that we did last week, last month, or last year then it’s fairly easy to predict what kind of organization we’ll be in two years: still relying on incentive-based selling to move one house at a time, spending time and money to get the word out about our latest special. With this strategy, we will be waiting out the market to determine when we will be able to pull back on incentives, increase prices, and grow profit margins. It’s an unremarkable solution that, when used as a sole strategy for selling homes, keeps home builders from achieving the status of a trusted, legacy brand that serves generations of homebuyers.

We all have lenders and shareholders and management and bank accounts that need immediate results , and incentive-based selling is a tool. I completely get it. I personally craft incentive based home builder campaigns all the time. There is a time and place. But as we create incentive-based programs that sell homes today, how can we concurrently be building a more lasting legacy that turns today’s marketing messages into something more than throwaway ads and social media spurts? How can we be investing daily in the success of our brand (either ourselves or our company) to insure ourselves against the next downturn?