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Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast Digital Marketing Podcast Hosted by Greg Bray and Kevin Weitzel

279 Building a Brand Story Around Community - Monaca Onstad

This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Monaca Onstad of OnPlace joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how home builders can build a brand story around the communities they build in and connect more authentically with home buyers.

Most home builders are proficient at marketing their floor plans. Monaca says, “I know that's their product and that's what they want to sell, and most builders are doing a great, great job. Builders are really into their product because they're builders. They love building homes. This is what they do.”

However, home builders can overly focus on the floor plans and not emphasize the community enough. Monaca explains, “Sell the vision first and then the floor plan. Maybe talk less about your floor plans, more about the community and what's happening there, especially on social. Because people, once they start falling in love with the community, they'll figure out what floor plans you have. I'm not saying hide it and don't talk about it at all, but don't go directly to this is a three-bed, two-bath kind of thing. Because again, we can get those anywhere.”

One of the most important aspects of selling the community starts with the brand story. Monaca says, “So, starting with the right story. We like to make sure that story is authentic, that it's just not made up, like really try to tie it into something around the community and then stay true to brand. So, I think that one of the things that makes a really true place is creating the brand that really starts with something and then following through with that brand, really just embodying the brand. So, placemaking, there's not just one word for it, but it's really trying to make sure that you've got that vision. What is that story?”

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how home builders can create a story around the neighborhoods where they build, which will resonate more genuinely with customers.

About the Guest:

Monaca Onstad is the founder and CEO of OnPlace, a placemaking firm focused on driving home sales and leasing efforts for master planned developers and home builders across the nation. With over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry, Monaca launched OnPlace in February 2022 to help her clients create meaningful, connected communities through strategic programming. OnPlace specializes in amenity planning, lifestyle design and management, information center operations, and fractional marketing services.

Monaca is a nationally recognized leader in the placemaking, community relations, and lifestyle space. She was named Best Lifestyle Director in the U.S. in 2018 by the NAHB Sales and Marketing Council and ranked among the top four lifestyle directors in the country from 2019 through 2022. Her public service includes roles as a Manatee County Planning Commissioner and board member of both the Manatee Community Foundation and Lakewood Ranch Community Activities. She is also an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Lifestyle 55+ Residential Development Council and the New Home Trends Institute (NHTI) MPC Council.

Monaca co-hosts the Smith Lane podcast, where she explores community-building and placemaking with industry leaders. The show is inspired by her roots on Smith Lane—a close-knit street in her hometown—where neighbors supported each other through life’s highs and lows.

Transcript

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello everybody, and welcome to today's episode of The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse.

Greg Bray: And we are excited to have joining us today, Monaca Onstad. Monaca is the CEO and founder of OnPlace. Welcome, Monaca. Thanks for being with us today.

Monaca Onstad: Awesome. Thanks for having me, guys.

Greg Bray: Well, Monaca, for those who haven't met you yet, let's start off with that quick introduction. Give us a little bit of background and history about yourself.

Monaca Onstad: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first and foremost, I am a wife and a mother. I like to start with that [00:01:00] because that's the most important part of my life. I have two boys at home and a wonderful husband. But my professional side, I am a placemaker. So, I started back in the NPC world, gosh, 20-plus years ago. I actually started on a builder side and loved creating. Which was weird because I grew up on a farm where we didn't build homes on the land. But I just loved creating homes for people, community, and fell in love with it, and continued throughout my career. So, I've done amazing things across the country.

My career started in California, out in San Jose, and then was lucky enough to move to Virginia to a beautiful community called Willowsford. Spent several years there creating community, and then went down to Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Worked for the developer of Lakewood Ranch for about six years, creating community there. When I was ready, what's my next step? I thought, well, hey, what I'm doing here at Lakewood Ranch could actually work around the country for other builders and [00:02:00] developers.

So, that's when I launched OnPlace. That was, gosh, February 22, so about three and a half years ago, we launched OnPlace with just me and one other person, and today we have 70 people on staff. So, we have grown pretty tremendously. But today at OnPlace, we focus specifically on master planned communities and builders, helping them understand how to create place.

So, we do everything from community planning to the amenity planning, understanding who's going to live there, what do they want to do, all that good stuff. And then, we also put lifestyle directors on site, and we also do some marketing for them, from a fractional marketing. What I found over the course of the last few years as some of our larger developers, larger landholders, I would say, who are becoming developers, they don't have that marketing director yet, right? So, we step in and help them with that role. So, that's us in a nutshell.

Kevin Weitzel: Before we jump further into that, we need, for our listeners, a [00:03:00] factoid about yourself that has nothing to do with work, family, or the home building industry.

Monaca Onstad: Well, maybe this is work, but maybe it's not. I was a farmer, like a real farmer.

Kevin Weitzel: Like grains and crops, or are we talking about animals and hogs and chickens?

Monaca Onstad: We're talking about grains and crops. Corn, soybean, and wheat. So, I can drive a combine, I can drive a tractor, I can drive an 18-wheeler. Yeah, did all that in my early twenties. My dad owned a farm. He, unfortunately, had terminal cancer, and I had to come home from California to run the farm for a while. I had no idea what to do, but learned quickly in six weeks how to drive a tractor and do all that good stuff. So, you know, I could drive some heavy equipment if I needed to.

Kevin Weitzel: So, what was the driving test like for a driving a tractor? Did you have to go through any kind of written exam or anything like that or?

Monaca Onstad: Well, back then, I had to hire a female truck driver. Women weren't really supposed to drive the tractors and the trucks and all that stuff. So, I hired a female truck driver at night. There is no written test, of course, because you own the farm equipment. But yeah, I hired a female truck driver at night, and she [00:04:00] taught me how to drive all the equipment. I surprised all the farmhands during the daytime hours when I got in the truck and drove it.

Kevin Weitzel: Please tell me her name was not Large Marge.

Monaca Onstad: Large Marge?

Kevin Weitzel: Tribute to Pee-Wee Herman's Big Top Adventure, or whatever it's called.

Monaca Onstad: I'm just going to say yes, it was.

Kevin Weitzel: Alright, so before we get into everything, I just want to ask you one more question. Is creating a community as simple as just having a kung fu studio and a Kevin appreciation room, or is there more to it than that?

Monaca Onstad: There's slightly more to it. Just slightly.

Kevin Weitzel: I mean, Kevin appreciation really kind of encompasses everything, doesn't it?

Monaca Onstad: It does, it does. I mean, I would say that most buyers are looking for that.

Kevin Weitzel: Great. I'm glad we don't use our camera on these things because Greg is shaking his head in just utter embarrassment.

Greg Bray: There are some times that I'm so glad Kevin's with me on this podcast, and then there are occasional times where it's like, what have I done?

Kevin Weitzel: Little-known fact. Greg had an addition put onto his house just to have a Kevin appreciation room.

Greg Bray: Mm. That is very [00:05:00] little known. Very little known.

Kevin Weitzel: It's actually fabricated. But anyway.

Monaca Onstad: Yeah. Greg's like, I don't even know it.

Greg Bray: Yeah. And let's talk about Monaca now, Kevin, if that's all right.

Kevin Weitzel: Yes. Let's do that. Let's do that.

Greg Bray: Well, Monaca, for those who may not recognize that term, placemaking, I don't know how well known and widespread that might be. How do you define placemaking? What does that encompass for you? I.

Monaca Onstad: Placemaking in the urban sense has been around for a very long time, right? So, when you're making a town and those types of things. Typically, urban planners have used the word placemaking for a very long time. But I guess probably in the last five years, we have brought it over into the residential market to create that place. To me, what it means is being very thoughtful of what you're trying to do. So, not putting up a subdivision, I'm saying quotation marks here, a subdivision. You're really thinking through who's going to live there and what they want to do, what they need to live there. And then, you're also putting in things that [00:06:00] just make it better. Y

ou know, when you talk to a landscaper or a landscape architect, they're going to have their different version of placemaking, right? I mean, for me, I want to make sure that I'm activating spaces, not only actively, but passively. So, we build that programming in. So, if I know we want to have, you know, Kevin there every Friday night on stage, I want to make sure that I'm building that stage for Kevin because I know that is what my residents are going to want in the future. But it's all about tying that demographic into the place and really understanding what they want, so we're creating that for them.

