We Hosted a Sushi Class in a Model Home — Here’s What Real Estate Agents Learned About Social Media

When we booked Taro Arai from Mikuni to lead a sushi class inside The Belvedere model home in Historic Roseville, I knew we were doing something different. What I didn’t know yet was how well it would land.

American Dream TV was there to film it. The episode — part of New Homes in Nor Cal — is now live. And the conversation we had with the agents in that room is one I’ve been wanting to put in writing ever since.

Here’s what we covered, and why it matters for any real estate agent trying to figure out where their next client is coming from.

The Problem Most Agents Won’t Admit

Real estate agents spend 30 to 40 percent of their time marketing themselves. Creating content. Trying to stay visible on social media. Posting photos of signs and keys and generic graphics that nobody stops scrolling for.

The content isn’t bad because agents are bad at it. It’s bad because agents are working with the wrong raw material.

Your office is not content. A sign rider is not content. A lockbox photo is not content.

But a 2,540 square foot model home in Historic Roseville — rooftop deck included, designed to photograph well, open to agents every week — that’s content. And most agents walk through it once during a broker open and never come back.

What We Did at The Belvedere

The Belvedere is NEXT New Homes Group’s urban townhome community in Historic Old Town Roseville. It’s the only new construction community in that neighborhood. The Sierra Plan runs 2,540 square feet and includes a private covered rooftop deck with an outdoor kitchen, owned solar, an EV-primed garage, and 3 bedrooms with 3.5 baths across four floors.

We invited a group of local real estate agents to come tour the models — then made it worth their time. Taro Arai, co-founder of Mikuni Restaurant Group, led a hands-on sushi class inside the model home while I walked the agents through how to use a space like this as a content engine.

The American Dream TV crew filmed all of it. What came out of that day is now an episode of New Homes in Nor Cal — and what came out of the conversation with those agents is what I want to pass along here.

Three Things Agents Took Home

1. New home models are the best free studio in your market.

Model homes are professionally staged, professionally lit, and maintained to photograph well. The builder wants agents bringing buyers through them — access is easy, the welcome mat is out, and there’s no listing agent to coordinate with. Most agents treat broker opens as a one-time visit. That’s a missed opportunity that repeats itself every week.

2. The content writes itself if you understand what the home actually does.

The Belvedere’s Sierra Plan has a rooftop deck with an outdoor kitchen. That’s not a feature to list — it’s a lifestyle argument you can make in 30 seconds of video. Owned solar on a new construction home in Sacramento? That’s a monthly payment comparison that writes itself. Walk the floor plan with your phone out and talk to it like you’re talking to a buyer who can’t be there in person. That’s the content.

Agents who understand new construction have more specific content angles than agents who only work resale. The features are current, unambiguous, and visually distinctive. There is nothing vague about “private rooftop deck with outdoor kitchen, standard on every home.”

3. Community-specific content outperforms generic market content — every time.

“Interest rates are changing — let’s talk” performs worse every year because everyone posts it. A 60-second walkthrough of what $764,990 gets you in Historic Roseville answers an actual question buyers are already typing into search. Specific communities. Specific floor plans. Specific features. That’s what converts.

The agents in that room left with content they shot during the event. They left with talking points they hadn’t heard framed that way. A few of them left with a genuine new understanding of what new construction offers their buyers — and why it’s worth knowing.

What This Has to Do with You

If you’re a real estate agent in the Sacramento area who has never thought about new construction as a content strategy — or as a real inventory option for your buyers — this is the episode to watch.

And if you want a conversation about what it looks like to work with a team that already has the marketing infrastructure, the model home access, and the new construction relationships to help you build your business, NEXT Real Estate Group ERA Powered is worth a direct conversation.

Watch the episode below. Reach out when you’re ready to talk.

— Christopher Brown NEXT Real Estate Group ERA Powered

About The Belvedere The only new construction community in Historic Old Town Roseville. The Pacific plan from $637,990 (1,987 SF). The Sierra plan from $764,990 (2,540 SF). Private rooftop deck on every home. Owned solar included. 7 homes remaining.

Model open Thursday–Sunday, 11am–5pm · 1029 Edwina Justus Loop, Roseville, CA 95678

[Visit belvedereroseville.com →]

About NEXT Real Estate Group ERA Powered A full-service brokerage covering resale and new construction across the Sacramento region and Northern California. NEXT REG agents work both markets simultaneously — one agent, one conversation, the whole picture. ERA Powered — connected to over 400,000 agents through Compass.

[See agent careers at NEXT REG →] | [Talk to Christopher →]