THE BYTE
The BYTE is back! We’re serving up the latest home and tech news from the last week for you to sink your teeth into.
This week we’re taking a BYTE out of Facebook’s latest ad policies, home design preferences, the co-living movement, how chatbots are changing the sales cycle, and 3D printed homes. Dig in!
Generally
Facebook Changes Its Ad Policy
In the news recently, Facebook announced it is making modifications to its advertising platform that affects ads for housing, employment and credit.
What Modifications?
Facebook was in hot water, yet again, for violating The Fair Housing Act. As stated by the NHFA, Facebook will now separate ads for housing, employment and credit (HEC) on all its platforms, including Instagram and Messenger. Does this affect the home building industry? Without a doubt. Be prepared to re-evaluate your marketing efforts on social as you will no longer be able to target by age, gender, or zip code. The news isn’t all doom and gloom however. For those companies employing deeper conversion strategies or working with a company to help navigate these issues, this news could be a kick start to more efficient and effective marketing. More to come on the impact of this announcement from the BDX team.
Stainless Steel is the New Black
The NAHB completed the What Home Buyers Really Want (2019 Edition) survey that shows home design preferences among prospective buyers. Gone are the days of white appliances and laminate countertops. Here to stay are stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. As for cabinets? No finish color garnered a majority, but white got the most votes coming in at a whopping 32 percent. And who’s to say these desired features won’t shift in the upcoming years? Stay tuned!
Take Notes
Fostering a Sense of Community
Meet co-living 2.0 – communal living but with private spaces for independent living as well. Skeptical? Node – the pioneers behind the co-living concept – launched their development in Dublin with great success. Co-living 2.0’s goal is to target older demographics that are looking for a sense of community but with much loftier living spaces.
You’ve got… chatbots?
Ditch the emails and phone calls as your primary way to communicate. Software developer, AtlasRTX, aims to help improve follow-up times between contacts and sales rep with their chatbots – a 24/7 automated messaging program that handles communication through a builder’s website. Their mission? “Chatbots + humans = better together”.
Printing Sustainable Homes
Buying a house is the single largest financial investment a person makes. Austin-based company, Icon, is putting a spin on making homes more financially reasonable by way of 3D printing. Instead of waiting 3-4 months for a new home to be completely built, the Vulcan II 3D printer can spit one out in 24 hours. Talk about a fast turnaround time!
Totally Unrelated
Science 101
Enthusiastic teacher tries a science experiment in her own kitchen and instead of the typical create-your-own volcano with baking soda experiment and watch it flow over the top, she got a remodel of her kitchen instead!
