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HBAs Promote Tax Credit, Generate Interest and Traffic
State and local home builders associations across the county are using NAHB resources to help promote the $8,000 tax credit for first-time purchasers — part of the federal government’s massive economic stimulus package — in order to help generate home buyer interest and foot traffic for their members.
HBAs have incorporated marketing tools created by NAHB — including a Federal Housing Tax Credit Web site, a video explanation of the tax credit on YouTube, print ads for consumer and member audiences that can be customized with the member’s or association’s contact information, a public service TV announcement, a consumer flyer, radio spot scripts and Web banner ads — on their Web sites and in their marketing to help revitalize their slumping markets.
The $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers will “provide an overall shot in the arm to the market,” said Nick Tennyson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties in North Carolina.
His association is promoting the YouTube tax credit video on its Web site. In addition, he is encouraging his members to spread the word on the tax credit, which also is available to people who have owned a home in the past but no longer do.
“Anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years may be qualified for the tax credit,” said Tennyson. “At first reading, you would think that a person who has ever owned a home is out of luck. There will be more people meeting this test than might be presumed.”
The association also created copies of the public service announcement and distributed them to area television stations. The stations, he said, “promised to air it.”
The Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri posted the YouTube video on its Web site in order to get information quickly out to people who wanted more details about the tax credit, said Pat Sullivan, the HBA’s executive vice president.
“It appears that the Web site material provided by NAHB is answering a lot of questions,” he said.
NAHB-provided information is also posted on the Web site of the Home Builders Association of Louisville in Kentucky. In addition, the HBA is working to increase the incentive for first-time purchasers by trying to get the state to pass an additional $5,000 state tax credit. If the state stimulus is approved, Chuck Kavanaugh, EO of the Louisville HBA, said the association will be able to market a larger tax incentive for potential buyers.
These and similar marketing efforts are beginning to pay off, according to several EOs. Kavanaugh said his members are seeing increased traffic in their homes and models. In St. Louis, Sullivan, said the tax credit was a strong enough incentive to lure two first-time buyers off the fence and to the closing table for two of his members.
Building Partnerships to Market the Tax Credit
In the Northwest, Jon Chandler, executive director of the Oregon Home Builders Association, said his state association is planning to partner with area Realtors® and bankers to “jointly market the tax credit through their respective networks.”
In Alabama, the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders has partnered with the Birmingham Association of Realtors® to co-sponsor “The Real Deal,” a five-day sales event starting this week that was created to stimulate sales of new homes and resales.
“The objective of ‘The Real Deal’ is to create a sense of urgency and excitement and to help motivate buyers to purchase a home because of the current cost savings, possible upgrades and federal tax relief available,” said Lurenda Avery, the HBA’s public relations director.
The special offers, lowest prices of the year and added incentives that will only be available during “The Real Deal” from April 16-20 will encourage buyers who are on the fence to buy now, added Bart Fletcher, Birmingham EO.
Incentives are being offered on more than 350 new and resale homes as part of “The Real Deal,” with half of the homes new construction. “Any house that sells because of the program will benefit the builder by getting inventory off the market,” Fletcher said.
Marketing Energy Efficiency and Green
In addition to the first-time buyer benefits, members are marketing tax credits available through energy-efficiency home improvements and green building.
Dave Dunlap, of Consolidated Construction Group in St. Louis, said the tax credits for energy-efficiency improvements are beginning to stir interest.
“We have found that our clients become interested in energy-efficient products when they can see a reasonable return on their investment,” Dunlap said. “Tax rebates and tax credits can be a strong incentive.”
Oregon’s Chandler agrees and said that more of his members are “applying their skills to remodeling, particularly ‘green’ remodeling. The expanded tax credits for energy efficiency and renewable energy are going to make this area of the building industry one of the few growth areas in 2009.”
In North Carolina, one of the members in Tennyson’s HBA, Dale Giera, of Hampton Green Homes in Carrboro, recently entered into a partnership to open Solar Tech South, which sells and installs a line of German-engineered solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems.
“The increased tax credits available for that type of product were very helpful to their efforts,” said Tennyson, adding that HBAs and members should take advantage of the tax credits available to promote home building and remodeling. “Every opportunity for exposure has to be seized.”
NAHB resources to help promote the tax credit are available at www.nahb.org/taxcreditmaterials.
For more information, or to share success stories about marketing the tax credit, e-mail Brooke Fishel at NAHB, call her at 800-368-5242 x8061 or visit www.nahb.org/taxcreditstory.
 Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime
Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama.
Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit – including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers.
Spanish Version Also Available Online
A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers.
Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market.
 ‘ValueMatch Selling for Home Builders’ Available at BuilderBooks.com
“ValueMatch Selling for Home Builders,” available through BuilderBooks.com, presents a selling process that focuses on selling feelings and appealing to prospective buyers’ emotional need to buy a new home in today’s market rather than product.
Learn how to build rapport with prospective home buyers, meet their needs, make powerful presentations that are focused on their values and go for the close.
To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
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