CA VCS

Ventura County


In an effort to entice buyers, Standard Pacific Homes is staging an aggressive campaign called "Mission: Possible" to sell 200 homes across Southern California over a 10-day period, ending Sunday.

The Irvine-based homebuilder has homes for sale at 49 new housing developments, ranging from $300,000 to $7 million for homes of 1,100 square feet to 4,000 square feet, said Stephen Boggs, division president in Westlake Village. He oversees the company's housing developments in Ventura County.

The company has some 40 homes for sale at developments in Oxnard and Simi Valley. Prices range from the mid-$300,000 at Waypointe at RiverPark to the high $800,000s at the Bluffs at Big Sky in Simi Valley.

A clear obstacle to moving those homes has been the depressed housing market. Sales have plunged over the past year in Ventura County and Southern California. The company is hoping to stir up some enthusiasm with its advertising blitz.

"Both in the resale market and brand-new homes, there are just some fabulous deals right now," said Joe Virnig, president of the Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors.

Standard Pacific has advertised that its sale offers customers more than $20 million in savings. There has been some discounting in price, but it's been fairly minimal, Boggs said. He estimates that Standard Pacific has slashed prices by 5 percent within the past month, mainly for the blowout sale.

The bigger incentive is the low interest rates that the company offers, which can reduce mortgage payments by about 20 percent, he said. Standard Pacific offers lending through its wholly owned subsidiary Standard Pacific Mortgage Inc. The company has a handful of loan programs, with rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage starting at 5.375 percent.

Bonuses include a free 42-inch plasma TV with every house purchase and a daily $500 drawing. The company is also offering free upgrades for Oxnard locations, including stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and air conditioning.

It was the low interest rate that appealed most to Alonso Escamilla. A property manager, Escamilla owns two houses in Santa Barbara, but he's looking for something more economical. Since the interest rate on his jumbo loan adjusted upward, his payment has become sizable. By selling one of his homes, he wants to be able to put 10 to 20 percent down on a $450,000 house.

"I don't want to leave Santa Barbara," he said. "But it's either struggle, or move and live comfortably."

Blowout sales are growing more common as homebuilders attempt to entice potential buyers who have grown skittish in a slumping housing market. Homebuilders need to be more aggressive to make the sale, Virnig said.

In its "Deal of the Century" promotion, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. trimmed home prices by as much as $100,000 during a three-day national sale.

But these type of campaigns by big builders can rankle smaller firms. Ian Bentley, sales and marketing manager of JM Development, a Santa Barbara-based real estate development company, calls Standard Pacific's campaign a "hype" and says the company isn't offering anything that it wouldn't already offer.

"All of these builders play a game with pricing," he said.

Bentley spoke of another builder that added $20,000 to the price so it could offer buyers a $20,000 credit.

This summer, JM Development permanently reduced prices by $80,000 at Henderson Cottages, a new 28-home community in east Ventura. There are 17 properties still available.

"Realistically, would we do what Standard Pacific is doing? Come talk to us. We can give you a deal of the century,' or mission possible.' We can do the same thing."

Part of Standard Pacific's campaign is to get sales staff energized, and to educate buyers on what they can afford, Boggs said, noting that a lot of people think that they can no longer afford a home or that they can't get financing.

On Thursday, Boggs said Standard Pacific was ahead of schedule and will exceed its goal of 200 sales by Sunday. He said the Ventura County division will exceed goals by 25 to 30 percent, but declined to release sales figures.

New homes sales are down, Boggs said, and Standard Pacific is trying to attract more buyers to move inventory.

Even before the campaign began Sept. 14, Boggs said there was an increase in traffic of 30 percent at each one of the model homes in the six developments he oversees in Ventura County, and sales increased 50 percent.

The goal of hitting the 200 mark is realistic, Boggs said. The company probably does about half as many sales in a 10-day period, although it's hard to tell because sales averages vary based on season, he said.

When Virnig heard Standard Pacific's ad on the radio, he thought that it sounded like a car commercial.

"Some marketing guy took a page from what people do in car sales," he said, adding that the company is obviously trying to drum up business by adding a sales deadline, similar to what automobile dealerships do.

"They are just trying to generate some excitement and buzz, just like every real estate professional is trying to do," Virnig said.

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