Earlier this week we polled the Facebook community, asking what their most desired room would be. Options for answering were as follows:
-A huge gourmet kitchen
-A finished rec room in your basement
-A light filled morning room
-A composite maintenance free deck
-A theater room

After almost a week of voting, majority who participated chose the gourmet kitchen as their most desired room (myself included). You can still vote or view the remaining results on our Facebook page here and while there be sure to like us too!

This poll was foreshadowing for Forty West’s newest promotion for the month of April. For a limited time only, homebuyers who sign a contract during our Spring Savings event can choose to have two additional living spaces added to their new Forty West home for no additional cost.

Buyers can choose any two of the following four living spaces:
-A gourmet kitchen upgrade, which includes GE Profile Stainless Steel appliances, maple cabinets with a glaze finish of their choice, a matching wood hood, select granite countertops and glass tile backsplash. We can’t promise it will make you a better cook but we can promise you will enjoy your time in the kitchen a lot more.
-A maintenance free deck with plenty of space to kick your feet up with some of your closest friends while having a few drinks and watching the sun set over Waverly Woods.
-A finished basement rec room creating a lot more livable space in your house that can be used as a playroom for kids, adults or both!
-A light filled morning room that’s definitely worth getting out of bed early for.

Despite the four fantastic options it will not be an easy choice to make. For more information on this promotion stop by our model in Taylor Preserve at Waverly Woods on Taylor Farm Road in Woodstock or call our Community Sales Manager at 410.491.4700.

With an excellent 2010 behind us and continuing signs of a revitalized real estate market, Forty West Builders is looking to add to its’ team. We are actively seeking to hire a Marketing Coordinator to work primarily from our main office in Ellicott City and within surrounding communities. Please read the job description below for more details. Resumes should be submitted to info@fortywest.com.

Forty West Builders, a new home builder with a tradition spanning over 30 years, is looking for an energetic individual to join our team as a marketing coordinator. This position will feature a diverse set of responsibilities designed to support our sales team and company marketing initiatives with a primary focus on handling website content and distribution, social media management and other associated digital marketing projects. This position will report to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, with the ideal candidate possessing a solid understanding of consumer based marketing, strong written and oral communication skills, social media expertise and a willingness to manage a diverse set of responsibilities.

Core Responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
- Managing online social media presence and developing associated content. These channels include Facebook, Twitter, blogs, industry portals and other forums.
- Updating company website and analyzing tracking data to help determine strategic direction.
- Managing customer databases and executing email marketing campaigns.
- Creating and assisting with the distribution of tactical print marketing to support our sales team.
- Writing and designing quarterly newsletter and overseeing distribution of such.
- Working with outside programmers and IT professionals to maintain effective web presence.
- Overseeing printing and inventory of company collateral to include brochures, specialty ad items, signage, etc.
- Executing consistent communication with Realtor community and other partners who are instrumental in our sales success.
- Utilize and create efficiencies with the company’s online CRM application.
- Interacting with customers through the design and construction process. This may include coordination of the buyer’s selections prior to construction and hence the reason this position requires a diverse set of responsibilities.
- Manage various administrative tasks associated with ongoing sales and marketing initiatives as needed.

Requirements
* Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Marketing/Communications.
* Ideal candidates will have 1-3 years of experience in the marketing or communications field.
* Must be proficient with various Social Media platforms, web blogs, web analytics software and all Microsoft Office programs. Familiarity with Adobe Photoshop and some HTML knowledge is a plus.
* Previous Experience in the new home or real estate industry helpful.

To be considered for this opportunity, please forward resume to info@fortywest.com.

Thanksgiving is a chance to relax with our families, enjoy a great meal and watch some football. So from our family at Forty West Builders to yours, we wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Now we invite you to share in a little trivia about this holiday and maybe get an idea or two on designing your own, simple yet elegant centerpiece.

Thanksgiving Trivia

Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States. Let’s take a moment to refresh ourselves on the origins of the holiday and on our turkey knowledge.

Thanksgiving dates back to 1621, when, after a rather brutal winter, the pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest with a feast. Celebratory gunfire got the festivities underway for the pilgrims, but the nearby Wampanoag tribe came to investigate all the noise. Once their chief, Massasoit, realized what the gunfire was about, he sent his hunters out to add to the bounty. They returned with deer and fowl to share and Thanksgiving was born.

Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until 1863 when President Lincoln released a proclamation to official establish the last Thursday in November at Thanksgiving. President Roosevelt later moved it to the fourth Thursday in November to extend, of all things, the Christmas shopping season.

