Does it take seasoned sales experts to sell new homes in a challenging market like this?

Not when you can have the homeowners themselves selling homes for you.

That's what Caruso Homes' Symphony Village, a Centreville, Maryland 55+ community has proven with its resident sales ambassadors. The 495-unit active adult resort hires ten homeowners at a time to work at a hourly wage at their sales center, according to Karen Leier, the company's VP of sales and marketing.

Some of the ambassadors are part time and some put in a 40-hour work week. In a recent BUILDER Magazine report, Leier admits that Caruso Homes' three full-time salespeople don't hold a candle to their ambassadors, who are their best representatives. "We're kind of like a family," admits Caruso Homes' President David Herzog.

Homeowners also take an active role in planning community events while sales are still in progress, holding anything from wine and cheese parties to family fun days using the community's 13.800 square foot clubhouse.

Published: January 22, 2008

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.