Virginia Beach, VA

Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show Opens This Weekend

03-10-12

Mark Edwards

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Office: (757) 288-7584

Mobile: (757) 288-7584
Secondary: (757) 238-9009

Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show brings home inspiration just in time for spring

The New Home Expo and Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show by the Tidewater Builders Association opened yesterday at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Thousands of people will get a great look at innovative ideas for their homes and their backyards when they walk through the exhibit hall.

Seminars will be going on all weekend, and builders, contractors, and various designers are on hand to help you with any home improvement project or new home plans that you may have. I saw alot of cool backyard kitchens and fire pits yesterday that would look great at my home.

Nora Firestone, pictured above, gave an interesting and creative DIY Kitchen presentation at the Sherwin-Williams booth. (She'll be there again today at 6pm Sat., and 2pm Sun.) I also got a free 5-gallon bucket from Sherwin-Williams, which I can fill with merchandise in-store Mar. 13-15 and receive 35% off whatever fits!

The stone paver backyard kitchen displays were very cool. Great food was also served along with creative ideas for the kichen. You can also find information about new homes and planned communities in the Hampton Roads area like the East West Communities booth- The Riverfront at Harbour View, Founders Pointe, Graystone at Eagle Harbor, and Liberty Ridge in Williamsburg, Viriginia.

To see more photos from the Home & Garden Show, visit our photo album on our East West Realty Facebook page.

For more information on the show, visit MidAtlanticHomeShow.com.

Find inspiration for the inside and outside of your home at Tidewater Builders Association’s 27th annual Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show at the Virginia Beach Convention Center March 9-11, 2012. This show, part of the National Home and Garden Show Series will feature nearly 500 exhibits of products and services for the inside and outside of the home from flooring to roofing and everything in between.

Admission cost $10 for adults and is free for children age 12 and under. Two-day passes are $17 each and three-day passes are $23. Active-duty and retired military and senior citizens will receive a $2 discount. Parking is free.

Show highlights include:

Design tips from HGTV’s Sabrina Soto at 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Painting tricks from the Wall Wizard
Easy-Peasey containers with Kathy Van Mullekom
Weird and wonderful wildlife in your backyardwith nature blogger Mary Reid Barrow
Green Walkabout
The New Home Expo presented by The Hampton Roads REALTORS® Association’s New Homes Council
Hall Automotive Hall-in for the Hungry food drive
Beautiful outdoor living spaces
“Dreaming of Design” design room challenge
Children’s activities and puppet shows
Cooking demonstrations

For Information about East West Partners’ communities, visit www.eastwestcommunities.com. Discover the best in lifestyle communities at Founders Pointe, Eagle Harbor, Liberty Ridge, and The Riverfront at Harbour View. East West Realty Sales Centers are open 7 days a week on-site. Equal Housing Opportunity

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Hampton Roads REALTORS® Association's New Home Expo Show is March 9th

03-08-12

Mark Edwards

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Office: (757) 288-7584

Mobile: (757) 288-7584
Secondary: (757) 238-9009

Don't miss this big event tomorrow, Friday, March 9th!

HRRA"s New Home Expo is being held in conjunction with TBA's Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show, and REALTORS® get in free on Friday, March 9 - if you bring your business card! Complete your Eazy Pass and you'll be eligible for cash door prizes!

There will also be Free Seminars in Expo all weekend including: Outsmart the Current Credit Crisis with Douglas Muir, CEO of Credit Justice Services; Careers in Real Estate; Energy Tips and Tricks from an Energy Professional; Evernote© for your iPad and iPhone; and Keynote© for the iPad and iPhone.

Learn more about this fantastic event here.

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The 2012 Shamrock Marathon is Almost Here!

03-03-12

Kathryn Maguire (The Real Estate Group)

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Office: (757) 410-8500 x757

Mobile: (757) 560-0881

The 2012 Shamrock Marathon is Almost Here!

Shamrocks If you are looking for an active way to celebrate St Patrick's Day, this year you will find no better alternative than the 40th Annual Shamrock Marathon and 8K Run in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The marathon is a qualifying race for those interested in the Boston Marathon.

This event is not just for the hard core runners but also offers events like a children's run, a half marathon and plenty of live entertainment.

Dates: March 16 through 18, 2012

Location: Registration packets can be picked up between 1:00-9:00 pm on March 16 or between 10 am and 5 pm on March 17 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center located at 1000 19th Street in Virginia Beach.

Registration and the schedule of events can be found at ShamrockMarathon.com. This website contains course maps and can answer any questions prospective runners (or walkers) might have.

