The design-build business model when land is no longer the moat

[Editor’s note: Author Scott Finfer is a Texas-based land developer, lot builder, and workout specialist. He is also a former division land executive at KB Home. This article is Mr. Finfer’s opinion, and does not represent the views or editorial positions of HousingWire.] If somebody else is going to own more of the land, homebuilders eventually have to answer a question we have avoided for decades: What, exactly, are we selling? The easy answer is houses. I do not think that is enough anymore.Mercedes does not sell metal, leather and glass. It sells the experience of choosing, configuring and owning something the customer fell in love with before it existed.For decades, homebuilders did not have to think that way. The land was the moat. Control the right corner, school district, lot supply or submarket and the customer largely had to come to you. As more land shifts off the builder’s balance sheet through options, land banks and specialized capital, builders risk looking more alike: similar lots, similar trades, similar kitchens, similar mortgages, similar incentives.That makes differentiation more important, not less. Cut the cord from what got you here Every large homebuilder ha...