Everything you always wanted to know about turkeys…

• Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey should be the national symbol of America, not the bald eagle.
• Turkeys can fly up to 55 MPH over short distances (but don’t try to drop them from an airplane, like the publicity stunt gone wrong on the show called WKRP in Cincinnati that aired back in 1978)
• Turkeys can run up to 25 MPH on the ground
• They have excellent hearing but no visible ears
• They have a poor sense of smell
• They are hard to sneak up on as they have a 270 degree field of vision
• Over 45 million turkeys are prepared and eaten in the U.S. for Thanksgiving
• Only male turkeys gobble and can be heard a mile away

EASY centerpiece ideas for your Thanksgiving table

Called Little Pumpkins in a Vase, that’s exactly what this is. Grab a good sized clear glass vase and place a few mini pumpkins at the bottom. Gather some seasonal branches and place in the vase among the pumpkins. Voila. You now have a festive and simply elegant centerpiece

Or how about some Pumpkin Tea Lights? Gather or purchase several mini pumpkins. Wash and dry them. Then cut a hole around the top of each and remove the core, seeds and strings. (Make sure the hole you cut is about the size of a tea candle.) Insert the tea candle. A nice way to display these might be on top of a platter lined with some fall leaves.

Simple pumpkin tea lights add sparkle to any fall table

Almost every customer who walks through our doors has a house to sell.  Consequently, often times our buyers are initially under the false pretense that they can’t buy a new house until they sell their current house.  If liquidity isn’t a concern, it is the fear of being stuck with two mortgages if their current home doesn’t sell before their new home is ready.

Through the combination of special construction to permanent financing programs and our Forty West Certified Realtor program, we can put your mind at ease.  With a core concentration in the first and second time move-up market, we have made it a practice to not only design and build the perfect new home for you but we have developed tools to help you sell your new home fast.

So what exactly is FW Certified?  Forty West Certified is a preferred list of experienced Realtors with a proven history and superior reputation.  Certified Realtors will help you price your home right, stage your home for a quick sale, market it aggressively and ultimately negotiate the most favorable terms.  Better yet, through our strategic partnership with these Realtors, you can save 1.5% on the listing fee when you buy a new Forty West home.  This can put thousands of dollars back in your pocket!

Here’s how it works:

1. Enter a contract with Forty West Builders on your new home
2. Interview and select one of our Forty West Certified Realtors to sell your existing home
3. Enjoy a savings equal to 1.5% of the final sales price of your existing home.

For example, if your existing home sold for $500,000 you would save $7500 in Realtor fees.

Want to get a head start on preparing your home for sale?  Take a look at this quick video on staging your new home:

For more information on the FW Certified Realtor Program, special financing programs and even a guaranteed sale program on your current home, contact John Conaway at 410.491.4700.

Living in the Mid-Atlantic region, you often find that the construction of new homes are dominated by large, national, publicly traded builders.  Naturally, these builders have divisions in several major metro areas across the nation, they consolidate buying power, have a stable of the same plans coast to coast and use building practices that best serve their shareholders.  So while this model is critical to the economy, it really makes us appreciate that small, local builder who has become an endangered species.  These hidden gems are the perfect match for that first or second time move-up buyer who wants personal flair without breaking the bank.   For more than 30 years, Forty West has been doing just that!

Some call it custom, some call it semi-production but at Forty West we call it GETTING PERSONAL.  That means offering our buyers an array of floor plans we know are structurally sound and designed for today’s living, and then allowing our customers to personalize these floor plans to meet their desires.  This can mean moderate changes like converting a first floor study to private in-laws quarters, wholesale changes like closing in a two-story family room and elevating the master bedroom above it, or it can mean cosmetic personalization like visiting a granite warehouse to pick that perfect slab for your kitchen.

Buying your first home is no doubt an unforgettable experience. . . . but in more ways than one.  The progressions from that “happy homeowner” stage to the “if we had known” stage to the “in our next house we will” stage are common.  So as you search for your next home, don’t forget about the “all the things you wished for in your next house stage” and find a builder who can make your wishes come true.  After all, buying a home is a personal decision so make it personal!

With endless sources of data at our fingertips, today’s homebuyers visit our models with a depth of information regarding our homes, included features, competitors, current mortgage rates, property values and more.  While some may find this threatening, at Forty West Builders we find it comforting.

Comforting because we know that research will only validate who we are as a builder.  A small, customer centric builder, with a proven reputation for constructing the most quality crafted homes in the most desirable neighborhoods.

Sure, that’s marketing jargon that you could hear from one builder to the next but the difference is we want to back it up.  So in today’s Web 2.0 info age, our goal is to create an online relationship with you before you enter our doors and to grow that relationship well beyond the delivery of your new home.

So we welcome you to the Forty West Builders Blog or should we say Builder 2.0.  A place where you will find all types of valuable information from searching for a new home to living in your new home to maintaining your new home and more.   But most important, our blog is designed to be a place where you can peel back the onion and really get to know us.  We look forward to your insight and encourage your engagement!