For the first time, a custom designed home has been sold through an online “Buy Now” offer. Harbor Homes partnered with Anewgo to allow buyers to pick their lot, personalize a floor plan, select their finishes, sign paperwork and make a deposit on their own time, remotely.
Historically, new homes accounted for roughly 9% of all residential real estate purchases, climbing to as high as 15% of the market share in 2021. This increase is due in part to non-existing inventory of resale homes, as well as buyers’ desire to customize their homes since they’re spending more time at home post-COVID-19.
As high as 70% of all home buyers are open to buying new construction, but only a fraction of them do, largely because of how difficult it is to buy new homes, compared with used. New homes don’t exist, and most buyers have difficulty visualizing the final product. There are a lot of choices when it comes to finishes, and it can be an overwhelming process, especially if buyers can’t imagine how it will come together.
Located in southeast Wisconsin, Harbor Homes was founded in 2018, and it built around 160 homes in 2021. President Scott Thistle is on a mission to offer buyers similar experience to what they expect when shopping for other products online, the company said .
“I’m trying to get ahead of the market with Harbor, both from a product standpoint and from a customer interface standpoint,” Thistle said.
Harbor Homes rolled out Buy Now feature and received its first offer just two days later, the first transaction of a custom designed home online, down to selecting finishes and lot.
“I had a certain house in mind, and it meant a lot to me to be able to explore it first,” said Sue Faust, Harbor’s first Buy Now purchaser. “As a buyer, it’s nice to be able to play around without feeling any pressure until you’re ready to buy. It worked really well. It was seamless.”
Harbor partnered with proptech company Anewgo to leverage interactive content, data analytics, and sales conversion tools to create seamless online shopping journeys for new home shoppers.
“The main reason Buy Now is meaningful is that it gives you immediate ability to transact wherever,” said John Lee, CEO of Anewgo. “Location is not part of the Equation. Buy Now: it’s about time, not distance.”
