Hollister Missouri (October 23, 2011) ­­­___Looking to draw attention to it’s golf community, organizers of the inaugural Balloons over Branson Creek never imagined the huge turnout that would result from the two-day fall event in southwest Missouri.

“We had no idea it would be this successful,” said Bryan Woodward. “We had a superb event staff that really pulled this event together in a short amount of time. Our event director, marketing staff and event staff did an outstanding job. I am proud of their efforts.”

That teamwork drew more than 3,000 spectators to Branson Creek, an award-winning golf real estate development in Southwest Missouri. Another 600 people attended the VIP event Friday evening. Participants were treated to an evening balloon glow and tethered balloon rides.

The two-day event featured 13-hot air balloons, skydiving groups, ultra-light aircraft and helicopter rides. Live entertainment was featured throughout the weekend. Numerous celebrities were on hand including Miss Missouri, Lee Greenwood and Clay Cooper; each of which participated in Saturday’s balloon competition.

“We had cars entering the golf community at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning to come watch the balloon competition and morning glow,” Woodward said. “It was really an unbelievable sight.”

“The best part was Saturday evening. Woodward added. “We had thousands of people gathered together to watch the balloon glow and the entire audience would count down to watch the balloons illuminate at the same time.”

The event, which featured numerous local and regional sponsors, was held below the Murder Rock Club House, a perfect venue to watch the illumination of the balloons.

Organizers plan to make the event an annual celebration and hope to build on the first-year turnout.

6.25 inches x 11 inches

That’s the largest size flat piece you can still affix a .44 cent stamp and send it out via first class mail.

If you want to save money and like sending out direct mail (like we do for our clients) then this size may be the perfect fit for you.

We actually achieve this size of mail after folding it twice in half. The original size was 12.5 x 22 inches.

That’s one big newsletter-but after the design, print and folding you can reduced it down to a size that’s still worthy of a 44 cent stamp.

This size piece feels good in the hand. It’s thick enough to stand on its own in the mail and with the right message will work wonders at

• Trade Show and Resort Events

• Sales Offices

• Direct Mail

It’s really a 3-for-1 and its saves you a bunch of money.

Let’s talk strategy. Call us at 1-866-454-6711.

When creating your email lead base make sure your acquisition method ensures that all emails are opt-in compliant (meaning you have their permission to email them).

There are many, many creative platforms on how to start building a targeted email database via online and off-line methods.

Each email is worth its weight in gold as it establishes a new communication platform in a very direct way to your consumer.

The results can achieve quick and relatively inexpensive results.

Give us a call and let’s talk sales strategy.

Rio de Janiero has always been know for its culture unlike any other country in the World.

Carnaval and New Year’s celebrations attract revelers worldwide and its Samba influenced rhythms give the city of 8 million a style all its own.

Times are changing in the area just west of the City Center.

A new American themed culture is blossoming in the suburbs west of town.

In Barra da Tijuca, new growth is spurring condo developments, American styled restaurants and huge-mega malls along the what is appropriately called the Avenue of the Americas-which stretches nearly 40kms running east to west.

Barra’s growth is built around a new style of living in Brazil where large leisure amenities are being built like golf courses, pools, lakes and parks. Huge American styled indoor shopping malls have also made their mark here.

The best of the shopping malls is Barra Shopping with nearly 700 stores. Other malls include the New York City Center, which features a 88-foot Statue of Liberty replica at its entrance and Via Parque Shopping- that’s filled with designer boutique brands from throughout the world.

Restaurants here are many with influences from all over the world, but you will also discover American brands like the Hard Rock Cafe, Applebees and Chilis in Barra.

Of course, the main attraction, like most places in Rio de Janiero is Barra’s beach. Barra da Tijuca beach is the longest in Rio stretching 12 km. The most popular point surrounds Cabana do Pepe on the eastern edge of Praia. Cabana do Pepe is a sandwhich shop named after Pepe, a famous brazilian hang glider that was killed in a hang gliding accident in Japan. His widow runs the shop. On weekends the beach surrounding this locals hot spot is packed with the high-end crowd of Barra.

