Our Client Empire Communities is Nominated For Two EnerQuality Awards

08 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Awards

I’m very happy to report that our client Empire Communities is nominated for two 2012 EnerQuality Awards of Excellence.

First, Empire Communities is nominated for EnerQuality’s ENERGY STAR for New Homes Builder of the Year award. Recognizing outstanding builders that have made a “corporate commitment to energy efficiency by labeling their homes under the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program,” this nomination makes BAM particularly proud, given that we played a key role in developing Empire Communities green brand, ECO². (What’s more, Empire Communities already won the 2011 ENERGY STARfor New Homes Builder of the Year.)

Untitled

As recommended by BAM, Empire Communities’ green programs emphasize the concrete and immediate benefits homeowners can derive from them.

The second nomination is for The Building Innovation and Excellence Award, which recognizes builders who have “demonstrated technical excellence while implementing high performance building practices.”

In EnerQuality’s own words, “this year’s finalists have a long track record of innovation and epitomize the high level of technical skill it takes to be at the leading edge.”

I have written elsewhere about our nominations and awards, including our “green” nominees, in case you’re interested to learn more about how we do our best to rock our clients’ worlds.

Is the Toronto Real Estate Market Really About to Crash?

28 Jan 2013 3 Comments

by John Amardeil in In The Media, Thoughts

real estate bubble / burbuja inmobiliaria

If you watch the news or read the papers, you know the Toronto real market is about to crash.

But is it?

Not according to my friend Andy Brethour. The president of PMA Brethour Realty Group and an expert on all things real estate, Andy wrote an excellent post last week outlining all the reasons why he’s certain there will be no such crash.

In fact, to quote Andy, “the Toronto market, despite the alarm, is back to normal!”

Reasons for this include:

  • Recovering employment rates and modest but positive income growth
  • An immigration flow that will still see demand for over 30,000 households every year (despite more immigrants settling in other regions rather than Ontario)
  • Affordability, which is helped by some of the lowest interest rates in history

While it’s true that the real estate market has changed, for example with the first-time buyer engine running somewhat slower, Andy predicts the Toronto Market will remain very stable and steady — and I concur.

Click here to read his article and let me know what your thoughts are!

90% shop for new home online!

11 Jan 2013 1 Comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies, You Need to Know

A study published this week confirms what we’ve been saying all along: consumers’ online experiences are increasingly influencing their home buying activity offline.

According to the report, a whopping 90 percent of homebuyers searched online during the home buying process, with 52 percent choosing that as their first step in the process.

eBAM rocks our client's online world.

For an idea of how we rock our clients’ online world, visit the eBAM section of our website.

Called “The Digital House Hunt: Consumer and Market Trends in Real Estate,” the report includes custom research from the U.S. National Association of Realtors’ 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, combined with internal Google data and research.

Particularly interesting to BAM were three findings:

  • First, 31 percent of  home buyers who took action on a real-estate website were aged 25-34, the biggest share of any age group,
  • Second, video played an important role in consumers’ search process, specifically when they wished to find out more about a particular community, tour the inside of a home, or obtain general information,
  • Third, about one-fifth of real estate related searches occurred on mobile devices — a 120 percent year-over-year increase.

These findings confirm that video plays a major role in this online research process. They also confirm that while having an online presence will drive traffic and generate leads for any demographic, it’s especially important in the case of a community targeting younger homebuyers. (However, the data still show people of all ages do go online to research the home buying process.)

This is why we strongly recommend to all our clients that they advertise online and create SEO-optimized websites, as well as an active social media presence. As for video, we aim to revamp our efforts in 2013.

A statement from Patrick Grandinetti, Google’s head of real estate, does a fine job of summarizing the report’s findings — as well as our recommendations for the past few years:

“Online technologies are [increasingly] driving offline behaviors, and home buying is no exception. (…) The real estate industry is smart to target these people where they look for and consume information — for example, through paid search, relevant websites, video environments, and mobile applications.”

Did you read the report? Did any of its findings surprise you in any way?

Another Client Nominated for CHBA Award

30 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Awards, In The Media, News

PastedGraphic-1

I’m pleased to report a community of a major client of ours is nominated for CHBA’s 2012 Community Development Award.

Having played an instrumental role in the development and launch of Empire Communities’ Wyndfield over 10 years ago, we’re thrilled to see not just recognition of this caliber — we’re also thrilled to see Wyndfield reach the yardstick with which we ultimately measure success — that of sales. With 1,500 homes sold to date, Wyndfield proves, once again, that consumers aren’t really shopping for a home — instead, they’re shopping for a lifestyle.

With this principle in mind, we packaged Wyndfield as a friendly, modern master-planned community set against the backdrop of a nostalgic era, one where neighbours are friendly and features reflect an old-fashioned aesthetic. Add attractive price tags and a convenient location in Brantford, near the gorgeous Grand River, and it’s no wonder homebuyers flocked to Wyndfield.

Congratulations to our team at BAM and to Empire Communities, and Happy New Year to you!

Longstanding Client Nominated for National SAM Awards

13 Dec 2012 1 Comment

by John Amardeil in In The Media

Untitled

The Pathways Brochure won the OHBA award for Best Low-Rise Project Sales Brochure last year.

I was very pleased to learn this week that our client Brookfield Homes received three nominations for the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) National SAM Awards in which we are responsible for the creative, concept and production.

Specifically, the nominations are for:

  • Best Project Signage and Logo
  • Best Brochure/Kit, and
  • Marketing Excellence Award

As readers of this blog know, the CHBA Awards are very prestigious, so we’re particularly proud to see such recognition. As with all our clients, we wore — and continue to wear — the Brookfield and the Pathways tattoo since inception until today, when Pathways community continues to perform very well in one of Ontario’s most sought-after areas.

You can view a sample of the Pathways brochure on our website. This section of our website contains a case study of Pathways, which we helped differentiate as an exceptional new community that would appeal to families.

To do this, we divided the community into six unique neighbourhoods and designed a map showing several pathways winding their way through the community. We produced gorgeous renderings of the two parks that the community will feature, as well as a stunning streetscape rendering. We also developed additional benefits for the community to offer, such as Brookfield’s Save Green program.

The objective? To represent Pathways as a community that’s ideal for strolling, walking, enjoying nature and interacting with your neighbours. By all accounts, it looks like a mission accomplished. Congratulation to Brookfield Homes and our team at BAM.

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries