By Ben Caballero
What would a 240% ROI mean if every builder technology you invested in delivered a return like that?
Unfortunately, most new technology overpromises and underdelivers. But SpecDeck, a breakthrough MLS listing platform, more than pays for itself by empowering home builders to maximize the effectiveness of their property listings.
Today’s higher interest rates increase unaffordability and pressure builders to minimize inefficiencies that chip away at profit margins. For production builders, outdated information, manual processes, and the maintenance and endless improvement requirements of in-house technology solutions can be costly.
Let’s explore how we can help you boost your profit margin, even in a challenging market.
The MLS listing management challenge
For years, builders have recognized that listing their homes in MLS listings was vital. At first, builders hired a brokerage office or agent but discovered quickly that this path is commonly fought with unacceptable errors, update delays, and missed buyer leads.
Today, most builders manage their MLS listings in-house with a manual process consisting of spreadsheets, calendars, and sticky notes, and their MLS listings still suffer from errors and delays.
It’s precisely why we invented SpecDeck, an API solution that reliably manages builder MLS listings with speed and accuracy.
SpecDeck combines technology with my experience as a home builder and decades-long Realtor. In its earlier form, it enabled me to sell more new homes than anyone on the planet. As a result, I achieved three Guinness World Records titles for “Most annual home sales transactions through MLS by an individual sell side real estate agent.” Individually, this technology facilitated astronomical sales production: I sold over 7,000 new homes for builders just in 2023, totaling over $3.6 billion.
I personally understand MLS listings are rarely near the top of that list of the enormous – and continuous – challenges builders face. However, It’s an almost invisible and costly problem until they look under the hood, but it’s difficult to know what to look for.
Yet when a builder digs into their MLS listing processes, they quickly discover they have a huge problem with their MLS listing system. With hundreds of new home listings to track, each requiring multiple updates from the lot stage through completion, it’s impossible for an agent, broker or in-house administrator to maintain the effectiveness and integrity of MLS listings without a tech solution.
The result is a lack of accuracy and timely data entry that erodes buyer and agent trust. But even more daunting is the unknown amount of lost sales opportunities.
Ineffective MLS listing management extends Days on Market, and that directly hits a builder’s bottom line by increasing carrying costs for interest, insurance, property taxes, exposure to theft, price reductions, and more. These inefficiencies can cost a builder hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The hidden costs of manual listing management
Most builders don’t realize that any manual MLS listing process is an inherently wasteful, time-consuming, and inefficient process. The only reason it exists is because it is typically invisible to upper management; even though it costs builders dearly, they falsely believe they are saving money.
However, we have proven that when builders use SpecDeck technology to manage their MLS listings, the resulting automation delivers speed, accuracy, and efficiency that makes SpecDeck a good investment.
On average, a new home listing needs about 32 updates before it’s closed. For a builder with 100 listings, that’s over 3,000 manual updates, each with a potential error or untimely update. Every mistake costs time, erodes trust, and can significantly reduce builder profits.
Why “strategic automation” is the game changer
The secret sauce of SpecDeck is “strategic automation,” which streamlines the MLS listing process for builders while providing the human supervision and MLS compliance components. We built this platform from the ground up to take the burden off builders.
Strategic automation doesn’t just save you time – it guarantees accuracy. With 52 automated validations, SpecDeck ensures that every data point – from pricing to construction status – is accurate and current. This level of precision is impossible to achieve with manual processes – and too time-intensive and cumbersome for any agent or brokerage to handle with manual processes.
The proof comes from builders who have adopted SpecDeck: their homes sell faster – from 14 to 40 days faster. For builders, literally, time is money. Reducing DOM increases builder income by lowering a builder’s carrying costs and reducing on-site vandalism risks. Moreover, unit sales volume and capital efficiency increase. With SpecDeck’s MLS listing platform, builders are simplifying the process and increasing their profit margin.
More importantly, the volume of a builder’s non-commission sales increases significantly with SpecDeck. All buyer leads go directly to the builder – guaranteed. The more non-commission sales a builder makes, the bigger the boost to profits. Builders using SpecDeck today average 7% more non-commission sales due to its advanced lead management features.
The numbers don’t lie: a proven three-digit ROI
SpecDeck’s ability to deliver a strong return on investment is what makes it stand out. Builders using SpecDeck achieve a remarkable average ROI of 240%. That’s not just a marketing claim – actual data back it. More non-commission sales, fewer Days on Market, and reliable and trustworthy MLS listings translate directly into higher profits.
But the invisible costs you avoid can be even more vital than the measurable savings SpecDeck delivers. In a study detailed in a White Paper from the WAV Group, builders in one market – Dallas-Ft. Worth – committed over $2.8 million in combined sales price errors among 2,000 new home listings.
When pricing errors happen, they create a silent flight. Some agents and buyers will move on without you knowing, choosing other listings because they aren’t confident in your pricing accuracy or the implications of such inaccuracies. Builders can’t afford to ignore the erosion of buyer and agent risk, especially in today’s challenging market. How many sales opportunities have you lost and don’t even know about?
SpecDeck eliminates these risks. When your MLS listings match the home prices on your website, buyers and agents see consistent and accurate pricing. This not only removes doubt but keeps your reputation intact as a reliable and trustworthy builder, and eliminates lost sales opportunities – ones you will never be able to quantify.
Why should you switch now?
Now that you know it is robbing you of an incredible profit opportunity, “How much longer can you afford to keep the same MLS listing process?”
Your competitors switching to SpecDeck are seeing faster sales, fewer errors, and significant income boosts, resulting in greater profits. The time for outdated methods is over. The future of MLS listing management is to leverage the best technology – one that is always improving so you avoid the ongoing costs of building and maintaining your own tech – and SpecDeck is the right tool that delivers the results you need and deserve.
You can now leverage the builder tech that helped me sell over 60,000 new homes since 2004. Click here to schedule a demo via our online email form, and my team and I will show you what SpecDeck can do to help builders like you sell more homes faster and more than pay for itself.
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No one in the world has sold more new homes than Ben Caballero, founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com. Between 2004 and 2023, Ben sold 61,126 homes, totaling $23.866 billion in sales volume. Ranked as the No. 1 individual real estate agent by RealTrends for both total number of sales and dollar volume each year since 2013, last year, Ben broke his most recent Guinness World Records title (he has held it three times) by selling more than 7,000 homes worth $3.64 billion in a single year.