This is the new growth area of Rio. It has the best shopping and best nightlife in the area. From Copacabana,  Ipanema and Leblon you can expect about a $20 cab each way. It’s worth the trip.

Places to stay in Barra da Tijuca:

Sheraton Barra Hotel and Suites

New five-star property on the beach in a great location

Windsor Barra Hotel

Another five star property just a few blocks away from the Sheraton. Both great options. Price and compare.

Everyone has excuses in our industry.

The economy.

Yes, It’s tough out there and we all know it.

Financing.

Yes it’s harder to approve transactions from willing buyers, but its being done.

Traffic.

Yes, there are fewer customers interested in buying second home or vacation properties.

However, we believe our industry is starting to bounce back for those developers who are repositioning their products to align with the consumer shift that has transpired over the last 36 months.

In New Mexico we just finished selling more golf real estate (41 lots sold) and golf revenue for our client since they opened in 2005 and we are anticipating much better results by the end of this year.

Yes it’s harder than it was before and yes there are more road blocks in the way. But we are making money for developers and we want to make more real estate revenue for you as well starting today.

Here’s a couple of tips:

• Stop listing your products with local listing agents (who have hundreds of listings) and hire sales people that can and will only work for you and for your product exclusively. (You wouldn’t want  your BMW sales person showing your potential customer a Mercedes now would you?)

• Use the web as an appetizer of your community and let your sales and marketing team provide the menu (Is your customer making a buying decision at home on the web or on your property?)

• Traffic, Traffic and more traffic. Are you getting enough customers to your product?

• When they are there are you asking customers to buy?

• Create a systemized marketing and sales plan that tracks performance and can be improved upon quarter after quarter and year after year

• Have you modified your real estate product for 2010 or are you selling the same product that was offered in 2007? Memberships and ownership options have changed in the mind of the consumer. Your golf community or vacation property needs to position its product in line with today’s consumer mindset.

These steps are just some of the critical components necessary to generate revenue back in your favor for this year and beyond.

Give us a call. We live, eat and breath resort and golf real estate and let our experience help you get back on track to earning real revenue and profit for 2010 and beyond.

RMG-1-866-454-6711

PGA Tour Events. Charity Events. Festivals. We’ve done them all.

Position your product in front of your potential buyers.

Go to the urban areas. Get in front of the customers and capture their attention.

We love event marketing and it can work wonders for your community.

If you haven’t built a fan page for your resort community through facebook you need to do it now.

A few of the benefits:

• You can connect with all members and property owners through a fan page and advertise anything from restaurant specials to a featured property easy and effectively.

• Post community pictures online so owners and non-owners can get a feel of your community and customer satisfaction through comments

• Track page visits to see how fans interact with your messaging

• Use geo targeted online ads that draw more page visits or hits to your own community’s website.

Need to get on the bandwagon? Give us a call at 1-866-454-6711.

Larger homes. Larger pieces of land. More debt for the consumer. Equals a much harder sell.

Now consumers want smaller homes. Smaller home sites. Larger amenities.  Less debt for the consumer. Easier sales process.

If you are developer with 4,000 square foot homes left unsold or large tracts of land with asking prices into the millions consider:

• fractionalizing mega mansions into more affordable products (there are still lending institutions out this product in today’s market)

• Re platting larger tracts into smaller more affordable properties

• Changing HOA restrictions to fit with today’s consumer mindset

We can help with all facets above. Give us a call at 1-866-454-6711.

Elephant Butte NM (August 29, 2010)___Elephant Butte New Mexico is located one hour north of Las Cruces or two hours south of Albuquerque NM off Interstate 25.

For most Americans, It’s not as well known as the resort areas of Santa Fe, Ruidoso and Angel Fire New Mexico.

