Stephen Alexander's Blog

Look what 's blooming at Summer Park!

stephenalexanderhomes — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:10:51 +0000

Hey everybody I am getting the word out about our spring special at Summer Park. A free Stephen Alexander outdoor screened room with fold away french door window wall or $8000.00 in closing cost assistance buyers choice. We tried to offer something that would have great value of lifestyle and something that none of our competitors could offer, and the reaction from our customers has been”wow that is awesome”. So we hope this helps our customers get more of what they want for less. Remember that Every Stephen Alexander Home is a green home and is 23.5% more efficient and 53% tighter than regularly constructed homes.

Stephen

Pins and Needles (follow up)

stephenalexanderhomes — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:29:12 +0000

Well it has been some time since my last post and since then many things have come into view. My last post I wrote about how nervous we at Stephen Alexander were feeling about participating in our first Homearama and the judging of our entry. Although we were not eligible for all of the award categories, due to the final sales price of our home, we still were afforded a great opportunity to show our love of historic architecture and green design.To our grateful surprise we received a few nods from the judges as well as the “people” in several different categories. We want to thank the Bob Crawford(behind the scenes hero) of Rose and Womble, Tidewater Builders Association , Culpepper Landing, Robinson Development, and the city of Chesapeake for putting on a great show. Below are the awards that we received.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us and appreciate what we do.

Stephen Quick IV

Stephen Alexander 2009 Homearama Awards

The Walnut Cottage – “The Green Home”

Critics’ Choice – Gold Award Most Efficient Floor Plan

Critics’ Choice – Gold Award Best Pool

Critics’ Choice – Silver Award Best Green Feature

Critics’ Choice – Silver Award Best Interior Design

Critic’ Choice – Bronze Award Best Integration of Technology

The Virginian-Pilot Excellence in Building – Silver Award

People’s Choice Award – Gold Favorite Interior Design

People’s Choice Award – Gold Favorite Landscape

Pins & Needles …

stephenalexanderhomes — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:25:01 +0000

Well we are done with our house and the judges have come and gone. Now we wait. Our house is sold and is over the price point for most of the judging. This means we are only eligible for a handful of awards normally available to other homes. With only a few awards available to us we are hopeful for a modest nod in at least one category. I am not one to be nervous but… I am this time. We have never done Homearama before and the field of competitors is great and wide. This has been a fantastic experience for our company and we would definitely like to do it again. The part that is killing me is waiting on pins and needles to find out if the judges liked our work. Oh well I can’t dwell on that, we try to bring the best products and ideas to the market and hope our customers appreciate our efforts and in the end they are the only judges that matter. We feel privileged just to have participated in a show of this stature and to be in the company of so many other great builders.

Hope to see all of you at the show and don’t forget to vote for Stephen Alexander house 12 in the people’s choice awards.

Stephen

All work and no play…

stephenalexanderhomes — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:26:34 +0000

This post comes to you as after a much needed vacation. Recently my wife brought to my attention that I never take time off. I found out that taking 2 days at Christmas or Independence day does not count much less actually help me to re-boot. If I could give you any advice about our business it would be that you would plan time off. Real estate is a 24 hour a day job. We are always at work, our mobile phones that now have mobile e-mail, facebook and twittier apps, are at the ready. Eventually we reach burnout and we don’t even know it. That is what happened to me. I began to hate my job. I love my job, so for me to begin to hate my job was disturbing and indicated that time off was in order especially before Homearama.

So I called my friend Christine and she let me rent her house in Nags Head for a whole week. I have to tell you that a whole week with my phone tucked away and my computer closed definitely helped me re-boot.

If you take anything away from this post let it be that we work hard in the real estate business and to serve our customers well we need to be well rested and on top of our game. So don’t be afraid to take the afternoon off or a long weekend. When you come back the work will still be there only you will be more prepared to make the magic happen.

Stephen

Rainy Monday at the Homearama House

stephenalexanderhomes — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:59:50 +0000

Well not only is it Monday, it is also raining. What does that mean? It means that all of those fine details we are trying to finish just became more difficult.I have plumbers,electricians,carpenters,tile guys all working on top of each other, and to their credit that are able to do so as a team. We want to be done in 2 weeks.

