This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Jaclyn Centofanti of Hulbert Homes joins Greg Bray and Kevin Weitzel to discuss the importance of home builders identifying and focusing on the ideal home buyer. Making sure a home buyer and a home builder are an appropriate match can eliminate many negative issues during the home buying process.
Centofanti says, “If I sign somebody on and they're maybe a pill, I have to then hand them over to my interior designer, I have to hand them over to a project manager, and then we have to babysit them for 10 to 12 months while they build their house. Which is kind of a long time for somebody to be not a good fit for a company. We really think about that … are we sure this is the right fit? You know, are they going to get along with our project managers? Are we just handling something that we don't want them to handle? And we've walked away before as needed.”
It can be financially challenging to vet home buyers; however, it will benefit the entire home building company to ensure that the customer is on the same page as the home builder.
She says, “It's a tough pill to swallow to say no to somebody when their money is green. But it's more than just about me because I could kind of walk away after selling them and say, thanks so much. Nice to meet you guys. Here's our project manager, Mike, and he's going to be like for nine months, why did you give me this person? I don't want to build their house.”
It might be necessary for a home builder to refuse work from a buyer that doesn’t reflect the same values. She says, “I would like you to choose us because we're the best, but I want you to do your homework. And I'll also say that we're not everybody's cup of tea. We've turned clients down before that we've said, you know what? I don't think that we can meet your expectations. That's tough, you know, when you're looking at a million-dollar home.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how home builders can secure the right type of home buyers.
