Miracle Homes Presents…………………………………………………………   

………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….Mi-Pad   (or the Mi-Pad collection, if you like)

      If you wish to see what this is all about, read the previous blog entry “What’s In A Name”.

     Blessings,

      Tom Hignite

     In my last blog, I gave a few thoughts about our newest series of homes tentatively called our “Yacht Series” This is a series that is supposed to resonate with a whole new generation of home buyers. When offering a new home design, naming the home design is somewhat akin to the process of naming a baby.

     Just as in baby naming, different names bring to mind different attitudes and opinions. When we named our first son Nik, since he was born the day before Christmas, Nick seemed fitting (St. Nicholas). To give a creative twist, we dropped the “c” in the common Nick,  and  it seemed more exotic.  For son Sean, we went with the tough guy persona of celebrity Sean Connery. With this new home series, I wanted a name which would relfect what these homes were to mean the Generation Y home buyers. Let’s review.

     1. They need to be ultra cool in their flair, somewhat like what the I-Pad is to the full fledged desk computer.

     2. These homes , like a yacht, are quite clever in their “smallness” because they use such high standards for design and highest-end materials that you never notice how small they really are.

     3. These homes , for all of their quality and high styling, still need to be very affordable to the masses. These homes, after all are for a generation of the lowest income buyers we have ever seen enter the market. They each average an income of about $25,000 annually.

     4. This group of buyers wants less frills, and has no desire to have this look like their parent’s homes. They want lots of entertaining spaces and  are not so much interested in lots of maintenance or difficult  landscaping or high monthly energy bills.  The homes must simply “work” in what they do.

     5. These buyers are renters who desire to own something instead of rent something but they have nothing to buy except old, non-cool grandma homes. If that is all they can get for their dollar, they would rather stay put in their contemporary apartments near the city night life.

    6.  This tech savy group is the perfect consumer for the newest practical items such as the IPad and the Scion , or smart cars of today. They are also interested in “green” and “energy star” items, to a point.

     The orignal thought was that his group may really respond to the name “yacht series”. The story is simple enough. A really luxurious small  home, with high styling, in effect,…a yacht! Then I asked myself, does this group really want to be associated with a floating palace? The apparent opulence of owning a yacht may not really be a life goal of this Generation Y buying group. Other names got considered.

     Eco-Home

     E-Home

     Eco-Haus(looks good on paper but only on paper)

     Smart Home

     Petite Palaces

     Mini Manors

     Geo Homes(Chevy tried that route. It did not last)

     Micro Mansions

     Micro Homes

     Earth Homes

     Then , while listening and brainstorming took weeks of  time to ponder and research, the ideal name came to mind.  A name that I just knew was the right name which would immediately appeal and convey the strongest message of what these ultra cool homes would and should be. In my next blog, I will have a one word blog.  It will  be comprised only of the new series name. Until then, let’s see  if any of you can change my mind and come up with a better series name. If we use your name, I am sure we could make it worth your while.

     I will name the name on Saturday night’s blog , so please comment your ideas to me as soon as possible.

     A few last bits of news about this and that. I just heard that this January’s  home sales in Wisconsin (heard it on WTMJ radio news today)were  20% higher than last January . In every Southeast county  home sales went up except Ozaukee. Go figure! Our January sales were way over a 20% increase. Probably our best January since 2005.

     Our February sales are shaping-up nicely too and we have two spec-home closings on schedule for this month’s end. I have been buring the midnight oil designing homes for several clients. We signed a very nice client who is giving us the honor of building their larger custom lake home.

     As of February 1, all Wisconsin homes must now have carbon monoxide detectors. That little option has been a standard item with our standard Miracle series for at least 5 years!

     Our Saturday morning television specials are enjoying nice ratings which seem to be growing each week. I do hope you will join me this Saturdayon our next show  for a walk into one of our most elaborate homes , maybe one of the most elaborate homes ever built, our Grand Bay. See the circular great room with 20 foot high domed ceiling and two-story Disney bedroom!

     I hope you will not miss this special  “Tom Hignite’s Home Imaginators”  this Saturday morning at 11 on channel 24.

     Look for our name of our new home series next time, same blog!

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

    Yachts are a different kind of animal when it comes to designing luxurious spaces into rather small square footage areas. Nautical(called navel architects)designers have a few industry “tricks” they have employed to find ways to expand living spaces.  If you have ever visited a boat show and stepped aboard a yacht of say, 30 to 50 feet, you would come away saying that you could probably not only live aboard such vessels, but you would rather enjoy the great high end luxuries packed-in to these floating palaces. It would not be unusual to pay a Million dollars for a 50 foot motor yacht.

     It is a good thing that motor yachts are not purchased by square footage. If they were, no one might ever buy one. A typical 50 foot yacht can be as wide as 16 feet. They are, by nature, pointed on one end of this space.  If this were a house, that would mean your million dollars would be buying about 800 square feet of interior living space. If this was an 800 square foot home, a million dollars would be a ridiculous amount to pay for that type of square footage.  Homes of this meager size are usually low income, unspectacular homes. Most communities would only allow such homes in trailer parks.

