Cindy it’s a pleasure to interview you today. Tell us how you got started in this industry.

My father was a home builder in the Bay Area and Central Valley, so home building has always been in my blood. When I graduated from USC, in 1981, the home building industry was in a recession, so after graduation I went to work for Hyatt Hotel Corporation in Los Angeles, as a worldwide sales manager.
In 1985, I went back to school to get my MBA in London, England and when I finished in 1986, I decided to get my real estate license and go to work in the home building industry.

Cindy is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Ponderosa Homes - a high end, luxury, single family home builder with communities located in the San Francisco Bay Area and also in the Coachella Valley in Southern California.

We are somewhat of a niche builder. Ponderosa Homes is a small home builder. In order to be successful in the home building industry, we have had to find niches where we could create communities that would be successful. We have done this in a number of ways. One has been to be somewhat of an infill builder, in "A" locations. Our communities tend to be around 100 - 200 units in size, but typically located in a central location, where large parcels of land are difficult to find, but we can create an upscale community that is close to jobs, good schools, downtown shops and restaurants, medical facilities and recreational amenities. One such location where we have done this is in Danville, CA. Our community, Ponderosa Colony at Alamo Creek is 50 homes, just outside the back gates of Blackhawk Country Club and very close to Blackhawk Shopping Center - a very upscale shopping center with great restaurants and stores. Our 50 home community is within a large master planned community with hundreds of homes, that Shapell is building, called Alamo Creek.

Another area where we have done this is in Pleasanton, CA. We have built a mini-master planned community of more than 400 homes, with four niche product types, The Gardens at Ironwood - a seniors apartment complex, Ponderosa Classics at Ironwood - homes which are under 3,000 sq. ft. in size and are targeted to young families, Ponderosa Estates at Ironwood - large homes that range in size from 3000 - 4500 sq. ft. and are targeted to upper level management and professionals and The Residences at Ironwood - a very small collection of executive, estate homes that are on 1/4 - 1/2 acre lots and range in size from 3800 - 5,000 sq. ft.
We like to consider ourselves an opportunistic builder that is always looking to fill a need in a niche market, always keeping superior locations and quality construction in mind.
We were also one of the first builders in the Bay Area to explore cross cultural marketing and building product that would appeal to culturally diverse buyers.”
We have very often developed product or chosen locations which would appeal to a specific targeted market. We were one of the first builders to utilize the services of a Feng Shui consultant to help us alter the "chi" (energy) of inventory homes that we could not sell, when the primary buyers in our communities were Chinese. Specific remedies were recommended, such as planting a tree in the front yard of a home that was on a "T-Lot" so that car headlights would not shine directly into a dining room window at the front of a house. Or, altering our staircases so that the wealth and energy would not "run right out of the home", by bending the staircases so that they did not go straight out the front door. Utilizing special mirrors to deflect bad energy where necessary. Using Feng Shui principles to determine where to place our fire and water elements in the kitchen, (i.e. placement of the cook top and the sink).

We have held special home blessings for our Indian and Filipino buyers. We have employed Vastu Consultants, again to work with improving the energy in a home for our Indian buyers.

Because the Bay Area is a very culturally diverse market, we have had the opportunity to work with consumers from around the world and have developed product and locations that would appeal to our diverse market.

I asked Cindy how this benefits our industry.

We try to enrich the customer experience with all aspects of our corporation while internally staying focused on controlling costs and inventory.
This statement is a reflection of our core values and Ponderosa's mission statement: "Ponderosa Homes is committed to achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction through building homes of lasting value".
At the core of our value system is that "We will do the right thing". We have 5 core values that determine how Ponderosa Homes employees will operate in the areas of Results, Respect, Integrity, Learning and Balance. Every employee at Ponderosa utilizes these core values in the way we deal with our customers as well as our fellow employees and outside associates.
Our ability to enrich the customer experience starts with the top of our company and our owners, 3 individuals - Kile Morgan, Jr., Dick Baker and Linda Morasch, as well as our senior management team, who are committed to always trying to "Do the Right Thing".
We are turning away from the traditional focus on print advertising to explore new media such as advertising through permission based marketing through our website, social networking, e-newsletters, electronic data listing sites, etc.

What is your personal field of expertise?

Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Model Merchandising and Budgeting.

I am a real estate broker with a Master’s degree in marketing, so I understand both the sales and marketing sides of the business. I also understand construction and land development from having grown up with a father who was a builder and a developer.

Cindy believes that the industry is evolving into a more niche driven market.

Depending upon which companies survive the current downturn, I see a place for both large publicly held builders, as well as small privately held, niche builders in the future.

I see a lot of opportunity for building higher quality, affordable housing with a focus on niche marketing. There is a real need for affordable housing in California and I believe that there is an opportunity for someone to do it better than it has been done in the past.

The market has changed a lot and I've had to stay positive with all of the negative media that is in myface every day. In sales and marketing, the key to being effective in a down market is figuring out how to make your sales goals while controlling your marketing costs. We are trying to find new, cost effective channels of communication that will help us achieve our business plan sales goals. We are lucky that we have so many new electronic media options available to us as home builders so that we can control our print advertising budgets.

The name of the game right now is sales. Anything we can do to make sales and control costs is how we will survive these tough economic times and stay in business.
Every marketing effort must produce a positive result on the bottom line in today's challenging economic times. I measure every advertisement to see if it was effective in either increasing traffic to our sales offices, or creating a sale. If I can achieve even one incremental sale per month, by something small that costs very little, such as our e-newsletter, or using one of the social networking sites to create buzz about our communities, or putting our properties on the MLS, this is the goal I am shooting for.

I've had to learn to overcome buyers’ objections so that I can continue to sell homes. This is just an ongoing challenge. Buyers are hearing so much negativity from the media, that if they bother to walk into your sales office at all, they are usually walking in with a chip on their shoulder and trying to find a reason to talk themselves (or their spouses) out of buying a new home. They are a little afraid that they may miss the bottom, however, still don't want to pull the trigger, because they are thinking, "what if this isn't the bottom yet?...I don't want to buy until I'm sure I've gotten the best deal possible".

It is our job to continue to sell our value, and get them to consider all of the reasons why this is a great time to purchase real estate in California. Interest rates are low, housing prices are low, the stock market isn't doing well, so real estate is still an alternative compared to other investments and the very best reason to buy right now is that this their home is an investment in their future that they can live in and enjoy today. If the community and the floorplan works for their family and lifestyle - you will not find a better time to buy than right now.

To connect with Cindy:
Cindy's LinkedIn Profile
Cindy on Facebook
Cindy on Plaxo

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