Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Trick or Treat?

Admit it. You loved the Munster’s mansion.

Who wouldn’t like a 1313 address, or a musty smelling fully equipped dungeon or fourth floor walk up to a widow’s peak full of bats?

Oh well, maybe not but the nation’s home builders sure think Halloween makes for a great marketing opportunity.

Take a look at some of the hoopla that home builders (particularly in Las Vegas) are planning in order to attract potential home buyers:

  • KB Home offers its Street of Screams, providing families a safe trick-or-treating alternative to the traditional door-to-door candy solicitations. This year, KB will hold the free event in its Chaco Canyon neighborhood of Las Vegas.
  • Pulte Homes will host its Spooktacular Halloween from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m on Halloween. The first 250 kids will receive Trick or Treat bags, and there will be treats, music and fun for everyone. Palm Hills at Voltaire in Las Vegas.
  • Del Webb (a subsidiary of Pulte), is hosting additional Halloween events at its new neighborhoods Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m as well as hosting the Jack-O-Lantern Family Safe Street at The Club at Aliante in North Las Vegas.
  • Centex Homes will host its Halloween Treat Street in its Giavanna neighborhood in North Las Vegas Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. Eleven model homes will be decorated for Halloween and open to trick-or-treaters. Activities will include a haunted house maze in one of the three neighborhood parks that connects the models.
  • First Homebuiders of Florida (a Hovnanian company) is holding an event titled the “Halloween Haunt” offering “Safe Fun and FREE trick or treating” for kids!

Well at least those home builders are keeping a “stiff upper lip” while thinking of new ways of luring in new buyers.

That’s certainly better than the desperate home builder who wrote this request for advice from BusinessWeek’s “Lonely at the Top” editor.

Or better yet then the home builder of the following Dallas area legend…

The Phantom Developer of Collin County: At the height of the '90s land boom, a greedy developer rushed a subdivision into development without checking maps to see that it was an ancient Indian burial site. On the day he was to close the sale on the first lot, the hastily built model home he was sitting in split in two and collapsed because of unstable soil. They say he still haunts the offices of homebuilders across the county, answering the phone when buyers call to complain about delays and telling them, "I'll have someone out to take care of that right away ... right away ... right away ... " before his voice trails off into deathly silence.

Happy Halloween from PaperMoney!

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