     For the past many months, I have been toiling-away on a new idea. The idea of using bold, striking architecture, very high end materials and detailing, and borrowing some of those design “tricks” from the yachting industry(I used to spend a lot of time on my family’s 40 foot yacht in Door County when I was a teenager) to design a new series of homes to place under our Miracle banner. I have not yet arrived at the best name to call these micro-mansions(that name too is in the running), but I have a notion that the market for smaller, luxury laden, beautifully designed homes is gong to be a  “white hot” sales market in the coming years.

     I am busy readying our first 4 designs of this  new “Yacht Series“. The designs are a small 3 bedroom 2-story, a slightly larger 2-story, a split bedroom ranch, and a hybrid design which is neither 2-story nor ranch but places the master on the main level. All 4 homes are being viewed as the perfect answer for renters who can only afford a monthly payment of $600 to $800 per month. These are the perfect vehicles for getting someone their very own home, very own attached garage, very own 3(or 4) bedrooms with 2.5 bathrooms, and very own back yard, all for the price of renting but now, you don’t have to rent.

     Talk about luxuries, these homes seem to have it all. hardwood floors, solid panel doors, wider solid trim, lots of windows, great exterior detailing, granite or Corian tops, fancy mouldings, raised panel walls, full basements, Energy Star and Green built through-out! These are highly efficient insulation packages. Lots of ceramic tile and even(gasp) many custom built-in furnishings too! Let’s include high-end appliances, garage door openers, sidewalks,concrete drive, even a patio or deck and landscaping.

     These complete, luxury homes can be built for less due to their size and I fully expect(fingers crossed and hands folded) the first 4 to be offered for sale when they open in mid-June for $150,000 or less. Actually, I am hoping a little less frilled model can be bought with lesser amenities but still including the home, lot, driveway, landscaping and appliances for under $120,000!

     If you are not the first home kind of situation, maybe you are the retiring type. Maybe you are the type who has always wanted to build that vacation home up north and guess what? We do build as far away as Door County and out to the Dells!

     Forget the price(I know that is kinda hard to forget at these prices), the designs are marvelous and I would challenge you to find better detailing even in much larger homes carrying much larger price tags. I am using all I have learned in having designed and built over 2,000 homes and if this kind of dsign interestes you, you can get in on the “ground floor” of this one. Even though we have not yet publicly(except here and now) announced these homes, we are getting a few supposed takers who would be interested in buying one of these even before they are built and open. We are however NOT pre-selling these homes as we will be fair to all and only start to pre-sell these first 4 homes on the first day they are open to the public in June.

      That may sound a bit presumptuous in this re-surging housing market, but I know renters will be lining up to get their first glimpse at these beauties when they have their coming out party“grand opening”. I have already started a list of highly interested wanna-be home owners. If you would like to be on that list, just drop me a line. We do have one of these smaller preliminary Yacht series homes now on our website under our new  “Designer’s Palette” section. This is the smallest of the homes in the series and it is only the preliminary concept drawings. The newest tweaks have changed the design quite a bit.

     Another possible name for this new series is   Eco-Homes series . Because they are so small in size, they are the ultimate idea in being Earth friendly because they use less material and less fuels to operate them. Their small size makes them “Eco” as well, as in economical to own. As I said, I am searching for a better name for the series. If you have a name sugestion, I would love to hear it! As for a tag line or slogan try this…

     Downscale your “rat-race”,

     Upscale your life-style

     ….SIMPLIFY your life.

Until we blog again,

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

     Upscale your lifestyle,

One of the things that kept me on my computer in Orlando recently was a new wireless device which enabled me to get the internet in places where there was no service. I loved this, that is, until I lost it! That meant my live blogging from the recently attended International Home Builders Show in Orlando Florida started and stopped with just one single blog entry. Too bad because living and blogging while things had were occurring seems fresher than trying to recall all the details of the experience after the fact.
       I will keep this entry short but I wanted to at least tell you about the “tease” from my last entry. I had expressed how I was spending my flight to Orlando creating a new concept that popped into my head. This idea, like many of my “wild” ideas usually starts with me asking myself what things in homes are commonly accepted that would not have to be accepted if anything (with-in reason) was possible. Here’s my latest “wild idea” thoughts, on a new type of home.
      The reason why people usually want to buy a ranch instead of a two-story home is because they want to avoid stairs. They somewhat are fooling themselves inasmuch as most ranches I know of still have a basement stairs and many folks want to finish off that basement. Aside from investing in an elevator or stair trolley device, how can a multi-level home be built and avoid using a stairs? I thought and thought on this question and started drawing plans for a multi-ramped design in my mind. Then I grabbed my ever-ready graph paper tablet, and started to sketch concepts to see if it was possible or practical.
      What I came up with was a very distinct possibility of being workable, in about a 2,600 square foot two-story home that had ramps . In wheelchair access codes, that means a rise of the ramp of one inch for every one foot of run. That means in order to proceed up or down into the home for one foot, you would need twelve feet of ramp. That would mean, for a typical eight foot ceiling height, you  would need nine feet of height because of the extra foot for the structure between floor levels. If you do the math, that means the ramp would have to be one hundred and eight feet in length!
     My first reaction is to instantly recoil away from the idea and dismiss it as being just too darn long to walk up to another level. The big questions begin. Would a person rather walk one hundred and eight feet or walk up a ten foot flight of stairs and up thirteen stairs? The bigger picture means we need to interrupt this long walk up this ramp by having periodic interruptions such as employing the idea of having multi-level “rooms” and also a short set of stairs about midway through the journey on the ramp so a person in good health can cut the journey in half. This could also be positioned so the four and a half feet of stairs (midway in the ramp) could also be a quick access to the garage. In order to make this ramp fit into a normal sized home of say, about sixty-five by forty feet, the ramp needs to encircle the inside boarder of the home. If you circle a ramp around the interior of the home however, window placement is a chief concern. After thinking on this, I figured that this could still work as the ramp would have an open effect to it which would allow the gentle slope of the ramp to nearly disappear and run under windows. Placing the furnishings inside the home with the ramp between the furnishings and the home’s exterior walls would make the rooms feel larger as it would have the same effect of having a large room then placing the furnishings four feet away from the walls.
      I sketched and sketched and tinkered and soon had a working concept which demonstrated to me that such a thing could indeed work! On my flight back to Milwaukee, I had a tinkered a little more to the extent that I knew it could work. Now comes the next phase of making a “prettier” , more understandable drawing of the home and showing it to various people to see if this idea has any merit( or if it is just me going off on another tangent of meaningless design). So, I ask you, what do you think? Is there a market for a stairless two story home? Some folks (like my parents) do not want to take an elevator or stairway chair lift. This would enable everyone to access not only the upstairs by ramp, but also the basement as well.
     I could see maybe building such a home for public showings, but then again, I can only afford to build homes that will be attractive to potential buyers.
     The mind games are now being played out!  What can you add to my mix of thoughts?
     I am happy to be back, although we did have great adventures and some warmth relief in Orlando. I will share some of these thoughts as we blog forward. Go Packers!

