“Your Blog will never replace a billboard and a few guys dancing on the corner with a sign.” It was not the first time we heard the statement, but hearing it from a 30 year veteran with countless thousands of homes under his belt I must admit it was a bit of a blow. Our marketing has always been anything but normal and on more than one occasion we have been asked to lunch only to be lectured on the “way things are”. There is something about a system that has worked for 30 or 40 years that makes the people in it feel opposed and often insulted by the mention of change. LJ Urban is that change and we are standing up for a new way because this change is long overdue. Gone are the days of billboards and focus groups and in their place is a real time conversation between people who collectively stand for something better. The result is delivery of a product that is end to end what it should be.

We have had a series of dinners over the last two months where we invited fellow Eco-Urbanists to come together and talk about what its going to take to get Sacramento to be one of the shining few cities that takes up the call to build a more sustainable and livable core. We used the Good project as a backdrop and discussion point. From those dinners we got all kinds of ideas, many of which are being implemented already. Simple things like the walls getting a slightly different finish and the color changing on the tile to bigger things like the fact that higher mortgage payments are making it harder for people to get in the door. They proposed that we lower prices in the first phase which will move in the buyers waiting on the sidelines and keep things moving while the mortgage market smooths out its issues. I think we all get a bit myopic and dig our heads in the sand when we have a big project going and its easy to forget that outside opinions are priceless.

My point is this no matter what you sell you have to stop thinking of yourself as a marketer or a sales person and start thinking of your job as a conversationist, or even better, a listener. Things change and people are not always where you think they are. No amount of market statistics or studies can compensate for conversations with real people about what is going on today.

The new prices are in the downloadable PDF and here:

Lot 21 – XS  –   298,000

Lot 22 – S    -   409,000

Lot 23 – XS  –   SOLD

Lot 24 – S    -   SOLD

Lot 25  – XS -   319,000

We are still in “pre-opening gear” since the first phase is still not complete, so we have not had very many open houses. I am sorry to those who wanted to get into the units but have not yet had a chance.

We are doing an open house this Saturday August 2nd from 2-6. Come by if you have not had a chance to see inside. We are going to be touring the nearly finished “Small” units as well. And yes we will be listening….

Levi

We had a few seats open up today for the Saturday Eco-Urban 101 dinner. If you are interested email me at Levi(at)LJUrban(dot)com and I will get you in.

We have been having a great time at the dinners getting to know like minded people. It’s a good time to dig into what its going to take to get people thinking about making cities better.

I sort of start talking fast when I talk about things that I am passionate about and the Good project is definitely one of those things. Here is a video we made about the Good project. We are going to have an open house on Wednesday from 11 – 3 and again Saturday from 12-4.

The big sales event day we have all been waiting for is finally going to happen on Saturday the 19th of July.  So far we have been telling people who want to buy that they have to wait for us to finish our final with the city and now that we have it all we are going to be moving forward! I can not begin to tell you how exciting this is for us…It’s a huge deal to finally be able to move people in to our Eco-Urban houses.

If you are interested in purchasing one just get a hold of me at 916-930-9400 and I will help you get all the paperwork in order to submit an offer on the 19th. We are not pre-selling the other lots, so all that will be available is the first phase and they will go quick so its up to you to be ready before hand.

Enjoy my fast talking…..

Levi

How cool would it be if we were to one day figure out how to build a fully sustainable fully off the grid home?  I know that the houses birds build are actually more sustainable than these are but Inhabitat has a fun post up today about building bird houses out of garbage.

On the flip side of that concept, Barbara who I met at the last Eco-Urban dinner sent me a book called Biomimicry and it is really neat.  I love the concept of looking at nature for cues on how to design and manufacture things in our lives. (Thanks Barbara!)

Levi

I have been flooded with questions and responses from our offer to host Eco-Urban 101 Dinners so I thought it would be a good idea to put a post up here and explain what they are all about. The first one is already full and the second is already filling up fast so if you are interested be sure to email me and get your name on the list.

The dinners are a sort of education class on Eco-Urban development and sustainable living using the Good project as an example. The Dinners will be in our “Extra Small” home we recently finished. The food will be prepared while we watch by a local chef. (More on him later)

We only ask that you come with lots of questions and an open mind. You really don’t have to be involved in building urban houses to get something out of these dinners, they more about giving us all a chance to talk with like-minded people about the things that matter: community, sustainability, and how to change the world!

Email me at Levi(at)LJUrban(dot)com and let me know you want in and I will email you when the next slot opens up.  (and sorry, I have to write my email that way so I don’t get on a bunch of web crawlers spam lists.)

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to our sneak peak event. We really enjoyed showing off our shiny new house!  Its really fun finally getting a chance to  explain to people all that we have been working on for the last few years. I am sorry to those who we never got a chance to talk with, I know that I did not get to half of the people I wanted to talk to.

For those of you who were out of town and did not make it out, we will post some pictures soon of the inside of the house, also we will be sure to host more open house days soon so you all get a chance to see inside the home.

If you get a chance grab a SN&R and look at page 19. They did a little plug about LJ Urban and our opening event for Good this Saturday.

I was out all day at the site helping tie up loose ends and preparing for this Saturday. The house is really coming together nicely. I have to stop talking about it so much and just let you see for yourself just how revolutionary it is.

I feel like we have been getting ready for this moment forever, honestly for a little while I thought it would never come. But its finally time, and its for real.

LJ Urban is pleased to announce the first of our homes in our LEED ND certified Good project is ready for you to come check it out (or at least it will be next Saturday) The project is one of the first in the country to be finished under the LEED ND certification pilot program.

We are going to be hosting a sneak peak on the 24th of May where we are inviting you to come take a look for your self and see what we have been working on for the last 3 years. I can’t even begin to tell you what a big moment this is for all of us. We have been putting our hearts and tears (trust me there have been many) into making this the best most sustainable, livable, and just all around wonderful place in Sacramento.

We are happy to welcome the The Live Lightly Tour, a veggie fueled RV that Matt and Sara are driving around the country to help educate everyone on ways to live a more sustainable life style, they will be set up outside the project giving tours of their RV. Also we are going to be enjoying Organic Carribean food served by Kimba from Roots and Kulchah. And as if that was not enough Dusty Brown a local Sacramento musician will be setting the mood with his groovy music.

Its a sneak peak because we are not quite ready to start selling the homes. When we do start (June 1st) we are going to be coming at it from a whole different angle that you would expect. Instead of having an agent sit there for hours and hours every day wasting energy waiting for people to show up, we are going to be hosting “eco-urban 101” dinners. The dinners are going to happen every few weeks and are going to be open to 10 people each time. At the dinners you will be able to learn just what is so different about eco-urban housing from the team here at LJ Urban and various other people who worked on making this project a reality. Its sort of a green building class, and will be open to anyone who is interested. We are not trying to sell the houses at these dinners but instead educate people on what we did to make this a sustainable neighborhood. We set out to change the world and want this project to be a beacon of sustainable building at its best. I am very excited about being able to tell the story of Good.

The sneak peak is going to be held Saturday the 24th from 10-2 at Good. Good is at the corner of 4th and B Sts in West Sacramento. We hope to see you there!

If you have not already, don’t forget to sign up on the Good project interest list so you will be kept in the loop about the next eco-urban 101 dinner. We expect them to fill up fast and are not going to do them all the time so if you are interested please don’t wait. There will be a sign up sheet in the Model on the 24th for you to sign up. Or you can email me at Levi(at)LJUrban.com

Levi