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Perfect Your Home Listing Description

By
Ellie Walker
-
Relief from Dodd-Frank

Your home listing description can make all the difference

The home listing description space is where MHVillage invites you to give a detailed description of the home.

Something we see quite a bit on MHVillage is home sellers using the description area to either list additional details (sometimes the same features already selected and listed in the home features section) or enter nothing at all.

We have found that this is simply not as effective as taking the time to give the shopper more information about the home, the community it is within and any other details that might make this home stand out from the crowd.

Here are some examples of actual home descriptions on MHVillage:

Option 1:

    The description has no word limit. Still, this seller only included two sentences about the home.

Option 2:

 This seller took the time to walk the buyer through the home describing each room!

The difference in these two listings is crystal clear. One of the sellers took the extra steps to really show off what this home has to offer, while the other seems like they tried to list the home as quickly as possible, not really giving much information.

Rise Above the Rest

It is important to remember, a lot of home buyers are looking at tons of listings and a good number of these buyers are looking at homes in other states. So by giving buyers more information in your home listing description, you set them up to be interested enough to contact you for a tour or more information. And this is the whole point of advertising in the first place!

Now, there are plenty of different ways you can use this space from a marketing stand point. You can follow the two examples mentioned in this article or you can write it more in the style of a newspaper article where it’s in paragraph format. Either way you want to be able to give the buyer the experience of walking through the home, noting all of the details that matter to a home owner. We found that the ads where you can tell that the seller took the time to describe the home, keeps buyers interested and eventually gets them to contact the seller.

So, no matter what your style of advertising is, it’s important to share with the buyer why they should consider your home over all of the other options out there. Why not take the time to use this space to your benefit?

We try to give you all of the tools you need to go the extra mile in your advertising, but if you find you have some questions about what features you have on MHVillage, give us a call or an email today! We are happy to help.

 

What is the “Talk To Your Fans Feature” on MHVillage?

By
Ellie Walker
-
talk-to-your-fans

MHVillage helps you “talk to your fans”… Your fans are the people who have shown interest in your listings.

We love the “Talk To Your Fans” feature, and we’d like you to use it more.

As you know, our website offers a number of advertising tools to home sellers, community managers, and retailers. We also offer shopping tools for home buyers on the site. Home shoppers can set up alerts for home listings of interest.

So who are your “Fans”?

Homebuyers have two different ways to become a fan of a listing, community or retail sales center.

1. While searching MHVillage, buyers can click the “Like” option. That saves the listing, community or retail sales center to their account.

2. Buyers also can create an “Ideal Home Search” alert, which will make them a fan of any listing that matches their criteria, (even homes listed after the alert is created).

Once a customer is a “Fan” certain events will trigger automatic updates:

  • Reduced Sale Price
  • Updated Photos
  • Updated Description
  • Added Open House
  • A Home Marked “SOLD”
  • Homes added to Community or Sales Center

So, when any of these happen, MHVillage send them an automatic email letting them know.

You can email your Fans directly through the “Talk To Your Fans” tool!

Want to reach out to people who have expressed interest in homes in your area? Here’s how to do it:

Click “Talk to your Fans.” This feature is located on your account page to the right side.

Select which fans you wish to reach out to. You can choose fans of a particular home, or all your fans all at once.

Here you can send an email directly to your interested buyers. There is space for additional information about the home or any buyer incentives you might be offering.

The Talk to your Fans tool is incredibly useful since it gives you the opportunity to reach your consumer base directly. This allows you an added opportunity to connect with them and hopefully sell them their next home!

If you have any questions about the Talk to your Fans tool – or anything in your account – send us an email. We are happy to help!

Internet Marketing in 2016 and Beyond; MHI presentation

By
Dawn Highhouse
-
online-marketing

A big thank you to all the folks that made the Louisville Manufactured Housing Show for the MHVillage presentation on Internet Marketing in 2016 and Beyond. Yes, it was such a great success, once again! I was honored to give the opening seminar to a fantastic, engaged audience.

Several professionals have asked for a copy of my slide deck for Internet Marketing in 2016 and Beyond.

The file is too large to email, so we’re posting it here so that you can download the PDF.

Click the first slide below to download. Note, the PDF is password protected. If you have questions or need the password, please feel free to contact me at MHVillage. Thanks again for a great show – and we’ll see you in Tunica!