Blessings,
Tom Hignite

Hello from sunny Orlando Florida,

I , five of our Miracle staffers, and our lead carpenter subcontractor all have traveled to the Largest Home Builder Show in the World, The International Home Builders Show. I am writing this blog edition from new device which I have yet to figure out completely. On my new IPAD, I do not have the knowledge of how to do spell-check, or make some words bold, or italics, or such. This is how a “raw” blog looks, before I use technical enhancements to make this a more readable finished product.
I have previously blogged about how this single show has more great new product introductions and new applications, and motivational speakers, and seminars about home construction than you are likely to find anywhere else. It strts on a Wednesday and goes through this Saturday. tickets are several hundred dollars per person, but we do have some generous vendors who are able to allow us to economically enter the show.
Today, we started at 7:30am registering and then attending the first seminar series at 8:00. There was an elaborate opening ceremony with comedian Frank Caliendo, and a big song and dance style review. The seminars were so plentiful, that all 8 of us went to different subjects. My sales staffers went to find out how to make sales in the current economy. I went to a seminar about Internet marketing. They stressed creating new blog content (funny how that seminar seems to have motivated me on that point). Our book keeper attended sessions about new applications of Quick-Books in constructions. There was a session about building better framing techniques for our carpenter foreman, and lots of big ideas for me to
see about designing smaller homes and features for the next generation of home buyers.
You may know that Disney World is only a few minutes from our door at the Disney All Star Resort rooms we are staying at. You get the general picture and tomorrow we start again ,early AGAIN. since it is midnight, I think I will pick this up tomorrow without need to explain my trip details.
As for leaving you with one thing to think about till next time, here is one tidbit. On the plane trip here, I went into a home dreaming mode and started to imagine a wild idea that had not occurred to me before. I sat a while and considered mental images and dimensions. Then, I grabbed my graph paper onto my fold-down tray table and started sketching the first(I think) 2-story home, with basement, that would have no stairs or elevators to allow wheelchair bound people to go to the second floor or basement!
Until we blog again,

Blessings,

Tom Hignite

     In recent years, I have been doing many things with television both in our homes and , in a way, in yours too.  I just wanted to remind all of you bloggers out there that tomorrow morning, and the next 11 Saturdays, at 11am on channel 24, we will once again be running  our   popular television” specials”  . 

     About three years ago, we came into the market with our own unique spin on home builder shows. I had always seen so many local paid programming home builder shows that all had some things in common and I had always felt if I were to produce our own television shows, they would be different from all of those. For example, those shows all seemed to be constantly hawking the audience to either buy their homes or to use their suppliers. I have no real issue with either of those things except  that I think that kind of thing should be used exclusively for in the commercials, not in the actual show content.

     How many home builder shows have you seen where the host starts to interview the product supplier and the interview usually starts with a hollow exchange of “hellos and thanks for being here and it is my pleasure to be here today and so forth. Those same segments seem to always end with the interviewer patronizing the interviewee saying something like, “that’s terrific! Can you please tell our audience why (builder name) uses you as their supplier of choice, and then they always ask, so if our audience wants to contact you, how can see/learn more about  your product?”  My opinion is that television shows are more popular when they stick to informing  and entertaining. The commercials were made for for selling things.

     In our show, titled Tom Hignite’s Home Imaginators, the first thing we did was to never do any of what I just explained. We don’t usually mention the name of the supplier or if we do, it is very brief and never do we ask  those other filler questions.I think the audience knows that the host didn’t just meet the guest for the first time just whatn the cameras started rolling.   In our show, we don’t tell anyone to buy anything or come out to see us anywhere EXCEPT IN THE ACTUAL COMMERCIALS.  We make a point never to mention our phone number, e-mail address, or even our company name! Sure we mention all of those things, but ONLY in our 3 or 4 commercials and then in a short message after our show end credits have run. In that way, you the viewer  can always turn-off the show if you don’t want to hear our last, after show, plea.

