Luring Sales

On a rainy Saturday morning last October, the developers of the low-density, lakeside resort project Firefly Cove, on Lake Lure near Asheville, N.C., sold 24 home sites and condominiums—representing $15 million and accounting for more than half of the first phase's release—within three hours.

Now the how: A combination of anticipation, exclusivity, technology, and a two-day event culminating in the frenzy that occurred that morning. Having taken reservations from 50 potential buyers, requiring only a refundable deposit of $1,000 for parcels priced up to $1.6 million, the developer and its sales agency, Private Mountain Communities (PMC), allowed only those prospects to visit the site in the two weeks leading up to the grand-opening event. On a sunny Friday, would-be buyers enjoyed one final guided tour as well as boat and helicopter rides to get a final view of the property, followed by a catered party. The next morning, prospects (prioritized by their reservation date) kept scheduled, 15-minute appointments with PMC to complete the sale. While some fell away as sought-after lots sold ahead of them, the sales team achieved a 50 percent closure rate.

BIRD'S EYE: Reservation holders at Firefly Cove had their pick of lots, condos, and village homes within the resort community's first phase. Renderings and helicopter rides enabled them to envision the finished plan.

“The key was bringing them to the site and giving them a sense of life at Firefly Cove,” says Harry Redfearn, principal at PMC. The two-week window before the event, he says, enabled prospects to prioritize their choices for the grand-opening sales blitz. At the same time, the event helped foster esprit de corps among future neighbors. PMC also employs proprietary software to help match resort-home buyers to a narrower list of properties among the 130-plus the firm manages, improving the likelihood of sales.

Program: Grand opening at Firefly Cove, Lake Lure, N.C.; Developer: Firefly Cove Inc., Lake Lure; Sales agency: Private Mountain Communities, Asheville, N.C.; Cost: $80,000 (two-day event); Public relations agency: MMI Associates, Raleigh, N.C.

Odds on Favorite

One lucky buyer at Fallen Leaf at Galena in Reno will win back the price of his or her house.

It's called “Win A Free Home,” but the truth is the developers of Fallen Leaf at Galena, a 245-unit, 20-plus acre condominium project in Reno, Nev., will actually refund the purchase price of a home—including upgrades—to one of the first 40 buyers to close since the promotional campaign launched in September 2006. “They can pay off the mortgage, save for college, take a trip; it's up to them,” says Taylor Cohee, vice president of sales at Pacific West Cos., the developer. With base prices into the $320s, he says, “It's really going to change someone's life.”

Approaching build-out of the 35-building community with about 100 sales to go last October, Pacific West wanted to boost site visits and sales without kowtowing to the deep discounts and other incentives undertaken by its competitors. The promotion worked, increasing sales traffic from about 25 people a week to 100-plus and invigorating the sales pace to about seven per month through February.

FREE AND EASY: During a six-month promotion, the first 40 home buyers to close escrow at Fallen Leaf at Galena were entered into a drawing to win back the purchase price of their home, including upgrades.

The names of the first 40 of those home buyers were put into a hopper, with one lucky winner getting his or her money back. “We could have included more people [beyond the first 40 sales], but the odds had to be attractive and the offer seen as legitimate,” says Cohee. “We found a number that allowed it to work financially for us and generate excitement in the market.”

Program: “Win a Free Home” promotion at Fallen Leaf at Galena, Reno, Nev.; Developer: Pacific West Cos., Reno; Cost: $180,000 (advertising/promotion), plus the purchase price of one home

High Style

Are kitchen cabinets the single most important thing in your house? They might be.

To capture the attention of the elite international crowd attending South Florida's annual Art Basel art show, local developer Avra Jain conceived of a 20-foot-tall-by-25-foot-wide mobile depicting the name of her curving 40-unit, 40-story oceanfront condo tower, Regalia. Hoisted and held by an 80-foot crane over a warehouse that stored a 22-foot-tall scale model of the shapely building, the mobile was visible to everyone traveling down Interstate 395 to the show and throughout the nearby area.

“People who come to Art Basel are our buyers,” says Jain, a principal with Regalia Holdings, noting per-unit sales prices beginning at a lofty $6.2 million. “We wanted to tag along [with that event] and give them a little teaser.”

SCULPTED EFFORT: Both the 20-foot-tall mobile and the sculpted shape of the Regalia condo tower evoke the free-flowing style of the building (right), in which buyers will enjoy 2,000-square-feet of terrace space and panoramic views.

The mobile consisted of seven, 2-foot-diameter polystyrene foam balls, each epoxy-coated against the elements, counter-balanced, and depicting one letter of the project's name. The mobile was assembled with professional rigging to rotate in free motion around a vertical pole to occasionally line up to spell Regalia. “The elements are simple, but hanging them properly and in balance was a challenge,” says Jain, who kept the mobile up for the 10-day art event after shepherding it from an idea to reality in just six weeks.

“It got people talking,” she says, as well as some local press coverage, aiding the developer's sales efforts, if not actually driving traffic. “At this price point, it's all about relationships and our broker network.” The tower is slated to begin a 16-month construction schedule in June.

Program: Mobile at Regalia, Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.; Developer: Regalia Holdings, Miami; Advertising agency: The Apple Organization, North Miami Beach, Fla.; Cost: $11,000, including crane rental