GT Homes, developers of the Palma Del Lago luxury residential community in Miami Lakes, have placed color, full-page ads in the pages of The Miami Laker community newspaper since May 2024.
The advertising campaign has paid off, the company said, by bringing sales leads and a new member of their real estate agent team to the project.
“We’ve had 2,000 registrations by potential new home buyers, about 500 at least are from the ad,” said Katherine Bartell, sales manager for GT Homes.
The development’s colorful fence and sign featuring large photos of birds and plants and renderings of the planned estate properties stretches along Northwest 87th Avenue, north of Miami Lakes Drive.
It is the first source of information that brings potential home buyers to the sales team, and The Miami Laker is the second driver of business.
There are 37 single-family properties planned for the site south of Northwest 162nd Street, bordered by Northwest 87th Avenue and Northwest 84th Avenue.
Fourteen homes have been sold and construction has begun on them, Bartell said. Prices for the remaining unsold properties start at $1.9 million.
“Your [newspaper readers] are a lot more qualified, as far as the price range,” Bartell said.
The community will have lake views.
Residences will have between 2,400 and 7,500 square feet of space; smart technology for Alexa-enabled devices; quartz countertops; Delta upgraded plumbing fixtures; Nest thermostats; impact resistant windows and Reme Halo air purifiers, according to the website.
The company also placed a classified ad in The Miami Laker, seeking a real estate agent who knows the area and its home buyers.
Their hire? Denise Sainz, who also happens to advertise in the newspaper and saw the classified listing.
“It’s great to be able to service the community properly and expand my own business, because of the local paper and being a local resident,” Denise Sainz said.
The model home will be finished by December 2025, Bartell said.
GT Homes is a Canadian company and Bartell said it doesn’t usually advertise in community newspapers like The Miami Laker.
“Most towns do not have newspapers that are as successful as yours,” Bartell said. “I’m really amazed how many people read the newspaper.
“They will put down The Miami Laker [on their registration form] and I verify that,” Bartell said. “I love that. It’s so old school.”
For information about Palma Del Lago go to PalmaDelLago.com, or contact Kate Bartell at 561-376-3286 or KateB@GTHomesUSA.com.