Virtual Reservation Services Powered by Focus 360

by Steven Greco on 05/12/10 at 12:38 pm

Focus 360 is pleased to announce a strategic alliance with First Release Homes Inc. Together our companies will offer a new service that will revolutionize traditional new home sales and marketing by providing cutting edge 3D internet technologies Powered by Focus 360, via a unique online Virtual Reservation Services. First Release Homes and Focus 360 recently contracted with a San Francisco Builder on a $35 million project in Sacramento (www.thewarrensacramento.com) and will be launching this cutting edge technology in the summer of 2010.

The Problem:

Homebuilders and developers nationwide are faced with many challenges and risks in today’s market.  Financing, either in the form of buyer mortgages or project construction financing, is difficult to obtain, with high levels of pre-sales required by lenders just to begin the underwriting process. The longer a project takes to sell-out, the less profitable that project becomes due to carrying costs.  In today’s tighter market for investment equity and debt financing, these cost could be hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars per month.

The Solution:

First Release Homes, Inc. Powered by Focus 360 is launching a new service for builders that accelerate sales through a new online platform and reduces builder’s sales and marketing budgets significantly, utilizing various technological tools to create buyer urgency to take action. First Release Homes has developed unique “virtual” auction tools that generate the same buzz and excitement found at a live auction.  Through this high-tech process, builders benefit by reducing both direct selling and carrying costs significantly.

The Benefit:

Homebuyers will be able to accomplish virtually everything they now do in person when purchasing a pre-constructed new home. They will be able to select a community based on their own criteria, see the community overview video, select an home, take a virtual tour of the interior, see the approx. view from the unit, select finish options and chat live with an agent to have questions answered instantly. The “buy direct from the builder and save” offering will empower buyers with the ability to virtually view, analyze, reserve and ultimately purchase their unit of choice the moment new home developments are released for sale through the Virtual Reservation Service.