But, this area is home to Elephant Butte Lake (36,000 acres), the largest in New Mexico and it’s neighboring town, Truth or Consequences, boasts a plethora of mineral bath resorts built over one of the largest and cleanest underground hot springs reservoirs in the United States.

“All the elements are here for a strong residential destination resort,” said Bryan Woodward of Renaissance Marketing Group, a company that sales and markets residential properties nationwide. “You have the lake, the hot springs, the quaint towns and now you have championship golf with a great residential product.”

Heralded by most as a weekend lake destination-that perception is changing rapidly thanks to Turtleback Mountain Resort, a 1,100-acre golf development that’s drawing buyers from throughout the United States.

“We’ve been able to not only educate consumer’s about the area,” says Woodward, whose firm was hired last year by the developers of Turtleback to sale and market the development. “But we’ve been able to turn that consumer awareness into consumer action through our property sales and now you are seeing the end result.”

The end result is more than 50 new homes sites sold for an average price of over $100,000 dollars. Drive through the community today and you’ll see a multitude of new homes under construction with several more set to break ground in the next 30 days.

In the last few months RMG has attracted buyers from Florida, New Mexico, Texas, California, Nevada, Louisiana, and Colorado.

“Right now we have four different builders constructing custom homes for our new property owners,” Woodward said. “We have a buy now build later program, but as you can see our customers  are choosing to build now. In this economy you can get a lot more house for your dollar.

“Part of the sales process is educating the consumer to take advantage of the economy, not fear it.” Woodward added.

Turtleback’s recent success has prompted a new owners dinner celebration at the end of September where builders and new property owners can get together while enjoying dinner and live music on the 5,000 square foot patio on the back of Turtleback’s clubhouse.

All this comes out a time when the National Association of Homebuilders reports new home construction is near all-time record lows and those that are building are downsizing.

At Turtleback Mountain, the average size of each new custom built home is 3,000 square feet.

“We continue to work hard to pierce through the public perception in regards to our national housing market. “Woodward added. “There our great residential projects just like Turtleback that can earn a good number of new sales in this market.

“Most developers just need to re-position the product and build a strong, concentrated sales and marketing program to pierce through the perception.”

“We are proving we can deliver all these components.”

Renaissance Marketing Group

Renaissance Marketing Group (RMG) is a full service residential sales and marketing company built to reposition developers’ current product and successfully sale and market in a variety of locales.

For more information contact RMG toll free at 1-866-454-6711

www.rmgcommunities.com

www.peopletoproperties.com

bwoodward@rmgcommunities.com

Beautiful finished condominium developments sit virtually empty in many urban markets throughout the United States.

Showcasing great amenities and beautiful downtown city views, these are tremendous projects lacking the necessary foot traffic to drive sales for the developer.

Until now.

RMG, a leader in resort development sales and marketing, has launched its ‘Weekend in the City’ campaign to increase traffic at urban condominium developments throughout the United States.

Through this program, developers now have the opportunity to partner with RMG’s marketing and sales expertise to create a consumer traffic campaign that will drive new revenue and new sales for condo developers struggling in today’s oversupplied real estate market.

Through the innovative ‘Weekend in the City’ immerson program, RMG will create a customized getaway package for couples that are interested in a new urban condominium.

The package will inclue:

• Overnight stay at the Developer’s project

• Use of pool and other amenities at the Development

• Dinner for two at area restaurant

• Spa Treatment or other amenity experience

• Tickets to local cultural events

• 90-minute sales presentation by one of RMG’s trained immersion sales personnel

In addition RMG will provide:

• Sales training and sales program installation for this direct sales and marketing lifestyle campaign

• Staging for the units selected for the ‘Weekend in the City’ Packages

• Consumer traffic for the sales agents to boost sales

• All creative and support collateral needed to implement the immersion campaign

It’s an all inclusive sales and marketing campaign.

