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IN 1988, AFTER NEARLY 20 SUCCESSFUL years in real estate and home building, Gene McKown went belly-up, a victim of an economic slide in the Southwest brought on by collapsing oil prices. Two decades later, the 62-year-old McKown—in partnership with co-owners a generation younger—not only has...
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How often do buyers enter a splendidly appointed model home and say, “I want that,” but are frustrated because the cost of those furnishings would bust their budgets, or they have no way of purchasing the products? Apparently too often for D.R. Horton, which is why the industry's largest builder is...
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Most every builder strives to help prospective buyers envision themselves in one of its new homes, to see themselves cooking dinner, creating family memories, or just hangin' out watching TV. But Centex Homes' Los Angeles/Central Coast division gave real life to that vision with a campaign called...
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The architects had two types of families in mind when they designed the Adagio 5050 plan for Canterra Homes in greater Phoenix. “One for parents with a 20-something child that won't leave the house, or it could be for those with a widowed mother or father who lives with them,” says Thomas Rietz...
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EVEN BEFORE IT PUT A SHOVEL IN THE GROUND AT RAVENNA, a 42-unit “boutique” community of oceanfront homes in San Clemente, Calif., builder John Laing Homes' South Coast division had a pretty good idea of how it would theme the grand opening of the models and first phase of sales. “Our market...
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A Go-to Woman
DALLAS—Downstairs at David Weekley Homes' New Home Center in Dallas, it's what you might expect of a design center that lends access to a sampling of model homes. A life-size bronze sculpture of children at play, a soothing fountain, and a sincere, but not overly pushy female receptionist add up to...
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Pringle Development's Duke model is far too unusual to be its best seller. But its uniqueness has won the builder local Parade of Homes awards, and it fits the Central Florida active adult community builder's goal of standing out in the crowd.
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Practically every builder and developer throws big bashes to celebrate grand openings, new models, and other milestone occasions. But the Bonita Bay Group has taken the southwest Florida party scene to a new plane.
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The model home as theater? After three successful “shows” in which a team of actors posed as a family of four while home buyers browsed the model, Centex Homes' Los Angeles/Ventura County division is ready to embrace the novel concept and make it into a road show. The question is will it play in...
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- New Leviton program provides home builders with product brochures, merchandising displays, easels, and wall talkers for showrooms and model homes.
- New study by technology research group In-Stat finds that few consumers know about Microsoft's Media Center PC.