Thanks again to those of you who joined us for the Marketing webinar two weeks ago. In case you haven’t noticed, the webinar and an extended version of the PowerPoint presentation are now under the webinars tab in the navigation bar above. Ivo and I will continue to post helpful tips on how to build your home’s brand and maximize revenue in your cottage right here on the homeowner’s blog.

In addition to our recommendation of using Twitter and Facebook to expand the network of individuals familiar with your rental property, a very well received method of solidifying your home’s brand is the creation of a home video. In Focus Media Services has developed a special package for Seabrook homeowners, especially those living remotely, to easily create a video for your rental. Seabrook has successfully worked with In Focus on several video projects to further our brand and web presence. In Focus was extremely professional throughout the whole process and I personally recommend their services to anyone interested in creating a video of their home.

Please visit the Seabrook Homeowner Page on In Focus’ website for more information on the Seabrook package.

Once produced, in addition to uploading your video to several web-based video hosting sites such as Vimeo and YouTube, we will embed the video into your home’s property listing for convenient consumer access (see example here).

If you have any questions on the process, please don’t hesitate to reach us by commenting to this post or by emailing us at ChrisM@seabrookwa.com or Ivo@seabrookwa.com. In Focus is also very prompt at responding to email inquiries, so if you want it straight from the horse’s mouth, drop’em a line.

Best regards,

Chris Murphy

As we prepare for an exciting year ahead, please join us for an online webinar in which we will discuss Seabrook’s marketing plan, including the introduction of new features to increase awareness of Seabrook.

Additionally, we will be presenting our goals and objectives for the year and what you can do to contribute towards our common goal of making Seabrook the ultimate beach destination in the Pacific Northwest.

The same webinar will be offered four different times for your convenience. Please choose one that works best for you and click on the link to register:

• Tuesday, March 16: 12-1pm
• Tuesday, March 16: 7-8pm
• Thursday, March 18: 12-1pm
• Thursday, March 18: 7-8pm

Thank you for your participation, we look forward to working together!

A few weeks ago I shared with you the news and details about the 2010 Coastal Living Idea House at Seabrook – the first of several “game changers” that we see driving lots of new visitors, guests, and buyers to Seabrook. The idea house, now exclusively called the Ultimate Beach House, is coming together quite nicely. You can follow the progress in full at the Ultimate Beach House blog which we are updating weekly.

The second game changer to which I would like to introduce you is a new business solution called NAVIS Technologies. The Navis system is a phone system that handles both overflow and after-hours phone calls and inquiries. Its primary objective is to increase our call conversion rate and capture more vacationers. Our staff is receiving extensive training on how to increase closing rates and their performance will be closely monitored by our rental manager. Further, Navis fields both overflow and after-hours calls with live agents equally capable of booking our homes. There will not be a call or inquiry missed thus maximizing our call conversion rate. If you would like to learn more, please take a look at their website at NAVIStechnologies.com.

We are very excited about NAVIS and cannot wait to see the positive impact it has on our vacation rentals program. We’re also working on implementing additional features that we think will improve the Seabrook experience even further. I plan on posting these here on the Homeowners Blog in the near future. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please share them with me here on the blog or feel free to call me or email me.

Cheers,

Casey

(360) 485-3272
casey@seabrookwa.com

If you have, now is the time to start taking the next steps. In an effort to meet the growing demand of our owners, guests, and visitors, we are planning our first retail district of shops in the coming year. The retail district will be located just south of the Lil’s Pantry market.

Here is some information you will find useful towards your decision. This year, Seabrook is on pace to rent over 11,000 nights to guests through the cottage rentals business, which equates to about a 50% increase in business over 2008. In addition, we will have a total of 150 owners – a number that will only grow further in the years to come. Seabrook is also becoming a day trip destination for visitors staying in other areas of the coast, or travelers just exploring the Olympic Peninsula. We don’t see this pace slowing down next year, since we will be in the national spot light as we host the Coastal Living “Ultimate Beach House”.

Like other towns Seabrook’s been patterned after, we will be incubating businesses with small retail spaces that can grow over time. This will allow people to start a new business without large capital expenditures as they learn more about their customers’ needs and wants. Nonetheless, anyone starting a new business will need sufficient start-up capital and reserves in order to build a profitable business over time.

Here is how to start the process:

1. If you are interested in learning about how you can be on the ground floor of Seabrook’s first retail district, please fill out this form. This way we can learn more about your plans and ideas.

2. Then, if your business plan fits into our town plans, we can schedule a meeting to discuss your idea in more detail.

3. Deadline for Summer 2010 businesses is February 1, 2010

To all of you savvy entrepreneurs, lock in now on owning a business at Seabrook! Visit our town merchants page for more information, and feel free to contact me at casey@seabrookwa.com with your interests and questions.

Cheers,

Casey

Hello Seabrook Residents/Owners!!

I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful summer we had here in Seabrook. I thought things would slow down a little bit, but so far they really haven’t! We are, however, preparing for what could be Seabrook’s biggest year ever in 2010! As you know, it has always been a challenge getting everyone the latest information about our growing town. There is a lot of news that I want to share with you and thought this would be the best way to do it.

That is why we set up www.seabrookwa.com/owners  -  this will be the way to keep track of what is going on!

My team and I will be updating this blog regularly so that you have the most up to date information. In the beginning there will be a lot of information since there are many topics to get caught up on. I apologize in advance. A lot of additional capabilities will also be added to this blog with time, especially as our community grows.

In the coming weeks I will be updating you on all of the projects we are working on, from the Coastal Living Magazine Idea House to the indoor swimming pool. This is also a place where you can ask questions and make comments on any of the content. So stay tuned……

You can also follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter:

www.facebook.com/caseyroloffwa

www.twitter.com/caseyroloff

Warm Regards,

Casey Roloff