Landings Sales Continue to Surge

Home Sales Up 60% Over Prior Year-to-Date and More Than Double 2009

Led by an increase in the number of buyers they can directly attribute to marketing efforts, The Landings Company has announced that Savannah’s Landings community has just completed a “selling season” (the first four months of the year—the key time for sales in destination communities) with closed sales 60 percent ahead of the first four months of 2011.

“We are excited about the great start to 2012 and are optimistic that the programs we have in place will continue to allow us to outpace the market,” states Bill Houghton, President of the community’s homeowner association-owned real estate marketing and sales firm, The Landings Company. “Our leading indicators—web traffic, prospect visits and the like—are all up over last year, and 2011 was the best year the community had seen since the real estate boom.”

According to Savannah Board of Realtors data, the community saw 67 home transactions close between January 1 and April 30, 2012, a 59.5 percent increase over the 42 that had closed in that same period in 2011. 2011’s full-year sales total of 179 homes represented an 81 percent increase over 2009 (99 homes closed), while The Landings Company’s 2011 transaction total of 219 “sides” (each real estate sale has both a buyer “side” and a listing “side”) was 99 percent higher than the 110 in 2009.

“Our results have been driven in part by the strategic marketing that has made out-of-area pre-retirees more aware of our community,” notes Houghton, who started with The Landings Company in 2010. “With some key partnerships and programs that have been implemented in the last few years, we are reaping the benefits of that investment and our unique approach.”

The Landings Company is a bit if a unique entity—a self-funding, community-owned real estate firm created after their developer transitioned out in the late 1990s. “Our only source of marketing funds is the transactions we generate, so we function somewhat as a non-profit—net revenues go directly to driving more awareness and buyers,” adds Houghton, a board member of the American Association of Retirement Communities. “I have seen other versions of this approach, but The Landings has defined and refined this direction for 15 years now, and we are on our way to one of our best years in generating marketing funds and business from them.”