  • By Dawn Highhouse, MHVillage VP of Digital Marketing and Social Media Strategy

Large File – please allow a moment for download – Internet Marketing

 

Energy is Up at MHI Congress & Expo in Las Vegas

By
Patrick Revere
-

Congress & Expo Draws Large Crowds

It was a stellar year at the MHI Congress & Expo in Las Vegas. Five of us from MHVillage attended the show this year, along with about 1,200 others.

This year’s attendance represented the biggest turnout in a decade, organizers said.

“That’s proof that the industry is back, it’s healthy, and it’s growing,” MHI President and CEO Dick Jennison said.

He was quick to add that year-over-year shipments to date are up 17 percent.

There was plenty of discussion about financing mechanisms, a conversation that runs up to Washington D.C. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in talks with government oversight committees to provide greater access to personal property. Otherwise called “chattel loans”, this type of lending helps feed manufactured home sales.

The Congress & Expo was held at Caesar’s Palace, May 2-5.

MHI Congress & Expo
MHVillage exhibitor booth in Vegas

MHVillage had a front and center spot in the exhibit hall, greeting longtime advertisers and partners, as well as gaining new ones.

“We get about 45 to 50 leads a month from MHVillage. We do a lot of business with MHVillage, and it helps,” said James Reitzner, who owns manufactured home communities in Wisconsin and Northern Michigan. “About 45 percent of our leads come from MHVillage.”

Many of the attendees at this year’s show were investors, who have honed in on the trend toward manufactured housing as growing stock in the affordable housing market, and as a stable and long-term solution to diversify real estate holdings.

Tyler Gordon, of West Partners, an investment group in Carlsbad, Calif., chimed in.

“There has been a lot of movement in the industry. There’s a lot of consolidation, and eager sellers. It’s a matter of finding the right property to buy, which is why many of us are here,” he said.

Save the Date – SECO17!

By
Patrick Revere
-

SECO17 will draw more than 350 small- and mid-size manufactured home community owners and other industry personnel Oct.11-12, 2017 in Marietta, Ga.

New location for SECO17:

Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel and Conference Center
Marietta, Georgia

This year we will meet at the idyllic, and historic, Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel and Conference Center. The grand structure and idyllic location warmly welcome guests traveling for SECO17. Stay at this hotel in Marietta, Ga., and be near hiking, mountain trails and the on-site City Club Marietta Golf Course.

Other Notable Program Highlights for SECO17:

  • Network with Fellow Community Owners and Managers.
  • Hear the Good, the Bad & the Ugly from Fellow Community Owners
  • Explore New Ways to Run Your Community
  • Acquire the Knowledge to Better Your Bottom-line
  • Get Tips from the Experts – Steps to Becoming More Efficient
  • New Ways to Finance
  • Walk Through Affordable Community Series Manufactured Homes & Interact with Manufacturers
  • Share Ideas and Best Practices to Ensure Greater Success.
  • 501(c)(3) dedicated to community education

Attendance at SECO17 will include community owners, managers, vendors and other industry personnel from more than 25 states. Additionally, we offer educational workshops, presentations and panel discussions to complement three days of networking.

Who should attend?

Anyone who owns or has an interest in the health and operation of manufactured home communities. The program focuses on tactics that can benefit professionals who own anywhere from one to 100 communities. This includes the owners and investors, but SECO17 also is beneficial for general managers and managers.

The networking opportunity with owners/operators will be beneficial for lenders, suppliers, home manufacturers and corporate property managers as well. But there is no mistake – this is a gathering directed by community owners for community owners.

More information about SECO can be found at secoconference.com

Your Sales Center Page on MHVillage.com

By
Ellie Walker
-
mhvillage-sales-center

Your Sales Center page on MHVillage is a place to include all relevant information about your company. This page offers details such as location, hours, contact options, and an “About Us” section.

Customers will see this page first when they search for Retailers/Dealers on our site.

With the array of professional specializations in our industry, MHVillage offers features and benefits across the board. Our services are set in such a way that you can pick and choose, mix and match, and create a truly customized advertising platform – sure to generate the best results possible.

The questions is, are you getting the most out of your professional account with us?