      When this show first ran on channel 4 a few years ago, our ratings were very large. Some times, the numbers of folks watching equaled the numbers who watch the 6 o’clock news!  I think the chief reason for this is that we show the viewer new and unusual things they likely will find interesting and not just show you our fireplace installers or plumbers showroom.  We show you ideas that are way out of the box and by showing you these unusual things, we assume (if you are interested) you will be clever enough to find a way to ask us later for the supplier information you might want. 

     This show was blessed to garner 3 Emmy Midwest Emmy nominations including BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC,(written and recorded just for us), BEST GRAPHICS/ANIMATION, and BEST OVERALL non-news SHOW.  We did not win, but I think we were one of the first paid programs to get nominated for much of anything. Even though we did not win, our few trips to Chicago to attend the ceremonies, were neat to be a part of.

     Our new shows are mostly the same 6 shows we ran before except we have added a few new bits of information and interest segments to each show. The shows will run for 12 consecutive weeks starting(as I said) tomorrow at 11am. Then, if you like the kind of things you see, we have 3 beautiful homes we are selling in Richfield that are open tomorrow from noon to 6 (special hours)and on Sunday from12 to 4.

    On Monday, I will be checking our ratings to see how we did numberwise, but I hope all of you home shoppers will stop out and see me tomorrow to tell me how you liked it entertainmentwise!   

     See you at 11am!

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

     Every year, we Americans seem to have the traditional habit of making our new year resolutions. It is our human nature to always want MORE  or BETTER in the new year than we had in the year which just ended.

     I have not made any such resolutions for myself personally, but , this year, like many before, I have lots of resolutions and things  I put in my sites for our company to accomplish. Writing this blog gives you and me the opportunity to look back on this blog next January and see how many of  these goals are accomplished or came true. I will try to keep this interesting.

     My first goal/desire is to develop more home designs and make more people happy this year than last. I guess that is my clever way of saying, since I want to believe we make all of our clients happy(some more than others, but all pretty much. ..happy), if I want to make more folks happy, that means only one thing, selling more homes. In 2010, our numbers were about 51 (or so) home starts, or home sales closed.  My optimistic forecast for 2011 is closer to 75 than to 50 homes.

     I want to continue to develop what I have affectionately dubbed my “Yacht” series of homes. These are extremely high quality/featured homes in very small sizes such as a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home for about $75 to $80,000 WITHOUT the lot or around $115,000 to $135,000 with a fully landscaped/driveway package on a nice lot.  I won’t tell you the home size, but let me just say, if you want to see a floor plan, I will have one on our web site soon, or you can stop out and see me at Richfield during our current  4 day 28 hour happening in Richfield’s Wonderland Of Homes(Reflections Village). We are open Thursday through Saturday from noon to 8! Sunday from noon to 4.

     My next big desire is to continue to add more magical touches to our website. You may have noticed a few tweaks already with the opening music and the floating “Miracle Bubbles”. The site will have a new exciting category of a gallery of home designs I have developed which may not have been built or ideas that never quite got off the ground. For example, one client wanted our Lake Bay ranch design in the worst way but their lot of choice was only 30 feet wide. I re-designed the whole house to work wonderfully(if I do say so myself) as a 20-something feet wide version. Now you will be able to see  ideas such as this and dozens of other plans which get designed each year but for some reason or another, never get built(usually financing or cost issues, or sudden life change situation). This section will be called my Designers Palette. Look for it in the next month or sooner.

     Another big idea I have had for years is to build a home model in a very public place “inside” a larger building. By putting such a model at a landmark instead of in a subdivision situation, the exposure would be fantastic! While I am not at liberty of telling you exactly where, I can give the example of how many folks do you think would see our homes if I were to build a model at the Zoo, or at the Domes? I am not planning on putting a model at either place, but it is along that kind of line of thought and we are working on it!

     I want to open new models in other areas such as Hartford and Oak Creek/Franklin area, as well as return to Ixonia and Jackson , where we have had good past success.

     I want to re-launch our big Summer Home Show called our Miracle Tour Of Homes and make it the biggest Home Shopping event of 2011 in this area. In some of our past editions(we have not done it for the last 2 years, since we have been in the MBA Parade Of Homes during that time) we drew more visitors than any other home shopping event. Not to short-change our high-concept homes, but maybe our free cook-out or free hot air balloon rides had something to do with that. 

     I am hoping to launch a new Miracle Homes Restaurant which gives diners more than an eating experience . Much like our Club Wonder in-home night club in our lower level of our Richfield Hybrid Wonderhome, visitors would receive a full sensory experience of taste, visuals, smells, and sound. We will attempt to mentally transport our clients to other parts of Wisconsin and the World to give them a dining experience they won’t soon forget and will not be able to get anywhere else in the World!

     I want to continue to explore our new idea of the truly complete home package which includes landscaping, furniture, appliances, rec-room, everything you need to have a complete home(who knows,maybe even the curtains!) We are launching this idea right now, starting January 6. We have one of our homes in Richfield completely furnished from American, right down to the lamps, and 50 inch Samsung hi-def television. The real trick is to do this whole package thing and keep it affordable and top quality too. Anyone who doubts what we can do for just $199,000(plus a few grand more for your added packages)including the lot, should see what we have done for themselves.