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For all you beach lovers!

02-07-12

Donna Bosze

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Office: (757) 410-0306

Mobile: (757) 338-5334

Attention Beach Lovers!

I have something of interest for your eyes! Have you ever dreamed of waking up and wandering out your door and POOF the beach awaits you...well it is possible!

Check out the video for 2234 Vista Circle, Virginia Beach!

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What Makes People Decide to Buy a New Home?

02-04-12

Mark Edwards

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Office: (757) 288-7584

Mobile: (757) 288-7584
Secondary: (757) 238-9009

What makes people decide to buy a new home? What are the real factors behind the buying decision?

Technology is great, but Selling is still a one on one business. In this age of technology, social media, blogging, virtual tours, and searching for new homes "online", it's a good reminder for salespeople to really break down the home buying process and understand what makes people decide to buy a new home. Do they really need another home? Are they looking for a deal or are they trying to improve their lives? Sure, people buy for different reasons, and sometimes they don't really tell us why...we often think it's about price. Well, it's not always about price. Do people buy facts and figures or do they buy the benefits of what the purchase will bring them? (I'm no expert, but I have listened to many people who are over my 26 years in this business .Let's examine some of what goes into a home buying decision for the fun of it)

Facts and Features deal with logic, which relates to the head, but benefits deal with emotions relating to the heart. People do need to help them “feel right” about our community rather than thinking about it some more. When sharing the features or selling points of your community or new home, be sure to explain the benefit of that feature....what's in it for them?

Most salespeople are better at educating than motivating – need to better understand human nature, and what motivates people to make large purchases.What’s the Benefit mean to the customer? While attending a National Home Builders Convention years ago and I remember hearing about what really motivates people to buy a new home. The Sales & Marketing Council for the NAHB has categorized the motivations for its Certified Site Professional course as follows...

Even though people are different, they seem to fall in seven different categories:

Desire for physical security and safety

Desire for financial security and potential gain

Desire for social acceptance and the need for friends

Ego fulfillment, personal recognition, and gratification

Desire for comfort, enjoyment, and absence of pain

Desire for happiness

Family welfare and closeness; building memories

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Even though the decision to purchase is usually based on a combination of a couple of these different motivations, most of the time, there tends to be one or two dominant buying motives. It's also important to understand three factors that influence people's decision to buy a new home today-

1. Current Dissatisfaction- there is a built up demand and there’s a stronger urgency to purchase today! Salespeople need to realize and understand the dissatisfaction curve.

2. Future Promise- engage them, get them involved emotionally, get them to see the future promise

3. Cost and Fear- holds people back.

Which factor gets in the way of a sale? PEOPLE WILL BUY WHEN, their current dissatisfaction times the future promise (what's it going to be like living in this new home community) is greater than the cost and fear (price is perceived too high or the fear of paying too much in this economy)

Current dissatisfaction X Future Promise > Cost/Fear

The majority of salespeople start with the Cost/Fear and work backwards. If there is a zero on either of the left side variables, what does that do to the rest of the equation? If the Current Dissatisfaction is very, very high, the Future Promise can be lower, and vice versa.

A surprising Future Promise can create a Current Dissatisfaction. Maximize the Dissatisfaction & Future Promise, you’ll have little work to do on the Cost/Fear

With any given buyer, you must be able to identify the most important variable in order to get them to move forward. (I know this, is really deep stuff).

By effectively demonstrating the benefits of your homes/community and how the customer will enjoy living there, it will help the customer overcome the other factors. Some will have the customer expand on their current situation they're in and the customer ends up sharing their discontent...okay, moving on, here's one more math equation-

KNOWLEDGE + CONFIDENCE = SALES

People will buy from you if they have confidence in you. Salespeople should work extra hard to build confidence and trust with their customers and clients early on in the sales process. Be genuine, be yourself. Respect your customers, people will be more comfortable with you and your product if you treat them with sincere appreciation and respect.

You build confidence by being the expert. Spend the extra time researching your builder, your community you're selling in and know everything you can about new construction and the home plans you're representing. I remember something I heard when I first started in real estate, "customers secretly want you to succeed...they will buy from you, but you have to sell them the way they want to be sold".

As Myers Barnes once told us, "Simply exceed expectations from the customer's point of reference on a consistent basis and you are a winner".

For Information about East West Partners’ communities, visit www.eastwestcommunities.com. Discover the best in lifestyle communities at Founders Pointe, Eagle Harbor, Liberty Ridge, and The Riverfront at Harbour View. East West Realty Sales Centers are open 7 days a week on-site. Equal Housing Opportunity