Newsday - HARD-WORKING MODELS
September 10, 1999

By Joe Catalano
WHEN ASKED recently how important a model home was in selling prospective home buyers, Ronkonkoma developer Lennard Axinn recalled the story of a fellow builder who was selling a home where everything had been completed except the installation of kitchen countertops. As a couple walked through, the wife said, -I can't commit to this because I can't visualize what the kitchen will look like." The lesson: Many home shoppers simply have to see the final product before buying, said Axinn, a partner in Island Estates. Despite increasingly sophisticated marketing devices, ranging from renderings and realistic scale models to computer virtual tours," the model home remains a builder's prime selling tool—even in today's residential real estate market, the strongest in years. Models are "like a big billboard said Rick Frey, vice president of the Long Island Builders institute, an Islandia-based trade group. People see them from the road and stop in.

Many buyers can't picture a home from blueprints. The model lets them see actual room sizes and, if furnished, convinces them that their own furniture will fit, especially in smaller homes, said Kathy Sheck, vice president of sales and marketing for Builders' Design and Leasing in Princeton, N.J., which has designed model interiors for many Long island projects, including Summerfield in Holtsville and Country Pointe in Smithtown. "A little bit of fantasy is also involved,- Sheck said. The model's decor should tap emotions and create something memorable.

For instance, in an early model at Summerfield, a development of 431 single-family homes, Builders' Design had a soccer ball painted on a window as if it were breaking through, said Gary Axelrod, vice president of the Emmy Building Co. in Hauppauge that is developing the new project. It stuck in people's minds, he said. Progessive Homes in Patchogue once used mannequins in its two models, said Frey, also vice president of Progressive Homes. But designers usually avoid ultra-modern, cutting-edge decor, unless they're targeting an avant-garde market, said Alexis Ryan, owner of Alexis Ryan Design Associates in Huntington. Models are not a designer's showcase the home is what's being sold. You try to make it very real for people as well as comfortable and desirable," she said. Models also allow builders to display options and upgrades. More development houses are purchased when shown this way, Sheck said.

At the opening of a project, called the preconstruction phase, there are often no models, but buyers have the best lot choices, said Barbara Adamo, vice president and director of sales for Realty Group Marketing in Smithtown, the selling agent for a number of new homes on Long island. Builders also may offer discounts to jump-start sales. For example, at the 57-home development called Crescent Cove At Seaford, about 15 homes sold at preconstruction, Adamo said —$20,000 below the sales prices set when the Crescent Cove models recently opened, with the development's home prices now starting at $459,000. Despite such preconstruction incentives, however, some buyers just won't purchase until they've seen a model, she said. At Country Pointe, a 194-unit townhome development, more than 100 units were sold in four months before the models opened July 30. The builders, Michael Dubb and Leslie Lerner, partners of the Beechwood Organization in Jericho, estimated that the subdivision would sell out in 15 months without models. Still, There's a certain element of the market that needs to kick the tires," Dubb said, so they built four furnished models. Now they estimate the project will sell out in eight months, saving them construction loan costs and other expenses, far exceeding the models' cost.

And the cost of creating a memorable model can be considerable. The average tab is $20 to $22 a square foot, or about $55,000 for a 2,500-square-foot home, Sheck said. Some builders spend more. Axinn said island Estate's models cost $80,000 to $100,000. Once the model opens, expenses run from staffing and cleaning, to paying utility bills for air conditioning, heating and lighting hat might be in operation 10 hours a day, seven days a week. There are four ways to present a model, Frey said: undecorated; with just window treatments and wall coverings; with some furniture; or completely furnished, with appointments down to photos on the mantel.

How many models, if any, and the type used depends on a development's size, the builder's reputation and other market considerations. Cliff Fetner, president of Jaco Custom Builders in Hauppauge, said it didn't really make economic sense to create a model for his Dix Hills subdivision called Vanderbilt Estates, which had only nine homes, but eliminating the model wasn't an option, either. While Fetner comes from a family of builders—he's the third generation—his own Arm, which began operating in 1993, has built only one other subdivision. I am an unknown to most people," Fetner said. And because the Vanderbilt homes start at $645,000 and are competing with developments by long-established firms, Fetner said he needed a model to show the quality of his work. Since January, two-thirds of the units have sold.