Each ‘Weekend in the City Package’ is customized for each development’s particular market.

“What a consumer would want to experience in South Beach is completely different than what they would value in Dallas,” says Bryan Woodward with RMG. “This program is a win-win for the developer and the consumer.”

Under this program, each couple actually pays for the package while decreasing the developer’s dependency to co-broke sales with outside buying agents.

“Buyers that experience this program most often don’t have buying agents,” said Mr. Woodward. “That’s a big saving to a developer over the course of a sales cycle.”

“We’ve had years where we had 1400 couples a year looking at resort properties in pretty challenging second-home markets,” Woodward said. “Now we can take this same concept and unveil great primary condominium properties right here in everyone’s back yard.”

It’s time for developer’s to stop being dependent on listing agents and an over saturated MLS. There’s a better way.

Let’s talk strategy at 1-866-454-6711.

When RMG arrived last spring at this rural resort golf community in south central New Mexico property sales had dwindled to a halt.

No sales in more than 7 months.

However, the developers at Turtleback Mountain Resort felt they had a great product with superb amenities in a desirable location.

RMG agreed.

The challenge was to create demand in stagnant economy where vacation properties have fallen off the priority ladder for today’s consumer.

Like all new clients, RMG devised a new system for the developer’s real estate products.

Changed the product to align with today’s consumer. Brought in new sales personnel and trained existing ones. Overhauled the marketing directive.

The result:

$4.1 million dollars in lot sales in 10 months. And its only going higher.

“We did this without dropping prices. That’s the best part for the developer,” said Bryan Woodward of RMG.  “They had a product that wasn’t selling and we were able to bring in substantially more traffic with a new product positioned for today’s consumer.”

“The results speak for themselves.”

For more information on how RMG can help your development’s sales and marketing initiatives call us toll free at 1-866-454-6711.

Hosting a variety of golf tournaments is a great way to generate leads for your golf community. Corporate groups, non-profit groups are always looking for a place to host their next event. The participants are usually qualified buyers for your property.

On a larger scale, pro-ams and exhibitions with celebrity golfers is a great way to generate a wider public audience and capture interest in your community’s ownership options. They generate leads. We will turn them into sales.

Let’s talk strategy at 1-866-454-6711.

(Above: the Dedos, fingers in the sand, is a sculpture in the sand near Playa Brava, Punta Del Este, Uruguay)

I had never heard of Punta Del Este Uruguay until a New York Times article wrote about the hot spot where the elite from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and beyond go to relax during the South American summers from December through March.

Great beaches. Nightlife. Culture.

So we decided to go explore the area during a recent trip through Argentina.

Amazing Beaches. Check.

Great restaurants and nightlife. Check.

Culture. Check.

The other aspect we discovered during our two-week hiatus is that real estate here is booming.

Call it South Beach Miami meets the Hamptons on Long Island.

Punta del Este is about a 90-minute ride east of the capital of Montevideo. We arrived from Buenos Aries Argentina via a 1-hour water ferry (known as the Bucquebus) across the Rio de la Plata into Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. We then rented a car into Punta (as the locals call it).

The main part of Punta del Este is on a peninsula and is the most crowded part of the region (think high rises with great beach views). The peninsula of Punta separates the Alantic Ocean from the Rio de la Plata. However, Punta stretches from the peninsula northward through several beach communities northward to San Jose de Ignacio-where single family homes dominate the landscape.

In between the peninsula and San Jose de Ignacio is the community of La Barra. Filled with boutique shops, pizza joints and buzzing nightlife-La Barra is an eclectic mix of people and foot traffic making it the focal point of activity in Punta. Just north of La Barra is Bikini Beach where the scene and be seen mix together with a strong contingent of restaurants, djs and surfers.

There’s nothing like it here in the United States.

During the most popular months of December and January many year around home owners leave the area to rent their homes out for what many would pay in mortgage payments for the entire year.

