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South New Jersey Builders Not Dogged by Big Home Inventory
 Responding to the concerns of prospective buyers about conditions in the local real estate market, the Builders League of South Jersey (BLSJ) launched a public information campaign in early May, with a new www.buynewitstime.com Web site as its centerpiece to tell consumers why waiting to buy might not be such a bright idea.
“While New Jersey is in the middle of a market correction after 15 years of home prices steadily rising, South Jersey is not experiencing the woes faced by other areas of the country,” said Bob Brown, the association’s president. “The bad news on the national housing market, however, is feeding consumers’ fears about investing in a home and their future.”
While a large surplus of homes has contributed to the downturn in many parts of the country, densely-populated southern New Jersey doesn’t have a large outstanding inventory, according to Brown, because there isn’t a lot of vacant land to develop and what land is available is saddled by difficult land-use regulations.
The selection of housing available to buyers today is larger than it will be in the future, he said.
“Coupled with an increase in the value-added incentives being offered by many new home builders, the market is perfect for building a new home today,” Brown said. “It’s not going to last. In three or four years, those who waited to buy may regret it.”
In video and audio formats, the association’s multi-media Web site includes interviews with housing experts and builders, answers to common buyer questions and testimonials from recent home buyers. The site also provides contact information for 90 new home builders, with Web site links that make it easy for shoppers to see what they have to offer.
“It’s given us an opportunity to do something we’ve never done before — let home buyers tell their stories, which can be more compelling than someone with a vested interest in a sale,” said Mary Danielsen, director of public information for the BLSJ.
The site is also designed to convey the facts to the media.
“One of the major local papers has next to no one in their business department, and now they are just picking up national wire stories about housing,” said Danielsen. “So this is a way we can get in front of them on a regular basis with facts showing that our market is very different, even from those just 30 miles up the road.”
The BLSJ has promoted the site with regional ads on move.com and the Web sites and print editions of several local newspapers. It has asked its members to put the site URL and logo on their advertisements, Web sites and roadside signs around their developments.
Danielsen said the association has used content from NAHB’s Myth Buster resources on the site.
“We also provided Myth Buster materials directly to our members’ sales teams, then showed them how to use the information internally and incorporate it into their discussions with buyers,” she said.
Future plans for the Web site include adding information and interviews with experts about mortgage financing and pricing an existing home to sell.
Go to www.nahb.org/mythbuster to access the continuously-updated resources and read more Myth Buster success stories about locals around the country.
For more information, e-mail Gwyn Donohue at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8447.
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