The journey to homeownership all starts with the search, so why not make it easier to begin? NewHomesDirectory.com has recently added a brand new feature that will aid in making your home search even more easy and convenient! NHD continues to explore ways to increase the productivity of your home search from the comfort of your home and the palm of your hand. Time is something you don’t always have much of and now you can save even more of it when looking for your next new home with the use of the new map and grid split view feature.

Depending on your search preference, viewing new homes within the map view may be much more convenient. The map view can assist in gauging the distance of your new home to your place of employment, access to nearby freeways, local schools, shopping, and more. While searching for new homes in the directory, you can now click on a pin within the map view on the left side of the webpage and it will highlight the associated community details on the right side. You still have the option to view new home communities within the grid view on the right side of the webpage as well without having to switch back and forth between pages. Simply click the “grid view” or “map view” button on the right side of the page next to the “filter results” button to switch your view of the available communities in the directory. You can also directly visit the community of your choosing to learn more by clicking the “visit community” button when the pin is highlighted. 

NewHomesDirectory.com is very proud of the addition of this new map and grid split feature in hopes that it will help bring you that much closer to turning the key on your brand new home.

Purchasing a new home can be viewed as a large part of the American dream for some. You can easily find yourself thinking about the day you sign your name on the dotted line and receive your keys in hand.  It’s exciting to think of what color you will paint each room and all of the DIY projects to tackle. Who can forget the must-have granite countertops and stainless steel appliances? These are all so exciting and definitely a part of the process, but what are you really supposed to be looking for when buying your first home?

Ensuring that your new home is just right is so much more than what you may have pinned on your Pinterest board. Some tend to ask the right questions at the wrong time which can lead to trouble down the line, so here are a few questions you should be asking yourself when narrowing down the perfect home for you and your family.

What is the surrounding area like?

A beautiful home with all the right features may seem picture perfect, but if it’s located in the wrong area it can lead to issues down the line.  Consider factors like nearby bodies of water that may cause damage after a natural disaster or a local bar that might bring unwanted noise and riff-raff to your area when night falls.  Be sure your home is not located within proximity of a busy street or a train track that may become an issue when you’re trying to catch up on your sleep. 

Is there enough lighting?

A home can be staged to look as if the lighting is just right during your first viewing, but when you decide to add some plant life you may find that your greenery may become a little less lifeless in certain rooms. Make sure that you check to see which direction the home is located.  The direction of the home can either leave you with a dark, cold, drab home or rooms that are overexposed to the sunlight and can overheat in the warmer months.  Decide what it is that you desire when it comes to natural light and temperature for your new home and make sure that is what you look for during your home search.

Is the home structurally sound?

No one wants what seems to be an immaculate home to end up actually having a leaky roof or a cracked foundation.  Take the time to look past the outer appearance that may seem to be put together and have the home inspected by a professional to ensure that you aren’t purchasing a lemon of a house.  By enlisting the help of a professional home inspector, you’ll have the opportunity to learn if there is a need for a roof replacement, or if there are foundation issues, poor tiling, mold, and even water damage.

Is the home properly ventilated? 

Proper ventilation can be a second thought, but a very necessary factor when selecting your new residence.  If your prospective home is improperly ventilated, it allows for extra moisture to remain which in turn can cause mold as well as an increase in allergies.  Look for signs as you complete your walk through like bubbled or peeling paint around windows, doors, or vents, which will indicate that there is moisture in the walls and ceiling.  Taking these precautions will be very helpful when deciding on whether or not to purchase a particular home.

Take the time to investigate and look past the typical home staging tactics to uncover any issues that may not be visible to the naked eye.  Inquire and do your research along with enlisting the help of a professional.  All in all, ensure that you are not approaching the walkthrough of your next home as if you’re sightseeing; only appreciating its charming features.  Make sure you ask all of the right questions to get your dime’s worth of the “American dream.”

As consumers spend more and more of their time using smart phones to check their social media platforms, emails and search the web, it was no surprise that Google released mobile-first indexing in December of 2017. For those of you that are unfamiliar with mobile-first indexing, it simply means that the way Google sees or indexes your mobile version of your site is how it will determine to index and most importantly start to rank other versions of your website like desktop and tablet. In other words, your mobile site becomes the primary determination on how your site is ranked across all devises.

With the development of voice search and an increase in mobile use, consumers have evolved how they search the web. According to ComScore, by 2020 half of searches will be made via voice search. Gone are the days when a consumer would type a short keyword query into a Google search bar. Now, consumers simply ask “Siri”, “Alexa”, “Cortana” or whatever device they are using, long keyword phrase of exactly they are looking for. Meaning, "mobile voice searches will use natural language, which means long-tail keyword phrases are more important than ever." says Sherry Bonelli from Search Engine Land.

For homebuilders this means we need to re-think our keyword planning. Instead of optimizing for “new homes Denver”, we should start to think what a homebuyer would ask in a voice search, such as “new homes Denver under 300k”. While “new homes Denver” may have a larger number of search queries then “new homes Denver under 300k”, the longer keyword term delivers higher quality traffic. "Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase or when they're using voice search." according to WordStream. The homebuyer searching for a specific price range is further down the sales funnel then a buyer that is just starting out and not quite knowing exactly what they are looking for. Being found for long-tail keywords not only helps you gain traffic from voice search, but it also helps deliver higher quality leads.