If you every find yourself in Buenos Aires Argentina-take two days and head over to Punta Del Este-and discover a happening place most American’s haven’t heard of —yet.

A few properties to check out:

Acqua Punta del Este

New High Rise project with great website.

Imperiale

Another New High Rise development on the peninsula

Places to Stay:

Conrad Punta Del Este Resort and Casino

A mainstay in Punta for the last 20 years

Mantra Resort and Spa

Beautiful property above La Barra with view of the ocean

How do you create a demand for consumer to buy now in 2010 instead of them taking a wait and see approach?

Incentives. Incentives. Incentives.

Through your own community amenities (and surrounding one’s for that matter)  you have the ability to structure an amenity package that offers

value today for your consumer.

We are performing such for a client in New Mexico and it’s helping the sales process tremendously.

Let’s talk strategy. 1-866-454-6711.

Does your product and more importantly, your marketing approach convey that?

No one needs a home site, a beach front condo or a fractional product but everyone wants the qualities mentioned above.

Creating this “want” and turning it into a consumer “need” in this economy is challenging but it’s a good challenge to have.

Give us a call and let’s talk strategy. 1-866-454-6711.

We discovered Anguilla for the first time earlier this year after hearing about the island’s famous beaches of Shoal Bay East and Rendevous Bay. For those not familiar, Shoal Bay East is just one of this island’s 33 public beaches, but Shoal Bay East has been recognized by many travel publications as one of the Caribbean’s best.

We couldn’t agree more.

Located on the northern side of the island, Shoal Bay East is a one-mile stretch of sand that has a perfect compliment of boutique hotels, beachfront bars and shops. There’s enough of each to keep you entertained but not enough to dominate the scenery or draw too many people.

What Anguilla has that it’s neighbor (St. Martin) to the south doesn’t is peace and serenity. The photo taken above is Shoal Bay East at 11:00 a.m. one morning this past January.

No people. No traffic. No problem.

In fact, other beaches like Shoal Bay East are all over the island. All have public access and all, for the most part, are uncrowded. And that’s what makes Anguilla so special.

We hired a taxi driver to show us around the 35-mile square island.

Mostly flat, Anguilla teases you with view after view of beautiful water but more often than not you need to be near the beach in order to be captivated by its stunning beauty. That becomes a problem when looking for second home property because beach front property can only be owned by locals.

That’s right, if you want to own property in Anguilla you need to be off the beach as the beaches themselves are deemed a “resource” by the government and mandated for tourism purposes only.

That does make looking for property more of a challenge, but there are view properties above some of the island’s highly acclaimed beaches that are worth noting.

• 1/2 acre properties above Shoal Bay East going from $200k to $300k

• 1 acre property across from Greg Norman golf course going for $700K

• Interior lots in the middle of the island going for $40k to $100K (most 1/2 acre or less)

There are some more deals to be had on this paradise, but like any other resort area you need to discover this island for yourself. Some of our favorite spots to stay include:

Cap Juluca

Cap Juluca is one of the Caribbean’s most recognized resort properties. Situated on the crescent beach of Maundays Bay, this 5-star resort features award-winning cuisine and Temenos, a Greg Norman Designed Championship Golf Course.

CuisinArt Resort and Spa

This highly acclaimed resort features 93 rooms on the pristine beaches of Rendevous Bay. Great restaurants and the Venus Spa highlight this exceptional property.

Viceroy Anguilla

A newer property, The Viceroy Anguilla features 166 rooms on both Barnes and Meads Bay. Viceroy showcases a zero edge pool, outstanding restaurant and Spa services as well as a kids program.

Ku

Ku is a boutique hotel property located on the famous beach of Shoal Bay East. The hotel features a south beach Miami style design with a chic beachfront bar and pool. Its the perfect location on Shoal Bay East.