     We want to continue using our performance edge in custom designing homes and increase our custom home projects to more and more so that about a third of our total business is truly custom, one of a kind , unique homes. 

     I have a whole host of crazy and wild ideas I want to continue to develop. In recent years, my passions have been in the areas of creating rooms with less doors but still affording privacy. That come from me seeing how movie theatres don’t use doors on their bathrooms anymore. Doors get in the way. I have also been expanding my abilities to transfer natural light through the home using windows between rooms. These are the glass type that you can not see through. The ultimate goal is to not have any need to turn on home lights except at night.  I have had a new breakthrough idea which takes this natural lighting one step further and can even be used to naturally light basements(not using windows or any current technology).

     Yet another big thing we are doing is that we are bringing back our weekly television specials which garnered 3 Emmy nominations and got great numbers of viewers when we first played these shows a few years ago. We are re-doing sections of these television specials  and re-packaging them to play again using some new content sections mixed with existing content. The  first show airs this coming Saturday on Channel 24 at 11am. They will run for 12 weeks. That is 12 Saturdays in a row. I hope you will watch!

     There is always a bigger plan for each of us than any man can ever see. I am thankful that we are one of the blessed businesses  to have made, and continue to make through a tough economy for housing.  I am sure we will have many a twist and turn in our road for 2011. Each day continues to be enjoyable as we see so many happy people enjoying their homes and their home building experiences. Wow, that really sounded like a blatant ad, but I do mean it. Life is good and life is fun.

     Until we blog again,

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

Merry Christmas everyone,

     It is Christmas and I am in the Christmas spirit once again. I would encourage anyone who has not yet seen our spectacular(I could say “amazing”, but that seems to be THE word of 2010) Hybrid Wonderhome in Reflections Village/Richfield to not miss seeing the  special Christmas decorations trimming the exterior. The front display window even has Mickey Mouse and his gang celebrating the season.  A must-see!

     First, as my blog headline insinuates, I have a few bits of Big and Small news. Here is the BIG news item.  As many of you may either know or perhaps expect, we , like many home builders, have been members of  Milwaukee’s home building organization, (namely) the Milwaukee Metropolitan Builder’s Association.For short, in this article, I will call them by  their short name, the MBA.  I do not remember the exact date we joined this “club” but it was probably around the 1997 or 1998 timing.

     The chief reason we originally joined was nothing more or less than the fact that I wanted to be in the Milwaukee Parade Of  Homes. The only builders who could be in the Parade were builders who had been members for at least 1 year and were in “good standing”. I had been building homes since we created Miracle Homes  back  in 1993,( If you don’t count me and Jacquie having built our own home around 1990).  Jacquie and I were largely building homes in the Washington County area and saw no real reason to join the Milwaukee  association. While my younger days pass time had been to build “things” and do carpentry, and design things(amongst many other pastimes) , another one of my passions was in the field of marketing. I had spent some of my artist college education also dabbling   into marketing and advertising. This all leads to some big news, so I hope you will indulge me a moment or two longer on my little history tutorial here.

      Back to my advertising/marketing experience, I knew when the timehad come that Jacquie and I had gained  enough solid home building experience, we would launch ourselves heavily into the Milwaukee market and I knew the Parade was to be a part of that launch. Therefore, a year before our Milwaukee launch, right on schedule,I joined the MBA. I did not really investigate any other potential reasons for being a member as I had only one need for them at that time.

     That first Parade went smoothly and  that Menomonee Falls Stockton Bay model was one of 7 homes in that 1997 Parade. We won several major awards including the People’s Choice which was the biggie as I saw it. We had an elevator, a suspended plastic deck built around large trees which we had planted. The deck had a garden (dirt and all) incorporated into the elevated deck. I had designed a small front walk-way patio with a pond that took water from the pond and diverted it into the short-walled patio to cool your feet. I had a 4 car garage with a car washing bay. I even had an 80 inch rear projection television built flat into the wall of the great room. The skylights electronically opened their shades and the look -out basement on this 2,200 square foot ranch had incorporated a unique masonry window well on the front of the home to let daylight (and egress) into that unexposed bedroom.

     I had cherry custom cabinets which had fronts that disguised the drawers into the craftsman motif., creating the appearance of drawers even where there were cabinet doors!  I had invented a central vacuum system where the cumbersome hose would retract “automatically into a central cabinetso the vacuum was always ready to use and easy to put away. I used an unusual amenity of iron welded spindles and wood top hand railings. Now that I read this, some 12 years later, much of what I was doing then, is now in vogue!  Remember, the average size of a big screen television at that time was a whopping 25 inches, and everyone was using wood spindles. Our involvement in the Parade and our launch into the Milwaukee market worked very well!

      Flash-forward a few years and a few Parades later, and we had also became a big player in the MBA wintertime Home Builders Expo in downtown Milwaukee.  We also had joined a third MBA -only event known as the Spring Tour Of Homes. Life seemed “good” as we became one of the largest volume home builders in the Milwaukee metro market and arguably the most prominent as our slew of seemingly, non-stopping radio ads hit the airwaves. We were building a brand for ourselves and building a list of (mostly) happy clients too.

