Wieland sells 101 houses in less than 2 months

It took a couple more weeks than he hoped, but John Wieland hit his target Thursday.

The founder and top executive of John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods said the company sold its 101st home since March 6, when he started a personal campaign to jump-start home sales.

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Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

John Wieland slept in vacant houses for nearly 2 months to promote his sale.

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Wieland, 72, toured his company’s markets in a “Wiebago” RV and camped out inside unsold houses for the “Get Housing Moving” campaign. He vowed to keep up the journey until 101 homes closed — the number 101 signifying a back-to-basics strategy of selling value and a sense of place.

“This wasn’t the ‘Buy a John Wieland home’ tour,’ ” Wieland said. “This was really to get people buying homes, anybody’s homes, not just mine.”

At the start of his travels, Wieland said he hoped meeting the goal would take less than 40 days. It wound up taking more than 50 days, minus two days off for Easter.

But Wieland said the result was the best two sales months his company has seen in the past year. In addition to Wieland’s salesmanship, the company also offered discounts to woo buyers.

Wieland lived like a gypsy, eating prepared meals he microwaved in his motor home and sleeping in the unfurnished and unsold homes.

“While I’m off my mobile mattress and back at home, I’m still fully committed to get housing moving on a national scale and get the American economy back on track,” Wieland said Thursday.

The builder logged more than 4,800 miles and slept in 50 unsold homes in Atlanta; Charlotte; Charleston, S.C.; Nashville; and Raleigh.