Residential Construction News, Trends and Strategies for Success

With more than 25 years in the business, David Schoner is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in new-home sales and marketing. As the previous owner of Schoner Research and the New Jersey New Homes Guide, he’s worked for the past 17 years as vice president, Coldwell Banker NRT, responsible for all New Homes Division operations. In this interview, Schoner shares his insights on the rebound in new-home sales and how brokers can best build this important revenue stream.

As a boy growing up in a construction family, I never really understood the reason why. “That’s just the way things are,” my father explained one day. “It’s like oil and water, builders and real estate brokers just don’t mix.” A few years later, on our way home from work one day, I decided to rile him up a little. “You aren’t going to believe it, but I heard about a builder who’s actually married to a real estate agent!” You should have seen his reaction to this anomaly.

Although the benefits of education have been established again and again, there are those who actually attempt to justify their lack of knowledge and professionalism. The first time I heard this attitude, I was taken completely by surprise. At the time, I was talking with a real estate agent at a national convention, explaining the educational and professional benefits to be enjoyed through completion of our RCC and CNHS certification courses. After my brief overview he looked at me stra...

In a conversation with a real estate professional at a recent national convention, I was told an interesting story. This agent was working a builder’s model home one afternoon when a couple in their late 50’s stopped by and spent some time touring the home. As they returned from the second floor, the sales agent asked “So what do think? Isn’t this a nice home?” “We definitely think it’s a nice home, but we’ve already been living in it for 20 years,” the woman answered. As the ...

While markets differ in various ways, most of us in real estate are playing our game by the same rules. All of us have access to the same quality resources, information and tools of our trade. Why is it then, that a select few seem to achieve success so far beyond the rest of the pack? This story offers one of the answers to this question. I was visiting my friend John, a successful developer I had known for many years. In the imposing brick office complex he had recently completed, we sat i...

Many of us have learned to be careful what we wish for. Years ago, as a young custom homebuilder, I reached a point where these words were ringing in my ears. While I was excited my business was growing quickly, I found myself struggling to keep up with my work like the proverbial ‘one-armed paper hanger’. Job site supervision consumed my weekdays from sunup to sundown. Evenings were dedicated to customer meetings, estimating and architectural design work. On weekends, I worked my model homes ...

How Important are New Homes to Your Real Estate Business? Here’s an interesting question for brokers, managers and sales professionals: Of all current prospective homebuyers in your market, what percentage would like to at least consider the purchase of a brand new home? Certainly this number will vary from market to market, often depending on what may be realistically available and affordable. But if you had to make an educated guess, would you estimate 50%? … 70% … or even more?

When new opportunities present themselves, are you prepared to recognize them, and trained to make the most of them? When I was a boy, my father told me a story that relates: The landlord of an apartment building, woken in the middle of the night with complaints from freezing tenants, struggled for several hours trying to get a big old boiler heating system to come back to life. Exasperated, he finally called in “Bob the Boilerman” to repair the beast.

In my travels as a consultant and speaker, I hear plenty of conversation about what’s happening in the real estate market and why. Of course it’s important for all us to have this understanding as well as an educated opinion on what’s coming next. Unfortunately, too many people are so focused on the negative and unknown factors, they’re overlooking real opportunities.