Blog

May 30th, 2012

New record high for nationwide housing affordability

Categories: Custom Homebuilders | Tags: , ,

More good news for our custom home builders: Nationwide housing affordability has hit a new record high! This is so for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months of this year, according to the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo. This new HOI data reveals that 77.5 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income of $65k. This is an improvement over the previous record in the final quarter of 2011. Then, only 75.9% of homes sold were affordable to these median-income earners.

However, tight credit has remained an obstacle for many home buyers. Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Flordia, said that, “Homes in this year’s first quarter were more affordable than they have been at any time in more than 20 years, yet many potential sales are not happening because of overly tight lending conditions that are keeping hardworking families from obtaining a suitable mortgage. Without this significant hurdle, the housing and economic recovery could be proceeding at a much stronger pace.” Read the whole article here.

Have you seen these limitations on sales as a custom home builder? The housing market may be improving, but as we noted in the last post it’s been a tough fight. To be on the forefront of the housing market as it improves, you definitely need to consider your scheme for custom home builder internet marketing. And that’s true whether you’re in the most affordable housing market, like Indianapolis-Carmel Indiana, where 95.8% of homes, and Cumberland West Virginia where 99% of homes, were affordable to households earning the area’s median income. Or whether you’re in the bottom of that HOI listing, like in New York were just 31.5% of homes sold in the first three months of this year were affordable to those earning the area’s median income.

If you have questions about your internet marketing – from website design, to mobile websites, to SEO – contact Builder Designs and we’ll be happy to answer any question or just mention your options.

May 7th, 2012

Search Engine Optimization for the custom homebuilder

Categories: Custom Homebuilders | Tags: , , ,

As a custom home builder, are you interested in what SEO can do for you company? Or to put it another way, when people search “custom homes in Your Location”, do you come up on the first page? Because you should, and the right SEO team can make that happen. The trick is finding the right SEO team.

SEO and SEM have been referred to as the “Wild, Wild West” of the internet. There are a lot of ads, a lot of promises, and not nearly as much solid information. It’s not always easy to find the right investment. A negative experience can quickly turn people off – or maybe you’re just wondering if what you’re paying for is really worth it.

Builder Designs utilizes a unique methodology to create real results. The newest BDTV episode discusses our SEO and SEM plans, and we’d like to tell you a little about them, so that you can feel confident in finding what you need. Marketing for custom home builders is a specialty field.  You deserve someone who really knows the market.

Search Engine Optimization properly refers to on-page optimization. Search Engine Marketing, on the other hand, is off-page optimization, like ad words. Our SEO team, headed by David Bean, works full-time on the optimization process. From the initial discovery phase to ongoing evaluation of services, our one-of-a-kind program uses only the builder vertical. And we also have an aggressive link-building strategy built into our website marketing plan. Your custom home builder listing here is just one example! These research-driven plans offer trusted solutions for your marketing needs. And our prices are adjusted to your needs too.

Our SEO team has wrangled clients first page results. When 99% of people are searching online for custom homes, earning a place on that first page is like owning every oil field in Texas. Okay, okay, no more Wild West metaphors – but you get our point. It’s an important investment, and one you want to place in trustworthy hands. Interested in what SEO can do for your company? Give Builder Designs a call, and we’ll be happy to discuss your options, or just offer up some more information.

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