On the other hand, Michael L. Bellas,chief executive of Colonial Village Inc. in Ronkonkoma, has been building for 30 years and still puts up a model when starting any project. Two were begun when sales commenced in January at its latest subdivision, Hidden Oaks At Lake Grove. But by August, the 21 single-family homes sold out before the models were completed. Because of the strong market, Emmy Building Co. decided not to build any models when it opened an 18-lot subdivision in East Norwich, Birmingham Estates, a few months ago with prices starting at $600,000. All but four homes have sold from blueprints, Axelrod said. Similarly, at Waterside Estates At Cresthaven, Queens, the first phase of 25 homes sold out in eight weeks without a model when the project opened in November.

In the second phase of development, prices of 27 new Waterside Estates houses were increased $105,000, raising the least expensive unit to $605,000. One-third of these homes already have been sold. Nevertheless, the developer decided to build a model, scheduled to open this month. The first wave of buyers reflected a pent-up demand, said Philip W. Megna, a principal with the Mattone Group in College Point, which is developing the project with the Associated Development Corp. of Bayside. -But now some buyers are saying, 'Let's see what the models look like before purchasing,'" Megna said. In larger projects that take years to sell out, it's common for some models to be discontinued and new ones added.

At Summerfield, where more than 250 homes sold in 18 months, three new models were recently introduced for the remaining two sections, Axelrod said. This helped freshen the product line, he added. Also, the remaining lots are 70 feet wide instead of 80 feet, as were the earlier ones. The new models are the
same square footage but have been reconfigured for the smaller lots. Models in subdivisions are often displayed in what is called a court or corral, designed to lead buyers from one home to the next. The only exit is through the sales pavilion. This encourages buyers to see all the designs and enables sales agents to get feedback, Sheck said. Smaller builders, however, often put their models in one centrally-located, high-traffic area, even though the actual homes are to be built on different sites, Frey said. For example, Progressive's two models are on Sunrise Highway in Patchogue.

Some larger developers, like island Estates, also have central model courts to sell various jobs or to send prospective buyers to before on-site models in a subdivision are ready. Wherever the model, much planning goes into each, Check said. The two models Ryan designed for Island Estates At Mount Sinai, scheduled to open tomorrow, are aimed at young families. Each room gives a sense of who might be living there, she said. A boy s bedroom has wallpaper with a tennis racquet print. A girl's bedroom shows a cheerleading outfit in the closet. A programed baby grand piano in the living room plays soothing music. At Country Pointe in Smithtown, four furnished models are featured because the townhouses, priced from $230,000, are attracting a spectrum of buyers, Dubb said. One model, a two-bedroom, two-bath on one level, is set up for young professionals and older couples.

The kitchen/dining area suggests a Super Bowl party, while the second bedroom is set up as a den,
A second-floor unit is done in lime green, with a Caribbean feel aimed at a younger audience.
A third, three-bedroom model is designed for young families while a fourth goes after effluent older couples who are trading down. Here, the furnishings are upscale. Despite efforts to create the feeling that you've just walked in on a family out for a few hours, there are some things you won't find in Sheck's models. There is no silverware because children can injure themselves. Paints and crayons also are absent so children won't use them to draw on the models' walls. Ryan is phasing out liquids in glasses and bottles which, if spilled, can stain rugs. She has substituted acrylic inserts that look like liquids. Some buyers, however, take the "Make yourself at home" atmosphere of a model too literally, developers say. Dubb has found mothers changing their baby's diaper in some rooms. In the Country Pointe model featuring the Super Bowl party, there were bottles of alcohol-free beer on the counter. One morning, Dubb found a bottle had been drunk. Now, they're kept empty.


Back to News Page