Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - (Page 4) News// MOVes News Texas Builder Refuses to Join Downturn Despite a challenging economy and crashing housing market, LGI Homes of Conroe, Texas (northeast of Houston), just completed its third consecutive year of increased sales thanks in large part to an abject refusal to participate in the market downturn. It’s a lesson every builder could use today. LGI moved up to No. 278 last year in Professional Builder’s Giant 400 report. In 2008, the firm hit 475 closings for $63 million. This May, we’ll learn just how high in the rankings LGI will jump this year, but our money is on another big leap. LGI president Eric Lipar and executive vice president Mike Snider, who heads the home building side of the business, attribute their 04 02.01.09 HOUSING GIANTS www.HousingGiants.com The Next $350 Billion — Bloomberg TV Questions are being raised on what President Obama will do with the next $350 billion. Watch this interview with Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio from Bloomberg TV. success to a customer-focused corporate culture and extremely aggressive marketing and sales. All the closings come from just three subdivisions, two in Houston, one in San Antonio. “Our goal is to get people out of apartments and into home ownership,” says Snider. “We don’t wait for them to come to us. We go after them.” LGI spends $60,000 per subdivision each month on direct mail advertising to area apartment complexes. All of LGI’s homes are priced between $95,000 and $160,000, but the firm never mentions price in its marketing — only the dollars required to carry a home in monthly payment. “It’s often less expensive for a customer to buy from us than to continue to rent,” Snider says. On the construction side, LGI keeps everything simple, offering only six floor plans per subdivision with no options. The firm builds spec homes, ready for move-in, but no model homes. “They tour the home they’ll buy,” says Snider. “Our average build time is 45 days, and we build three or four at a time. The trades never leave the subdivision,” Snider boasts. In sales, the emphasis is on striking while the fire is hot: sales offices are open 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. “We spend a lot of time training our sales people,” Snider says. “We give them 100 days of training before they are ever allowed to serve customers and start making sales. Snider’s words of wisdom: “Two areas where builders should never cut their budgets are marketing and sales training. If you do the marketing right, the phones will start ringing. Once that happens, you’d better have a great sales staff, because when they call is the moment their desire to buy is at its highest.” — Bill Lurz Builder Rents Over Buys — Housing Wire California Coastal Communities, based in Irvine, Calif., sold model homes to an investor who in turn leased it back to the home builder. Collaboration Builds ‘Senior Home of the Future’ — Building Online Eskaton Senior Services collaborated with various companies to produce what it refers to as a “senior home of the future” in Roseville, Calif. Roundtable Discussion on Fixing the Housing Market — Bloomberg TV The CEO of Mortgage Bankers Association, John Courson, and economist Jay Brinkman participate in a roundtable discussion on what they think is necessary to fix the housing market. IndyMac Sold for $13.9 Billion — CNNMoney.com The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold failed mortgage lender IndyMac to private investors for $13.9 billion. continued on page 5 http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/807589/tarp_watch_the_new_350_billion http://www.housingwire.com/2009/01/05/sign-of-the-times-even-homebuilders-prefer-to-rent/ http://www.lgihomes.com http://www.buildingonline.com/news/viewnews.pl?id=7765&subcategory=171 http://www.buildingonline.com/news/viewnews.pl?id=7765&subcategory=171 http://www.eskaton.org http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/806370/inside_look_fixing_the_housing_market http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/806370/inside_look_fixing_the_housing_market http://www.probuilder.com/Giant400 http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/02/news/companies/indymac/?postversion=2009010211 http://www.CNNMoney.com http://www.fdic.gov http://www.HousingGiants.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 Contents Viewpoint News & Moves Process Feature Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 (Page Cover1) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Contents (Page 2) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Viewpoint (Page 3) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - News & Moves (Page 4) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - News & Moves (Page 5) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Process (Page 6) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 7) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 8) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 9) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 10) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 11) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 12) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 13) Housing Giants - February 1, 2009 - Feature (Page 14)
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