Our top priority is ensuring you understand the wealth of options you have at your fingertips. We’ve found that professionals who know all of the features, and apply them as needed, get the best results. Nicholas M. makes a great example;

Blue Island, IL
Thank you so much, when I posted my ad on this website I got an offer an hour later and sold it the next day! I work amongst investors and I will use this site for advertisement again in the future.
 – Nicholas M., January 2016

Let’s Get Back to Your Sales Center Page!

It is incredibly important to keep your Sales Center page updated. In effect, this page represents your company brand, and tells potential customers about the value of your organization. For customers looking to make a purchase, your entire inventory is in one convenient spot. Your first impression may be your last, so make it a good one!

If you haven’t tried our Pro+ upgrade yet, give it a try. Customers enjoy incredibly high traffic year round, but especially so in the first couple months. This upgrade does not lock you in: you can apply and remove this enhancement at any time.

With the Pro+ upgrade your Sales Center page gains a spot for your own company website, a banner logo and a square logo with a bolder and higher appearance in Retailer/Dealer searches.

All you need to do to update or upgrade your Sales Center Page is log in to your account, and select the “Edit Sales Center” option. From there immediately edit any necessary fields. You can even upgrade to the Pro+ on this page by adding your logos, and/or website!

Stats: MonthlyPro+ accounts receive on average 4 times more page views than MonthlyPro accounts since they show higher in the search results and have bolder appearances than their counterparts. Customers also enjoy the option to visit your website and with the upgrade you get to include a link, which we track in your statistics.

As always, if you would like one of our account reps to walk you through your account and ensure you are getting the most out of your MHVillage options, please email or call us! We are happy to help!

Check Your Stats Any Time on MHVillage

By
Ellie Walker
-
mhvillage-stats

Let us help you find ways to better advertise your home

Monitoring your leads and other vital information is the perfect way to ensure you advertise your home, company or community at the level that will provide the most exposure to our consumers.

Within your account we offer a few different ways for you to see how your ads are performing on our site.

If you are a professional, you can log into your account and from your account page, select the “Account Statistics” option for the overview of all of your stats, and then break them down by advertisement type (Listings, Sales Center, Community). Our goal is to provide maximum control over how you advertise your home.

Both professionals and individuals can see the statistics for a specific home in their account by choosing the “Edit Listing” or the “View/Change Listing” option from the account page. To the right of the home of interest, click the “Statistics” option.

When looking at the graph, it’s important to note the Views and the Searches.

The view count will tell you how many page views your ad received. The search count will tell you how many searches your ad appeared in. By reviewing both, you can get a feel for how effective you are in the manner you’ve chosen to advertise your home. Also look at how many consumers in your area are searching, and then how many of them chose your ad.

It’s also important to note that when we count your page views we do not count when you are looking at your ads and we also only count each customer one time per day.

Thank you for using MHVillage, if you have any additional questions please let us know!

New Feature Improves Lead Response Time

By
Patrick Revere
-
new-text-lead

MHVillage Offers Sales Professionals New Text Feature to Improve Lead Response Time

If you’ve been in the sales profession for any amount of time you understand the importance of lead response time. How fast you respond is a key factor in closing a deal. You want to be the first to talk with a potential customer. And you want to ensure the original response time for a query is as short as possible.

MHVfastLead™ is yet another resource available for MHVillage.com advertisers who want to improve lead response time. This generally helps a sales professional to have better communication with potential customers.

Professional account holders receive a text message when there is a new sales lead from the site. This allows industry professionals the opportunity for a more immediate response than alerts sent via email, particularly when you’re out in a community.

Enable text lead notifications at no additional charge. It’s a simple change of settings within your account dashboard. First login, then click “Update Your Account Information” on the right side of the page. Days of the week and hours of each day can be designated for receipt of text messages on sales leads from the site.

MHVillage unveiled the new service to improve lead response time, in BETA form, during the 2017 MHI Congress & Expo in Las Vegas.

The Research Says

Here are a few bits of information we considered during the development of MHVfastLead.

  • The odds of making a successful contact with a lead are 100 times greater when a contact attempt occurs within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes
  • Odds of the lead entering the sales process, or becoming qualified, are 21 times greater when contacted within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes
  • 43 percent of sales go to the sales professional who was first to respond
  • The odds of a call resulting in a contact with a lead decreases by 10 times within the first hour following lead notification

MHVfastLead text notification works on Android and Apple devices.

Email lead notifications will continue uninterrupted regardless of participation in the MHVfastLead program. Leads received via text will provide the date and time of the inquiry, name of the interested person and a reminder link for home location. Often, other details on the home will be included.

So, now you can contact that hot lead, even while they’re still browsing MHVillage. Be the first to register for MHVfastLead, and be the first to land that sale!

Mobile Homes and Mobile Phones

By
Dawn Highhouse
-
mobile-phone-mobile-homes

Smart Phones. Smart Watches. Tablets.

We have been watching the consumer market trends when it comes to online shopping and there has been a huge spike in the use of mobile devices being on our site over the last few years.

The numbers above are from last year and it’s only growing higher, because let’s be honest, we all use our phones for practically everything now. If not to check our email or social media outlets, it’s to look for a good place to eat for dinner that night, or send a quick text to the friend you are meeting.

 

mobile homes and mobile phones - MHVillage

 

Let’s also remember that online shopping is taking over too. Buyers are not only shopping for clothing, home goods and power tools, they are shopping for their next home via their phone as well!

98% of home buyers found mobile devices to be valuable tools in the home search process.

So, how do you ensure you and your company are ready for this trend?

Make sure your website and your online content are mobile-friendly.

These days most website development companies or platforms include the mobile version, but if you are having your website designed or maintained by a professional company then you will want to check with them to insure your site looks great on mobile devices too.

MHVillage has been working on this the last few years by launching our MHVillage App for professionals (if you haven’t tried it yet, you should!) and our site now offers mobile-friendly services to home shoppers and buyers.

Also, remember that while the design of your site and its capabilities with mobile devices is important, your content is key too. Making sure your phone numbers, website and email contacts are up to date is essential. Another big one is keeping your home descriptions and photos current. Out of date information can turn off online shoppers.

Finally, If you have any questions or would like more assistance with your home, company or community listings on MHVillage, we are here to help, so don’t hesitate to give us a call!

Datacomp Releases 2017 Rent and Occupancy Reports for FL Markets

By
Patrick Revere
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jlt-market-reports

Datacomp Releases 2017 JLT Manufactured Home Community Rent and Occupancy Reports for Florida Markets

Datacomp published its May 2017 manufactured home community rent and occupancy reports for the state of Florida.

The Florida reports now include communities 31 major markets, including new counties of Bay, Escambia and Leon. Datacomp is the nation’s #1 provider of market data for the manufactured housing industry.

Recognized as the industry standard for manufactured home community market analysis for more than 20 years, JLT Market Reports provide detailed research and information on communities located in 130 major housing markets throughout the United States, including the latest rent trends and statistics, marketing programs and a variety of other useful management insights.

Datacomp’s manufactured housing market data published in the May 2017 JLT Market Reports includes many of the major markets for mobile homes in Florida. Together, these manufactured home rent and occupancy reports track 752 “All Ages” and “55+” communities. This encompasses a total of 208,881 homesites.

Details on JLT Rent and Occupancy Reports

Each JLT manufactured home community rent and occupancy report includes detailed information about investment grade communities in the major markets. Information includes homesite numbers, occupancy rates, average community rents and increases, amenities, vacant sites, and repossessed and inventory homes.

The reports also include insights that rank communities by number of homesites, occupancy rates and highest to lowest rents. Detailed reports show trends in each market with a comparison of May 2017 rents and occupancy rates to May 2016. Additionally, the reports provide an historical recap of rents and occupancy from 1996 to present date in most markets.

The May 2017 JLT Market Reports for Florida are available for purchase and immediate download online at the Datacomp JLT Market Report website at http://www.datacompusa.com/JLT, or they may be ordered by phone in electronic or printed editions at 800.588.5426. Each fully updated report for mobile home communities is a comprehensive look at investment grade properties within a market. This enables owners and managers, lenders, appraisers, brokers and organizations to benchmark communities and make informed decisions.

About JLT Market Reports
For more than 20 years, countless professionals have trusted JLT Market Reports for timely and accurate management reports on land lease manufactured home communities. JLT Market Reports published for 90 markets nationwide are the industry standard for MH industry data. In 2014, JLT & Associates merged its resources, skills and expertise with Datacomp, the industry’s oldest and largest national manufactured home appraisal company and number one provider of market data for the manufactured housing industry, and MHVillage, the premier website for advertising mobile homes for rent and sale nationwide.

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