According to 20,000+ new home prospects from our Consumer Insights 2012 survey, “Neighborhood Street Appeal” is the #2 most important community feature they are looking for in their next home (refer to chart below). While “Neighborhood Street Appeal” was logically below “location, location, location”, it beat top features such as trails, parks, the pool, and even golf!
Here is an example of a new home community that demonstrated the importance of “Neighborhood Street Appeal” and its impact on price and absorption: Arbor Ranch by Centex Homes.
Arbor Ranch is a single family detached new home neighborhood in San Marcos, California priced from the low $400k’s.
Check this out: This community out-sold its comparably priced rivals in the area by 2-to-1 despite a slightly higher monthly payment due to Mello Roos. We believe the neighborhood street appeal is the primary reason they sold so well. What did the extra details cost? We estimate an extra $7k to $10k per home helped this community achieve its success, and they recouped the cost in higher sales prices and a faster sales pace. The cover sure made the difference for this builder!
Check out more elevations in the clickable gallery above. Included features such as paver driveways, large useable porches, decorative garage doors, enhanced exterior lighting and a few additional architectural details are some of the added exterior details that made a difference to the consumers.