I have a confession, I am a bit of a perfectionist and thus a “clean freak”. So when it rains I go into obsessive mode for keeping the houses clean. I like to keep brooms and a vacuum on site for the subs to clean up as they go. Of course they do not do it as often as I would like .So when it rains I (at homearama) or my guys are sitting on top of the subs to make sure we are working safely and “cleanly” Stephen Alexander has 2 employees whose everyday job is job site Cleanliness for all of our homes. That includes vacuuming all subfloors multiple times during the build process. It makes me feel better to have our guys keeping our houses clean during all phases of construction(in addition to all of the other features we include) and hopefully it will give our customers another reason to feel good about buying one of our homes. Even the dust on the floors matters to us.

(Short and Sweet) What happened to the inventory?

stephenalexanderhomes — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:35:43 +0000

Lately agents are telling me they have seen an increase in non-contingent site visits who want a standing inventory. Unfortunately we have sold all of our inventory. This is where the picture starts to become more clear. It seems the single family new construction market has an extremely low number of available inventory at $400,000 and under. While this in itself is a great development there is a downside, lost sales. Agents across our area telling me that they are loosing sales every week because of the lack of inventory. They also tell me “builders have to start more inventory now”. I never thought I would hear those words again, much less actually agree with them.

So, it seems the market is telling us it is time to consider some targeted inventory. The question is location, price point, features, among many other considerations. So if you were us what would you like to see? How about some listings at 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths, Energy Star rated, Hardie plank exterior, ceramic, priced around the 350’s on large lots in the best school districts in Chesapeake. I hope that sounds good, as that is what we are planning. We also have homes that could be priced from 316900 with all of the features mentioned above. What do you think? Your feedback would be most appreciated.

So when you visit a site, or call for inventory and it seems like there is nothing available, remember that we as builders are becoming re-acquainted with the idea of starting spcecs . Part of the process will include significant input from “our” agents as to what we start how big and what types of features would be most appealing to your buyers.

Looking forward to the feedback.

Stephen

The agent of my buyer is my friend

stephenalexanderhomes — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:08:03 +0000

For years the relationship between agents and builders has been a marriage of convenience with just enough love to make it work. As I have attended sales meetings(new homes and re-sale) across Hampton Roads I hear rumblings from agents that seem to say, that in their opinion “builders do not seem to value,equip, or follow through for their agents”. As I listened ,I had to agree that many times this has been the case, even at our company. So what is a guy to do faced with this perception, somewhat based in reality? Well… if he is me, then I am putting my thinking cap on and finding a way to make sure I am equipping, not only my agents but all agents that might have the occasion to deal with me. We as a company need to make sure that “our” agents feel empowered.

What does “empowered” mean? Well it means that Stephen Alexander creates an environment in which any agent that has a relationship with Stephen Alexander will make more money (making money being an important part of all business) by just being associated with us.You are empowered when you have absolute confidence that we (Stephen Alexander)” will do what we said we will; that we will stand behind our product; that we will listen and make changes to fit your client. We desire to partner with “our” agents through our “let us help you sell your listing” program. We want to offer ourselves and our expertise to “our” agents to assist them with lot sales through our “on your lot” program. We will make referrals to “our” agents, and provide them with free marketing opportunities Via our vast network of websites and social media. Our goal is to see “our agents succeed and continue to grow their businesses even in difficult times. We know that when you are successful and growing that we(Stephen Alexander) will also benefit. We want to be the easiest sale you will ever make. Yes we even don’t mind if you say “just tell me when the check is ready to pick up”. We want to give great value and a wonderful buying experience. We want you to have direct and personal access to us as the builders. You may call and speak talk us personally anytime. We want to make sure that all of “our” agents know that we build almost anywhere in Hampton Roads(ask me about this on facebook).

In the end we want to replace our marriage of convenience with a healthy marriage in which we embrace each others strengths in a partnership for success.

Stephen

Everybody has a first time

stephenalexanderhomes — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:05:56 +0000

Well here I am, exactly where I said I would never be… writing a blog. It has been brought to my attention that I need to “get with it” and start using social media as a tool to grow our business. This blog will not only be a well of information about all things home,(I am a historic home builder) it will also document my growing understanding of the “new real estate market”. The “new real estate market”, meaning the new way we buy and sell, relate to and market to buyers etc. How do we remain relevant to our customers? How do we communicate value? How do we ask for the sale? This blog will hopefully be a dialog between me and you on all of these subjects and more. I want to know you and understand your perspective as a means to better serve you and your buyers.

Stephen