Zillow Group’s Partnership With Brown Haven Homes Goes Beyond Client & Vendor

John Allen founded Brown Haven Homes in 2005, with an eye on creating homes, not just houses, for people who wanted to live in the Southeast. Brown Haven Homes has sales centers throughout North Georgia and the west part of North Carolina, with plans to expand to South Carolina and Tennessee over the next 15 months.

Getting more eyes on its homes

As a build-on-your-lot builder, Brown Haven Homes doesn’t have MLS listings, so it was difficult for new construction buyers to find the company. Even home shoppers who already owned a lot — or were ready to look at lots for purchase and subsequent home building — weren’t easily finding Brown Haven Homes among resale or online listings.

“We were looking for more exposure to buyers who might not even have considered new construction homes because of affordability issues,” Allen said. “There aren’t many homes in the spec market, so it’s a big deal for us to find solutions that get us out there and competing with resale.”

Brown Haven Homes had been working with Group Two, a Philadelphia-based ad agency for builders, to increase its awareness among new home buyers. Group Two was familiar with Zillow Group’s Promoted Communities platform and its increased focus on developing new construction solutions. The agency had other builder clients on the platform and recommended it for Brown Haven Homes’ unique position as well.

“Other builders could promote an inventory home that might already be under construction, but Brown Haven Homes doesn’t have communities because it’s build-on-your-lot,” said Alexandra Peters, Group Two account supervisor. “So we promoted Brown Haven’s sales centers, territories and floor plans, and Zillow Group was able to work with us on that.”

Allen was open to trying it.

“My first question was ‘How fast can we start?’” Allen recalled. “And it was quick. Within a couple weeks we were live and getting leads.”

The right partner matters

In its first week on Promoted Communities, Brown Haven Homes received approximately 20 leads; within the first month, four homes had been sold, and two more were under contract.

After experiencing significant growth the previous year, Brown Haven Homes rebranded and began more fiercely competing with resale homes in the markets where it opened new sales centers. Peters and the Group Two team worked with Zillow Group to position Brown Haven Homes as a major player to contend with in the markets.

“It’s about not only increasing exposure of the Brown Haven brand but also promoting the floor plans that suit the way buyers want to live,” Peters noted. “Home shoppers see that on Zillow and Trulia, because even if there isn’t an actual home to view, they still get all the info, renderings and photos of previous homes exactly like the listing they clicked on.”

August 2017 was Brown Haven’s best month to date with 26 sales — it previously averaged 10 a month. In its first six months on Promoted Communities, Brown Haven saw that approximately 20 percent of its contacts and 35 percent of its sales were directly attributed to Zillow Group.

“We track everything through our customer relationship management (CRM) system, so we know how many sales are converted from our Zillow Group leads, and they’re good — more legit than some of our other platforms,” Allen stated.

Finding a whole new audience of buyers

Before Brown Haven Homes advertised on Promoted Communities, its target audience was shoppers already looking for custom homes. Today Allen believes Zillow Group opened his company to an untapped world of buyers who previously hadn’t considered new construction.

“Obviously, there are more resale homes than new construction homes, so Zillow Group gave us exposure to a whole new market,” he remarked.

Allen knows the key to attracting home shoppers is quality content, so he and Group Two focus on optimizing the language on their listings based on feedback they hear from buyers. They also use comprehensive Zillow Group data reports that identify opportunities to refresh their content and increase buyers’ engagement with Brown Haven Homes.

“Promoted Communities helps us continue to build a pipeline of leads that we can target later and throughout the process, because anyone who clicks a listing on Zillow or Trulia goes to the Brown Haven site,” Peters pointed out. “So even if the floor plan or area isn’t an exact fit, we’re still capturing people looking for a new home.”

“Make sure your branding and marketing messages are cohesive and consistent across all platforms so that for buyers who see you on Zillow Group, it’s the same as if they saw your billboard,” Allen advised.

While joining the Promoted Communities platform, Allen was also transitioning Brown Haven Homes from building custom homes to building pre-priced homes, and he found that working with Zillow Group made it easier to accomplish.

“Zillow Group helped change our business model — literally — and that’s what’s helped us with sales and growth,” Allen recalled. “It was instrumental in providing us with enough leads that converted to sales. The number is quite remarkable, really.”

Brown Haven Homes by the numbers

26 home sales converted from Zillow Group leads in August 2017
92 leads (38 percent) attributed to Zillow Group from June to August 2017
5 percent of sales attributed to Zillow Group from June to August 2017
4 sales centers currently on the Promoted Communities platform

Since he founded Brown Haven Homes, Allen has transitioned from real estate agent to land developer, and from a builder of custom homes to one who crafts pre-priced homes. Evolution and adaptation is nothing new to him when his eye is on the prize.

“If a builder wants to grow, and they’re not using Zillow Group, they should quit,” Allen stated. “If you’re not looking for business, don’t use Zillow: It’ll make your phone ring too much. I’m not one for puffery — this is real.”

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