      At that point something changed that I had not expected. It seemed as we grew to own more of the area housing market share, we started to hear our clients confiding in us and telling us many negative things our competitors were telling them about us.  My Dad had told me that the same folks who would cheer you when you are going from nothing to the top are sometimes the same folks who want to topple you from the toponce you get there.  As I tried to separate ourdesigns and products  from the other builders by using (for example) 2 by 12 lumber, when they all were using 2 by 10 lumber, or when I was including surround sound systems and appliances when they were not,  I would naturally explain this to the public in our various ads.  This seemed to feed the fire in my competition’s bellys  to the point that when I appeared in a Parade or Expo-type MBA event,  I became less and less popular with my competition, the MBA members.

     Each time I came up with some new home building innovation or new marketing item,(and announed them to the public)  life just got worse at in the MBA ranks, even though sales and(most importantly)the  smiles of our clients continued to rise to new heights. Along the line, I had decided to create our own Miracle Parade Of Homes-styled event. I would build 5 or 6 new models, introduce new inventions,  and open them a week or two before the MBA Parade to try to sell everyone a home before the MBA event would even open.  In our Version of the Parade however, we had free admission, free entertainment, wild home building ideas, seminars by yours truly, and a grand all-free cook out with everything from burgers to cookies.  We discounted and created specials and always sold a lot of homes during the event. Our Miracle Tour Of Homes was a resounding success selling as many as a record 55 new home contracts during a single event one year!

     By and by, the MBA members  created new rules to compensate for the “Mirracle factor” as I heard one MBA member put it.One new rule was  not to  allow any member advertise for a few weeks before AND after their Parade. We used to advertise that we would give a special discount to anyone who showed a ticket stub from the Parade and soon thereafter, the MBA told us not to advertise using the name Parade since they claim they own rights to the phrase “Parade of Homes” .  It got so difficult  that one year, when our Parade overlapped their Parade by 1 day with-in those few weeks MBA  advertising moratoriumthey had created, a member filed a comlaint against us to the MBA. For this infraction (they wanted us to close on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, as I recall, but the major newspaper flyer had already gone to press stating the dates weeks before they requested this of us) one MBA member filed an “ethics complaint” against us. The members of the ethics commitee  seemed ecstatic during the hearing  and while  handing  down their suspension of our membership for a  period of time. 

     I decided the best aproach would be to try to make this a win-win for everyone and doubled my efforts to try to play nice in the sandbox. After all, life really is too short to have anyone upset with you, even if they are your competitors. The MBA was encouraging builders to present higher calibre home show displays.  We built a fantasy-land-type home show booth to be unveiled at the MBA downtown January  Expo. This booth had our mascot ,an automated  Miracle Mouse, come out of the roof-top window shutters every 15 minutes and put on a cute family presentation for the crowds. We had a train that ran around the gutters,  and our intricate museum-quality miniature home models flipped over to our custom sound track music. We introduced large flat panel televisions(back then they were pricey and still a tad unusual ) to tell our Miracle story. Folks came from the entire show floor to see where the delicious smell was coming from?  The fake smoke coming from our fake chiminey suggested we were baking fresh cookies in our booth kitchen . Bank experts would sit in our cozy doll house-like closing booths to help answer any finance questions and even pre-qualify home shoppers right on the spot!       

     It wasn’t long before the MBA created a new rule which stopped any finance folks from working in any Expo  booth. This year, they created a rule to not allow us to continue our long tradition of   giving thousands of fresh baked cookies to Expo visitors.  Last year, we were stopped from giving Parade Of Homes young visitors, a free T-shirt that could be colored and erased. 

     This past Expo the MBA seemed to differentiate us from other builders. Two other home builders ran their own home show events with-in the  time frame of the MBA advertising moratorium. No apparent action was taken from the MBA.   In this year’s Parade event, we built an unprecedented 3 homes.   Our attempt to try to “get along” by using our radio ads and special 8 page Journal Sentinel tabloid section to help advertise not only our homes but also the MBA Parade Event seems to have only created more ethics questions from our MBA  member competitors.

     Some relationships , apparently , are not meant to be. As a person who tries to bring my religious background into each decision,  many times over the past many years, I have pondered if the simpler path would be to just separate from the MBA and go our separate ways? I have always tried to resist this easy temptation as I wanted to find a way for us all to co-exist and (funny as it sounds)for me to  help the MBA in whatever way possible.  I began to apply  myself into working on various committees and attending more MBA meetings.  Last week, following further intense times with MBA members, then a week of clear thought,  I was finally compelled to resign our membership withthe MBA . I do wish them the best as we try going our mutual ways in 2011.When two parties can’t find common goround, sometimes neither party is wrong in their position.Their thoughts and ideas just don’t agree.

      There is always much more to any significant  story such as this but after 1650 words, the time has come to give you my smaller tidbit of news.  For the first ime in many years, we will not be baking our cookies at the MBA Home Builder’s Expo event this January in Downtown Milwaukee.  I still hope everyone will brave the cold. parking, and traffic to attend this worthwhile event. It opens Thursday the 6thof January and goes for 4 days through that Sunday. It is in the back third of the main hall this year.  Smaller than in the past, for sure, but still well worth the $7(parking extra)  admission price. This year they will again be having a few notable speakers from the cooking and television circuit on select days. For full details, please visit the MBA website at MBAonline.org

      Before, or after, you have paid your visit to this event, we are having special House Party Event hours at both Richfield and Milwaukee. We are part of 9 fabulous actual new homes and we have some special longer night time hours to accompany our many super specials. Oh, if you are looking for some of those delicious cookies, we will be serving them hot and fresh in our basement Club Wonder virtual reality night club, the only one of it’s kind in the World!

