Let’s Talk About Specs, Baby: The Inventory Problem No One Wants to Own

Written By Madie Wisler

If you’re sitting on completed homes with no clear process to move them, you’re not alone. And you’re definitely not stuck. NoviHome’s HomeTracker solves this exact problem by giving you a scalable, structured way to keep buyers and agents engaged with your inventory, without throwing your margins out the window.

Buyers are stalling. Inventory is rising. And most marketing teams still don’t have a formal process for moving completed homes.

That’s not just a problem. That’s a revenue leak.

📊 The Data Doesn’t Lie:

  • Finished inventory is up +44% above seasonal norms (with some markets up +200% or more)

  • New home sales per community are down -17% YoY

  • 67.5% of marketing teams don’t have a written process for marketing specs (Jackie Lipinski, Do You Convert)

The Real Cost of an Ad-Hoc Approach

Specs aren’t just sitting, they’re getting forgotten. And buyers? They’re back on Zillow that same night, where every price drop gets a shiny push notification.

When home builders don’t have a system for follow-up:

  • Buyers don’t feel urgency

  • Sales teams lose track of who’s still “warm”

  • Realtors default to resale inventory with better alerts

And then comes the knee-jerk fix: incentives.

But if you’re constantly throwing promotions at the wall without a plan, you’re not moving inventory, you’re creating Incentive Whiplash.

As Jackie Lipinski of Do You Convert explains:

“When we frequently alter incentives in too small a timeframe, it can lead to more confusion than clarity, and it might prompt buyers to hesitate, expecting better offers in the future.”

Buyers start treating incentives like they treat promo codes from their favorite e-commerce brands. Wait long enough, and the price will drop again.

That’s not urgency. That’s doubt.

What Builders Actually Need

Your marketing team isn’t getting bigger. Your goals aren’t getting smaller. If you want to move inventory consistently, you need a system that keeps your specs visible, your buyers engaged, and your sales team in sync.

Enter: HomeTracker

With NoviHome’s HomeTracker:

  • Buyers and agents get automatic alerts when a spec hits drywall, has new progress imagery,  drops in price, or goes under contract

  • You stay top of mind without lifting a finger

  • Sales and marketing teams stay aligned with full visibility into who's actively watching specs

  • Your incentives actually land because you're targeting people who are already engaged

It replaces chaos with clarity AND your team doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel for every listing.

And Best of All? It Ends the Whiplash.

No more frantic flyer updates.
No more sales agents caught off guard by incentive changes.
No more unsubscribes from buyers you actually had a shot with.

HomeTracker gives you a structured, scalable way to engage buyers without overloading your team or giving away your margin with every price drop.

Let’s Wrap This Up

The spec problem isn’t just about inventory. It’s about memory, process, and trust.

And unless you fix that, your homes will sit. Your incentives will confuse. And your buyers will bounce.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Let’s talk about specs, baby.
And let’s do it better.

Madie Wisler
Next

New Feature Update: Incentives