By Roland Eckstein
Meet the city of Bella Vista (BV), Arkansas. Beautiful, most certainly!
Known locally /regionally for its lakes and rolling hills … also previously referred to as The Village. That perceptually-older moniker has since been shed as the average age of residents continues to rapidly drop given the very attractive $80 per square foot home resale price which has drawn a much younger base of shoppers.
Four VERY attractive numbers to consider:
- 52: Average resident age, and dropping
- 35: Average buyer age
- $80: Pricing per square foot
- 4: Average number days on the market for listings
Why then is BV having ANY problems at all when it comes to attracting more intra-state home and lot buyers?
Maybe more importantly, why is BV having ANY problems attracting more interstate (i.e. snowbird) home and lot buyers?
Most importantly and quite interestingly (pocket protector proudly positioned):
Is the seemingly unheard of 3-4 day sale cycle solely a function of the $80 per square foot resale when the balance of the surrounding DMA has and entry point in the $120’s? Or, is the 3-4 day sale cycle more a false positive and actually a function of limited demand which is dangerously pressuring the $80 figure further downward?
Or is ALL of this more a function of something else?
How then does the city of BV and the BV POA go about attracting more buyers, thereby applying upward pressure to that $80 figure while still maintaining a quick but more beneficial resale cycle for current home and lot owners?
Assumptions:
- Quality homes
- Proximity to good schools
- Safe neighborhoods
- The all-important-non-NJ-like property taxes
Where does the analysis begin?
Two words: Intent Percent.
Taking a brief look at the GTE screen shots demonstrates:
- In Minnesota (from where most Bella Vista snowbirds hale) … BV owns close to 0% of real estate searches/intenders over the last year. BV’s intent percent? Zero? Two? Anemic!
- In Arkansas, BV does have a solid percent of intenders … or at the very least interest. Further GA review will determine if BV search is driven more by golfers seeking a tee time or by actual home shoppers.
In fairness to BV, the aggregate search demonstrated by the likes of nationally footprinted Trulia and Zillow include all search stemming from either Ark or Minn yet it is not limited to search for real estate within just those states singularly.
Low intent percent exacerbates both a painfully large missed opportunity market of buyers and in the case of BV, a false positive in that 3-4 day sale cycle metric.
Knowing and positively affecting intent percent can be achieved through all phases of the purchase funnel
Struggling to achieve growth?
Unbranded clicks punishingly expensive?
Focusing possibly on a false positive metric?
Thinking/Realizing that your intent percent is anemic?
ESA can help.