Posted on 03/26/2005 6:05:59 AM PST by krb
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A month-old company based in Rocky Mount hopes to find success in the very niche market of selling log homes to gays and lesbians.
Justin Porter, the founder of Log Homes for Us, said he noticed a market to sell the homes to gays and lesbians while working for a larger company, of which his firm is now a division.
At log home exhibitions, "I realized one out of every 10 to 15 couples was gay or lesbian couple," Porter said Friday. "And I realized there was no company catering to that demographic."
He guessed -- correctly, he says now -- that the sales people in the industry that he describes as a "a very good ole boy industry" lost interest when they learned they were dealing with a homosexual couple.
Porter, who is gay, describes the response to the limited advertising placed by Log Homes for Us as "unbelievable."
"We're just getting call after call," he said.
Log Homes for Us is a division of The Original Log Cabin Homes Ltd., which began in 1973 and moved its headquarters to Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount in 1987. President Tom Vesce says he envisions Log Homes for Us selling 300 to 400 homes in its first year and accounting for as much as one-sixth of overall sales.
"We've had over the years many, many gay and lesbian customers," Vesce said. "This is an opportunity to acknowledge them publicly and salute that segment in the marketplace."
Log Homes for Us has contracts for more than 75 homes, he said. And the company is working with the developers of Carefree Cove, a private community for homosexuals being built in Zionville. All the homes in the community, located north of Boone, must be log or cedar siding.
Developer Gina Razete said CJR, the company she owns with her partner, Cathy Groene, is building spec homes from Log Homes for Us kits. In addition, the developers will recommend Log Homes for Us to property owners. So far, CJR has sold 54 lots and plans to sell the last 30 or so lots this summer.
Razete and Groene also have formed Pride 5 with three men, a general contracting company that will put together the kits for landowners.
"It's exciting that three gay companies can come together and do business for the gay and lesbian community," Razete said from Fort Myers, Fla., where she and Groene also have developed a community for homosexuals.
It's not that gay and lesbian couples are more interested in log homes than heterosexual couples, but that Log Homes for Us is catering specifically to that market.
With a log home the buyers get "kits" with all the parts of the home that they, or a builder, put together on their own land. "It's a very hands-on project," Porter said. "You're involved in it from the foundation to the roof, from the door knobs to the type of shingles you're going to have."
Log Cabin for Us markets itself with ads that are sleeker and more contemporary than those that the parent company uses, said Porter, adding that homosexual couples tend to buy larger homes than heterosexual couples.
Its Web site makes oblique references to why log homes should appeal to gays and lesbians, saying the Americans who settled the West "owned their own land and were free, both politically and economically."
When you build your own house, can you get a bank mortgage just like you do when you buy a house that a pro is building?
They should tie in with Subaru and do cross promotions.
I had no problem in 1991. Of course the company I bought the log package from had a good reputation and were there to back me up if I had a problem. As a matter of fact my log home is built better than your conventional home. We went through 3 hurricanes last year with not one scratch. It sure made a steel roof believer out of me.
You got any pics of your hetero log cabin you can post?
For the gay couples, there is no front door entry. Entry is from the rear only, although everyone realizes that is an unnatural way to build homes.
I'm trying to figure out exactly what is the hook that would attract this niche market? Are the homes built with addtional accessories that would be attractive to gay couples?
Or is this simply an advertising campaign to a niche market like selling Mercury Marquis to folks who can't afford Lincoln Towncars?
Yes, but I can't post them since they aren't on a server. If you can FReepmail me an email addy I can send them to you as an attachment.
a. They stack the logs up from the rear; or
b. In the furnished models, all the rugs are edible.
oh, you are naughty
and, yes that's an extra, added touch of elegance
OMG
this thread is going to be one of those class...icks
No Comments!
The Admin Moderator might have to smite me if I did.
This gay pusher of log cabins for Fudge Packers will be probably be out of business in a couple of years. How many people in the 1 to 2% of the population can afford and want a log cabin.
The prices of log cabins have sky rocketed due to the increase in lumber prices the past decade due to the enviral whackos stopping tree cutting in much of America.
We are in the process of the every 10 year retro fit of our home. I went to the lumber yard to get one 2 X 6 by 6' and two 2 X 2's by 7'. The cost was $35 for plain Redwood that will be primed and painted, this was not the deck material nor furniture material.
So log cabins have to be really expensive. Of course the gay population will whine to have us pay for their logs.
please, please, DO....
a bon mot
no doubt
how many back doors are there in this floor plan?
This is great. Gay people engaging in capitalism and private property rights. I hope they vote Libertarian!
They are used to getting as many as they can handle free...
"They are used to getting as many (logs) as they can handle free..."
That is another comment that I will stay away from with the exception of the ().
They could never do this in San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle, because the environmentalists with their "smart growth" and "urban boundaries" would never allow all those building permits to be issued. So they had to do it in a red state.
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