     Stay tuned and …Merry Christmas!  Until we blog again in 2011,

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

This blog entry has been linked directly to our homepage as a special way to ease into the biggest announcement we have had in recent memory.

First, the over-all “big Picture” then some details to follow. We have been trying to find new and compelling reasons to continue to further separate Miracle from the myriad of other builders. To do this, regular blog readers know that  we try to push the creative design area and do things that no one else has thought of doing. We want to do the same creative innovating  in the area of giving home buyers the biggest “bang” for their dollar as well.  Here it is.

1.) We will continue to offer our hit “Live In Our Home For Free, Until Yours Is Sold” program. If you are unfamiliar with the details on this aspect, we have an area on our site which explains this OR you could just go to back two or three blog entries for a pretty good explanation of this. In short, this is pretty much as good as it gets if you have a home to sell before you want to build.

2.)We continue to offer our PHENOMINAL Rent Buster homes. Again, our site has more details on this but the short version is that you could buy a 4 bedroom 2-story home (we have ranches too, of course) for a fairly complete $199,000. There are lots of good things about this offering not least of which is the aspect of the lot(building site) for the home. You can choose ANY lot, ANYWHERE in Southeastern Wisconsin from Kenosha north  to Appleton, west to Lake Mills. We do travel up or over  beyond that for a little more. The home is ,very well built, using the same contractors and materials found in our million dollar custom homes. We do allow as much  customization as you like. The package is a baseline package which comes with good quality carpet and vinyl flooring, dishwasher, all lighting, mirrors/towel bars.  The package includes a $50,000 allowance to go towards the lot  of your choice. Lots today are going for less than that in many areas.  That means if you find a $40,000 lot, for example, the package is now $189,000. We also have about $25,000 in the $199,000 package for lot improvements, permits, and such. Ask us for a list of lots in your preferred area.

3.) One of our most popular promotions we have run before is our $1,995 finished basement. This is one that makes many a competitor shudder as I have heard so many clients tell me that the “other guys” have expressed that our finished basement is little more than a small space with cheap finishes. One step into our finished basement model and you instantly see that is not true by any stretch of the imagination. This is a large(about) 600 finished square feet of space with fancy corners, solid woodwork package, all set for a future bathroom(door installed too) and even a set up for a home theatre wall and place for wet bar(a little more buys  the wet bar too). We include good lighting, a designed area to fit a pool table, and even the cat5 wiring to the theatre area. My favorite area is the drywall build-out surround wall which has effect hidden lighting behind it! Other builders would charge easily $50 to as much as $100 per square foot. That could be a $30,000 to $60,000 value for just $1,995! Remember, this can be added to our $199,000 Rent Busters, or any Miracle Home.

4.) OUR NEWEST  PHENOMINOM. We have partnered with American T.V., Appliance, and Furniture to be the first and only (to our knowledge) home builder to offer the whole house to be completely filled with a whole lot of furniture, appliances, and even the large Samsung 50 inch 1080 DPI High definition television. We now have  changed out our two story Richfield “Rent Buster” to display this incredible package. Highlights include 2 couches, recliner, coffee tables(one even rises to act as a snack table for a couch), 5 table and floor lamps, a dinette set(which has a nifty double bench seating for two and other chairs too), 4 very nice kitchen stool/chairs(they match the dinette/dining chairs), and a dining low-hutch/bureau. For the Master suite, we have a very nice master bedroom set which includes dovetail constructed drawers throughout. This package includes a long dresser with mirror, tall dresser, two night stands, and a queen bed complete with (not the lowest end offering) Sealy Mattress and box spring too!

     Now for a few of those details. Due to the nature of our partner arrangement on this, we are only able to offer this on homes signed from Thursday January 6 through Monday January 31st OR 10 deals, whichever comes first. If you don’t intend to build until later down the road, don’t dismay. You can delay your build until later so long as you confirm and(modest) deposit your paperwork in that time frame.

      As I mentioned, we now have this package of “goodies” set up in our Richfield Reflections Village 2 story home. If you are not shopping for a 2-story home, we have 2 other non-2-story homes at Reflections Village as well. As a side enticement, this developemnt site at Refelctions Village ,is  now called the WONDERLAND OF HOMES and  has 6 other fine home builders models to visit as well, so you can really make a day of fun home shopping our of your visit. We are open at our models Monday and Wednesday nights from 6 to 8 and Weekends from 1 until 4. We are Christmas decorated right now too. If you would like to see our Northwest Milwaukee area(off Good Hope/91st street area) homes, you can see our 2-story 4 bedroom rent buster and another Miracle model at that location.That location is open weekends from 1 to 4 only. During our official kick-off January 6 through 9, we will offer longer open hours and other c’mon-down incentives.

      As for other details, I suggest you take a few moments to call one of our sales folks at (262)628-9091 to get your other questions answered. 

     Creativity goes beyond decor and layout of homes. This could very well be our finest creative “value” moment yet!

