Avatar Powers New Home Sales Via Internet With New Online Sales Associate
June 08, 2004
Avatar Properties, Inc., Central Florida’s largest home builder, recently ignited its online home buying engine by allocating real estate veteran Michele Martinelli as Internet lead coordinator. Martinelli, a former general real estate sales associate for REMAX/Kissimmee, was hired to manage the growing number of homebuyer requests for Avatar’s Central Florida Bellalago and Poinciana communities, as well as Cory Lake Isles and the new Sterling Hills neighborhoods in Tampa, Florida.
“With the realization that homebuyers are relying on the Internet as their primary source of new home information, we decided to commit the resources necessary to maximize the return on our Internet advertising expenditures,” said Avatar marketing director, Jennifer Daniel. “By dedicating a sales associate to manage the Internet leads from beginning to close, we can provide a smooth, consistent and consumer oriented approach to the homebuying process,” adds Daniel.
According to a recent survey by the National Association of REALTORS®, 71% of homebuyers used the Internet as part of their home search in the first quarter of 2003. Avatar attributes 52 new home sales totaling over $9 million directly from the Internet in 2003. With first quarter 2004 reeling in over 4,000 Internet leads resulting in 42 new homes sales, Daniel expects to triple that number by year-end.
Daniel attributes Avatar’s success to providing immediate feedback to homebuyers’ requests, continuous follow-up throughout the process and basic quality customer service. “The whole key is customer service. You need to listen well and pay attention to their needs. Recognizing that the Internet shopper is typically further along in the homebuying process is a crucial step,” she adds. Avatar Properties, Inc., is a highly recognized master-planned community developer and homebuilder currently building in Poinciana, SoliVita and Bellalago in metro Orlando and Cory Lake Isles in Tampa. Avatar was rated as the largest volume builder in Central Florida in 2003 with $292.8 million in revenue in an annual poll conducted by the Orlando Business Journal. Poinciana was named America’s third best selling master-planned community in 2003 in a survey conducted by Robert Charles Lesser & Co., a leading independent real estate advisory firm in Bethesda, Maryland. Avatar was the only Florida home builder to receive an APEX Award from Big Builder magazine in 2003 for America’s most Innovative Product Design and another for America’s second Most Admired Builder.
For more information, contact Jennifer Daniel, marketing director of the Central Florida Division of Avatar Properties, Inc., at (407) 933-5000.
-###-
For more information, contact Kim Keenan at 941.359.1386 or via email at .