Developers building golf communities or other type of resort properties often have hundreds if not thousands of units to sale over the life of the sales cycle for a particular project.  Concurrently, the internet has become a powerful method of showcasing properties for sale by the developer and obviously a great resource in aiding sales.

However, when does it become detrimental to show too many properties for sale?

Just the other day I was browsing properties and came across a mid-Atlantic golf community that listed more than 300 home sites for sale by the developer!

Each listing had the price, a non-descript picture and a contact button for more information.

If you are the customer, how do you choose from 300 possibilities? Can the developer even sell those 300 lots? What if I need to sell my piece of property in a few years? Will there still be 300 lots listed then?

All valid questions by the customer.

In today’s market…. less is more.

It’s hard enough for customers to sort through different communities and resort real estate options. When your marketing does reach them make sure they are getting the message and call to action that your sales team desires.

Simple Rule:

• All houses go on the MLS or another listing platform

• Fractionals and Home Sites should be showcased, like an appetizer,  with the rest of the menu offered by a trained sales specialist.

For more information on how RMG can earn your resort community more revenue in 2010 and beyond give us a call toll free at 1-866-454-6711.

The economic picture wasn’t pretty in Michigan at the time.

Unemployment on the increase. Auto industry getting clobbered. Consumer confidence heading south.

End Result:

More than 50 million in resort real estate revenue and more than 1.5 in dues collected annually.

RMG had an extremely successful run in Michigan at two different resort communities: Garland Resort and St. Ives-Tullymore.

Michigan is the country’s third largest golf market and boast numerous golf related consumer events that provide a nice forum for interacting with potential customers. Using that base along with

our systematic marketing approach, we were able to provide more than 5,000 real estate presentations to our clients and created more than 1,000 sales for these two clients.

Our success was noted throughout the Midwest and showcased particularly in the Detroit Market as one of the few hospitality-resort businesses thriving in a down-ridden economic market.

Using RMG’s methods-we positioned the product to the consumer’s standpoint and then built a strong sales team around the product with a goal of being the best in the market place.

We feel we accomplished that.

Let’s see if we can do the same for your resort property. Call us at 1-866-454-6711.

]]> http://www.peopletoproperties.com/2010/05/29/success-story-how-rmg-sold-40-million-dollars-of-resort-real-estate-in-michigan/feed/ 0 http://www.peopletoproperties.com/2010/05/29/success-story-how-rmg-sold-40-million-dollars-of-resort-real-estate-in-michigan/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PeopleToProperties/~3/Z8Zh3nACmUo/ http://www.peopletoproperties.com/2010/05/29/dont-drop-resort-real-estate-prices/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 22:00:59 +0000 admin http://peopletoproperties.com/?p=28

New owners at resort communities (like this group of people above) are buying resort real estate today because of the value of the product being offered in this current market.

Most consumers and developers see value as a reduced price.

Creative marketing personnel in our industry create value by including packages through the amenities that are offered by the developer. At our project in New Mexico where we just topped more than 4 million in lots sales we’ve created a package of inclusion where for one price they buy a lot more than just a lot.

Through this practice the developer keeps the integrity of his product together and customer gets a great sense of taking advantage of the economy-one of the critical factors that boost resort real estate buyers to take action today.

For more information on how to create value in your product without dropping the sales price. Give us a call at 1-866-6711.

The auto industry doesn’t let a client leave the car lot without credit approval. In real estate, those days are over. And it’s hurting sales.

For many communities, customers must get approval through a bank’s loan committee. Once approved, the bank then will underwrite the real estate product. It can take a few days after purchase to get this approval.

How well do you know your bank’s loan underwriter? Does he congratulate your customer on the purchase or inform them that there’s still a lot of work to do  in order to get them approved?

How this person, who is now critical in the sales process, treats your clients, could be costing you millons in vacation real estate sales or making you millions of dollars per year.

Take them to lunch. Train them on your product and how he or she should be talking with your client. It’s critical in today’s economy.