    Until we blog again,

    Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

     Sometimes at night when I am in my creative mode, I am thinking of  so many ideas I find it difficult to  concentrate on WHICH creative thing to think about. I hope you all realize that when I write these blogs, I generally am a pretty “open book” on what is on my mind and , even though this could easily sound like a c’mon from some salesperson hawking their product, I hope you will see beyond the fact that I own a home building company and have an interest in selling homes. If I was not in the business, right now, I would surely wish I was in the business of homes. Here is where my creative juices are flowing presently.

     I see the prices of land and homes right now so low, and interest rates so attractive, that I know the bottom of the market is here or perhaps was already here with-in a few months time. As you probably know, the secret to making money at anything is to buy the item for a low price and sell it for a higher price. The difference is the profit. The lower you buy the product you are selling, the higher the potential profits will/should be. (Sorry for the grade school economics refresher)

     Right now I am feeling anxious inside, and I know that I should never feel anxious in anything, as a general philosophy of my life. The reason is that I have not really taken full advantage of this market being so “right” to build. I myself should be really thinking of building. Not to sell the homes, but to rent them out. I am thinking that many folks in this rough economy are really struggling to hold onto a home or need to get the cash out of their existing home. If they could sell their own home and rent another new home, not a multi-family, that would have to be an attractive option!

     Normally, this would be a potential loser since renting income might not even  pay for the mortgage which I would have to have to build the new rental property.  I think however, since I am a builder and have attractive , near wholesale prices available to me, AND since I can buy an $80,000 lot(of just a few years ago) today for under $30,000(if you know where to look), the math works now. It may not work when the economy improves, but it does right now, with these current interest rates!

     Another wild idea I had a few eeks ago was to re-define the way that folks may be buying or building a new home. I intend to re-package the way we market homes and , instead of selling empty boxes, on empty lots, we will introduce Wisconsin’s first Fully Furnished New homes! By golly, that has a certain ring, and appeal to my ear. I know our Rent Buster series is a great launch into new homes for many. I also know that when first time home buyers are looking for a new home, the idea of having just enough money to buy the home is usually their reality. With this new scenario, the new home buyer would have the furniture, mattresses, television, appliances, lamps, the whole thing, all in one attractive package.

     In a short time, we will be unrolling this and right now, we are getting ready to furnish our first such model for this 4 bedroom $199,000″ Rent Buster Complete” package.  We have gotten to the point at my business that we are building these 4 bedroom Rent Buster homes just so darn efficiently, and we are buying our materials at such excellent price levels, that we can do what other builders  must feel is some kind of  voo-doo or come-on advertising. I am here to tell you that it is all for real . The value and quality we are now offering just could not be here if it was not for this remarkable housing market.

      The only problem with finding creative solutions to the problems of the housing market is that many good, honest, smart shoppers just don’t trust that offers this good are real. We are trained as consumers to find the flaws of any offer.  Every offer must have it’s weak side, but in the same vein, every offer must have its upside as well. If the upside outweighs the downside, the offer will work.  If I was to be the first banker offering to loan money to buy a home(for example) and I announced to the public that I would loan money for homes, everyone would be looking for the “catch“. The catch is that I want to be paid back and get back more money than I originally borrowed to you for the home. The other catch is that if you can’t pay the money back, I would get the home back from you and your family could be out on the streets! WOW, that downside sounds pretty frightening when you think about it. If you only looked at the downside, no one would ever borrow money to build a home.  But…. the upside is you get a beautiful home, a great quality of life, and all the pride of home ownership that goes with it. It is usually (some would still argue) a faily safe long term investment.

     In a likewise way, over a year ago, we introduced a program we call “Live In Our Home For Free, Until Your Is Sold”. The upside is HUGE!  Abosolutly HUGE!  First, you don’t have to wait to sell your home first before you buy another. Next, you don’t have to sell your home, move into temporary housing, then move into your new home. Then, you can get a higher dollar(usually) for your existing home because you don’t have to sell your existing home with all sorts of personal effects in the closets and all sorts of clutter. You don’t have to interrupt your family life with suddenly having to show your home to prospective buyers.  You can stage your existing home and sell it at your leisure . You don’t have to be “trapped” anymore in the needing to sell before you can buy. As I said, HUGE upside!

     Just like the first guy who decided to loan money to buy homes, I believe I am the first entity to offer this program. One night, in my creative mode, I just decied to try to tackle the common problem of everyone being stuck  doing nothing , not being able to build or move-on with their lives until their home was sold. We have now done so many deals with this new invention of ours and, here’s the great news, not a single deal I can remember was stuck with 2 homes for more than a month or two past the time they moved into their new home! Here;s the other kicker, most EVERY buyer who utilized this method was apprehensive about taking this route. Now every one I have met who took it, seem to think this was a great idea.

     Just like the home loans scenario, there ARE potential down sides to this program. THERE HAS TO BE.  I would however say that the VAST majority of the folks who sold their homes got what they wanted for their homes in terms of dollars. As for the details and downsides, I will leave that to your inquiries to our staff(sorry, but we don’t want to make this too easy on our competitors). The long and short is that we will continue to make your house payments on “one” of your two homes, until the home is sold. Our risk is we could be making payments for years. The reality however is that this has not happened, and is most unlikely to happen.

     Now that I am thinking of it, I still have one home left to sell in our recently closed Monterey model center. Tomorrow, maybe  I will see if it doesn’t make more sense to just rent that property out rather than sell it!  You see, creative ideas  can come at any time!

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite