Personalized Service

The mission of the Nolting Real Estate team is to invest in the lives of homeowners by providing reliable, innovative, and personalized service to maximize the economic and personal value of their real estate investment and to earn their trust in order to build lifelong business relationships.

We have been doing a series on our corporate mission statement for a few weeks now.  I started by discussing the role of a team in real estate transactions.  I then fleshed out the concepts of reliability and innovation when it comes to servicing our clients.  Today, I would like to address what we mean when we talk about providing Personalized service.  

The concept of personalized service is simple – the execution, though, is another story.  I believe that in order to give “personalized” service, one must first and foremost consider that needs and wants of that other person.  You can count on a business person’s personalized service if, and only if, that professional has put in the time to get to know you.  Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D. notes that you must ask customers the golden question:  What is your unmet want?  

You can only give personalized service when you understand the customers unmet want.  Really, personalizing service is more about a mindset than it is about skill.  It simply boils down to this – am I willing to listen to my customer and satisfy his needs.  You can be the best Realtor in the world, but if you don’t do what your customer’s want, they will never use you again.  

Case in point:  I listed a house for an elderly woman whose chief concern was not making a ton of money on the sale, but wanted simply to cover her mortgage and sales expenses and get on with her life with as little disruption as possible.  She made it terrifically clear that getting top dollar was not the objective.  What did I do?  I helped her fairly price the house so that it would move as quickly as possible.  I clumped showings together so as to not disturb her too frequently.  I did not place a SUPRA box on her house, which encourages other agents to show the property.  Instead, I met with each buyer’s agent and walked them through.  I wanted this kind lady to be comfortable with my service.  

We sold the house very quickly and with little stress on the client.  In her thank you note to me, Ms. Butler wrote, “My appreciation can never be expressed in words or any way but to tell you that if there is ever any way that I can help you by word or deed – please! please! don’t ever hesitate to ask.”  She signed the card, “Your Friend, Gloria”.  We gave Gloria Butler personalized service when we sold her house at 12 Sweetbriar Lane in Kirkwood, MO.  And Gloria responded by calling us her friend.  It was a very memorable experience for Nolting Real Estate.  

Baby boomers spur booming market for luxury villa homes

St. Louis Business Journal - May 19, 2006
by Anna Jones
A shortage of land suitable for building and a growing number of baby boomers reaching empty-nest status have led to a burst of villa-style homes in Chesterfield.
Builders are having to take some creative and often expensive measures to qualify the flood-prone land for construction and to make it aesthetically pleasing enough for buyers of the upscale, low-maintenance residences.
"We've probably spent over $2 million so far (preparing the land), and we're not done," said Dave Lewis, director of development for . The firm has had to recapture land from a flood zone for its Terra Vista development off Creve Coeur Mill Road near Olive Boulevard. "You have to create a site that not only is engineered properly but has that 'ooh' and 'aaah' feeling when you look out over a perfect walkout lot that looks over a lake that backs to Creve Coeur Creek."
Levinson Homes is ready to begin pouring streets for Terra Vista, which will have 32 attached villa homes and four unattached homes on 24 acres. It hopes to begin building in July, with the first of the approximately $400,000, 1,800-square-foot homes opening in October. Levinson has not yet sold any of the Terra Vista homes.
But it's taken three and a half years of coordinated efforts by Levinson, the cities of Chesterfield and Maryland Heights, St. Louis County, the , the Army Corp of Engineers and even the .
"We created lakes and took the excavation of the lakes and created the ground," Lewis said. He's still working with FEMA on the project, which should prevent once-familiar flooding on Creve Coeur Mill Road.
became one of the first to embrace the villa-style enclave in the area, with its latest and perhaps most prominent series of developments along a quarter-mile of frontage on Conway Road just north of Highway 40 where the Belle Monte Road, August Hill and Conway on the Grove developments are found.
With the success of the 42-home, 4-year-old August Hill development (average selling price: $900,000), Bell Monte Road (average sale price: $780,000) followed just to the west, where construction on the last two of its 22 homes began late last month. The 13 homes at Conway on the Grove averaged $1.3 million. True to villa and townhouse style, all provide year-round maintenance for the homeowner.
"We've been our own competition. Up until about a year and a half ago, there weren't other luxury, attached homes in Chesterfield," said John O'Connell, executive vice president of Hayden Homes.
The target homeowner: primarily empty-nesters and early retirees, stages that many baby boomers are entering.
"We've always had a flair for the attached-home market where all the maintenance is taken care of, and they've all been gated communities," O'Connell said. He said the company began building villa-style homes in the area in the mid-1980s before Chesterfield incorporated.
"A lot of our folks might have winter and summer homes, and it's nice to be able to lock your door and go, knowing there's a gate-guarded community.
"We knew there was a market for the empty-nester luxury housing when we started these homes in the early 2000s. As much as we knew there was a market when we built the others in the '80s and '90s. We knew with the baby boomers coming along, there'd be even more of a demand for this kind of housing."

Average increases
Overall, homes currently on the market in Chesterfield carry an average listing price of $570,000, a $120,000 increase from last year's average sale price of $450,000, according to Russell Nolting of Nolting Real Estate.
"That's a pretty significant jump," Nolting said. "There's a significant trend of prices going up, and that's throughout St. Louis, but Chesterfield is showing signs of larger appreciation than other townships."
Nolting said homes in Chesterfield are typically on the market for about 75 days, compared to "a little longer" in surrounding communities.
Bud Miceli, vice president of , said homes in the Chesterfield area are typically not on the market very long. Miceli Homes' Tara Estates, along Wild Horse Creek Road in the southwest portion of the city, began with 32 homes, and last year the company added another 10 lots with homes in the $1 million to $1.5 million range on lots at least a half acre. Seven of the latter homes have sold, Miceli said.
The Wild Horse Creek area south of Highway 40 continues to draw new homes. Hayden Homes recently closed on 45 acres at Baxter Road just east of Wild Horse Creek for The Reserves at Chesterfield Village and is planning a mix of single-family attached and detached and multifamily homes that will target primarily baby boomers.
A bit further south, is developing 117 acres for Westland Acres, with about half of that falling in Chesterfield with 56 lots sized 15,000 to 34,000 square feet. Another 46 lots fall in Wildwood.
Near the same area, is developing Tuscany Reserve, a 58-acre development with 45 lots that have an average size of 1.12 acres.
That fits in with Chesterfield's other housing trend -- the development of homes on large parcels of land, due in part to city zoning requirements.
While proximity to Highway 40 remains a key strength for the housing market in Chesterfield, most builders and real estate agents are also quick to credit the strong plan for growth the city developed shortly after it incorporated.
"Chesterfield has done a great job following its comprehensive plan," O'Connell said. "They have great housing stock, great houses of all types."
Anna M. Jones is a St. Louis freelance writer.

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