Land Strategies
Gaining Ground With Land Strategies
Small to mid-size firms find success by building on lots overlooked by big builders or infill, forming relationships with land owners, and finding capital partners. Read more
Happy Holidays. Who’s searching for you? That’s a charged question for 2014, a year we’ve christened as home building’s “Fend for Yourself” year. Here, our graphic indexes the BUILDER 100’s top 15 companies according to whose Google Trends search score ranks the highest, an indicator of search box brand power. We see in the months ahead, a stronger, almost causal, correlation between home builders' search box strength and successful home building firms. Originally, “Fend for Yourself” spoke principally to access to capital and credit resources as Uncle Sam tapers back its accommodative, easy money rescue measures. But the term, “Fend for Yourself,” also references access to the capital and currency of home buyers’ ability to know who you are and trust what you do. Ask yourself, “who’s searching for me?” Challenge yourself in 2014 to hire individuals who can complement your domain knowledge with technological skills that improve what you know about who you’re building for, who you’re partnering with, who’s investing in you, who’s searching for you. Read more
North Dakota builder links multiple computer software systems to eliminate duplicated effort and speed up front- and back-end processes. Read more
Successful retailers pay attention to design trends. You should too. Read more
Investing in single-family homes as rental properties is still lucrative, especially in markets with job growth in low wage professions, population growth, and lower average home prices. Here are the top 10 markets for investment, and nine risky markets to steer clear of. Read more