Liberty Houses

They came by the thousands--men, women & children. As they took in the sights--105 brand-new two-bedroom houses for sale--they munched candy and sandwiches. When the last straggler left, twelve hours later, every last house had been sold. It was Los Angeles' Liberty Building Co.'s third and most spectacular one-day sale.

Colored Pins. Last Sunday's sale was another triumph for Liberty's special brand of mass production plus carnival barking. For weeks desperate couples had besieged Sales Manager Joseph Chernus, a serious, slight ex-phonograph salesman and ex-G.I. But he stalled them off, told them to come back on land-rush day.

The one-day sale trick is the most effective one in Liberty's bag. It eliminates the need for a full-time sales staff, cuts the advertising budget way down to two or three days' concentrated ballyhoo and, above all, brings potential customers to an auction pitch where each buyer lures the other on.

Chernus churns up the buying fever with a score chart posted in his sales office. Each cream-colored pin in the chart stands for a house being looked over, each red pin for a house sold--and it tells every waverer at a glance that he is wavering against time. "Our greatest sales," Chernus says, "are between 2 and 4 in the afternoon when the crowds are thickest" (and when the score chart bristles with pins).

Narrow Margins. Liberty sells only to ex-G.I.s who can get Government-endorsed mortgages, and looks for buyers with families and steady jobs. Result: no worries about defaults on mortgage payments.

Chernus and the three other executives (two lawyers and a builder) have been equally smart about most of their dealings. They joined forces right after the war when house building looked like a sure bet. For months they combed the state for building materials, stockpiling it in warehouses. Their first development, 37 duplexes and 64 three-bedroom houses, sold so fast that they decided to step up their mass production technique.

Nowadays, their 175-man construction gang does the entire job, from foundations to shell, but installations (plumbing, lighting, etc.) are farmed out to subcontractors. Since the Liberty partnership began operation, it has sold $6,500,000 worth of houses--at an average price of $14,000, an average profit of about 10%--and borrowed more than $5,000,000 to keep on building. Such narrow margins permit no dillydallying: before last week's 105-house sale, Liberty had already begun to lay the foundations for 47 houses in an adjoining area; they would be ready in about four months.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.