And then, we can only create so much because you want to leave some room. I have a really great friend, Dan Sloan, who says this best, that you know, the settlers, once the residents come in, those early settlers, that they can kind of weave into the fabric as well. So, we start really that good foundation, and then as the residents come in, they start kind of bringing their mix into it as well. So, placemaking is across everything.

Brand, [00:07:00] super important. So, starting with the right story. We like to make sure that story is authentic, that it's just not made up. You can make one up if you want, but like really try to tie it into something around the community and then stay true to brand. So, I think that one of the things that makes a really true place is creating the brand that really starts with something and then following through with that brand, really just embodying the brand. So, placemaking, there's not just one word for it, but it's really trying to make sure that you've got that vision. What is that story? Create the brand and then give their community an opportunity also to bring in their own elements as well.

Greg Bray: So, this feels like it's something that's a little bit more than, oh, we should put a pool in. Where does this fit in the timing of the whole like development process? I'm sure there's ideal and then there's reality, but what's the ideal look like?

Monaca Onstad: Well, that is a great question, Greg. [00:08:00] So, traditionally, the way a lot of master planned communities are built, we'll start there because that's easier, master planned communities, is that the developer will buy some land and call a land planner, and I need to know where my lots are going, right? Because that's what's going to generate the money. And they'll give spaces for where the amenity goes. The earlier we can get into that plan, the better because we want to make sure we're allocating enough amenity space for that amenity program that we want to bring in. So, the earlier, the better.

So, just last week I was in Austin working with one of my clients, where they have a land plan, and now I'm bringing in landscape architects to say, how do we revise this a little bit without losing lots, right? So, that's dollars out the door if we lose those lots. So, how do we revise this? How do we get in some more green space? Because we don't wanna just pack the lots in, but we know that, you know, this has got a pencil out, right? So, early is good because what we do is we understand before even the [00:09:00] landscape architect starts drawing the site plan for the amenity plan, we want to understand what spaces we need.

And it's not necessarily about how the entry feature is going to look or what the pool's going to look like. Honestly, we go through and say, okay, this is the type of person who's going to live here. So, is it family? What do they want to do? And then we say, okay, because of that, this is the lifestyle plan. Here's how we're going to activate for this community. Well, here's the lifestyle plan, and now we need to know what elements in the amenities do we need to carry out that plan.

So, if you think about the way it's typically done, we say, Hey, we want a clubhouse, we want a pool, we want, you know, some pickleball courts. Oh, and now lifestyle come in and just program it. Right? Well, then lifestyle comes in, and it's like, okay, well, this is not in the right place. It's a fit afterwards, right? And so, what we are doing is really like we're building, if you want to call it a wedding dress, right? We're building the wedding dress, fitting it to the body, and then getting married versus [00:10:00] we're not buying off the rack, I guess you could say.

Greg Bray: In that process then, when you work with developers and builders, do you find that they've already kind of set in their mind, oh, I want to have this size home and this price point and these types of things within my typical floor plan, and then you're like, oh, well, what kind of buyer wants that house? Or do you find that, like, Hey, we want these kinds of buyers, and so let's figure out what the right home is, and then also the right type of community for that kind of buyer?

Monaca Onstad: Yeah. Typically, during the due diligence stage when a developer is purchasing that land, they understand at that point what the price point they need, what they can get there. So, they've done market studies and all of that, so they know their price point, and then they're going to go out and get builders to build there based on that price point. Right. And so, we have a general idea when we're going in where the price point is.

Now, I have had clients to say they would come in the middle of a [00:11:00] community that's already being, you know, built and by the rest of the lots. And I've had clients to say, Hey, the community is really trending one way, we want to trend it to maybe families, how can we change it? And so, you know, in that situation, it's almost like creating a second community, but how you weave them together. But the point is, is that they typically have their builder profile, they have what houses they're going to build, and all of that when they're in that due diligence stage. Again, they gotta make a pencil.

Kevin Weitzel: Once that community makes that shift from maybe first-time buyer or you know, retiree type buyer, not necessarily 55-plus, but then you go more toward a family focus, you're always going to have that ornery Earl back in the corner lot that's going to be angry because now there's more kids in the neighborhood. Tell them to get off his lawn.

Monaca Onstad: Well, again, we do have that sometimes. We do have that. My favorite communities are probably multi-gen. It's the way I grew up, it's the way probably most of us grew up, right? You've got neighbors down the street that maybe a little older. You got neighbors down the other side who are a little younger [00:12:00] kind of thing. I love the fact that, for example, my children get to see different life stages, right? It feels more like life. But that's just me and how I want to live. And so, I think that people gravitate toward certain communities based on what they like, right? So, Earl should probably maybe not come to a multi-gen community.

Kevin Weitzel: Yeah. If he drives by the model home and it's right by a playground, it's probably not his neighborhood. Let me ask you this, though, about some of the decisions that are made. How often is it that when liability comes into play, like an active community might want to have an exercise pathway where they have different events, but maybe liability would say, eh, you probably don't want to put those apparatuses out there because it could be a liability issue? Does that ever come into play, or is it more just management and upkeep that's more of an issue?

Monaca Onstad: Yeah, not much. I think more it comes up into like from a cost perspective, operational, that type of thing. I've operated communities from a developer standpoint for years, so we have that knowledge. We're not going to go too [00:13:00] far. One of my communities here, they put in boulders for the kids to play on, and at first I was like, they're going to get hurt. But maybe a little danger's good, right? You know, they're going to find rocks one day, they're going to have boulders somewhere. We don't push the envelope that far where there would be some liability issues.

Greg Bray: So, as you work with the developers, you're creating this plan, where does the story kind of start to come together? Because there's people who shop based on, oh, I need this many square feet, I need this many bedrooms and bathrooms. And there's people that shop for, I want this type of lifestyle, I want this type of an experience, and the actual home itself becomes slightly secondary to that larger story. So, are you guys writing that story, creating that story, and communicating it, and what goes into figuring that out?

Monaca Onstad: Goodness, just last week, I mentioned we were in Austin and we have a community there that we're going to rebrand because it's fresh, nothing's been done yet. [00:14:00] My client purchased it from another developer, and that developer named it one thing. We came in and we're like, Hmm, that just doesn't fit after viewing the community. I'm talking not just the land, but the surrounding community.

So, what I did is I went and I did an in-depth look at the land history, and then I toured around the land. I stopped at this adorable little taco truck that's near the land just to get the feel of the community. I talked to several people in the community. So, just really trying to get a feel of what's the greater community like because in my opinion, you never want to just come in and like start building something that's so just plain. So, all of this goes into the name, the branding, the feel, whatever our amenities are going to look like. We want to create a place that fits into the surrounding community, but at the same time to make it so desirable that other people wanna live here.

The [00:15:00] challenge we have today in the home building world is that you can pretty much get the same floor plan anywhere you want in the country. So, I can go 10 miles down the road here, I'm in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. I can go 10 miles down the road and get the same floor plan that I can next door, type thing, and so we have to be able to have a story, and the more authentic that story is, then you've got to be able to sell it.

So, I have one client who really believes in welcome centers, information centers, right? Every community he does in Texas, we do an information center for him because he really wants to ground the buyer with the story of the community. It works for them. They have the bestselling community in Texas, they've got multiple on the best 50 list. But it's not about selling the floor plan, it's about selling the vision, but the vision and the story has to be authentic.

Greg Bray: So, as you take that vision and story, now, you know, you talk about a welcome center, that's the onsite in-person connection moment, but yet we know that buyers are all starting online [00:16:00] first before they come, what recommendations do you have for the marketers to help communicate that story, you know, through the website and through their other digital activities before that buyer comes on site?

Monaca Onstad: Yeah, I think that from a website perspective, it's got to be visually pleasing. That's one thing the builders they're still not doing great, because most of.

Kevin Weitzel: No.

Monaca Onstad: Well, we have a client, I can't mention who it is, but I'll just tell you this. We have a client who they're one of the big nationals. The division we work with is the largest division of this big national in the country. Right. They've got their builder site and that's pretty much it. But, you know, we live in an area where lifestyle is super important. We do all the lifestyle for them. So, they were able to get a lifestyle-centric website, got approval for it to talk just about the lifestyle that they do in this area. It was a big moment because lifestyle is so important.

But when you go onto a builder site, it just [00:17:00] shows what home types do you want? They all look the same, right? At the bottom, you scroll down, and it's like, you know, okay, here's about the community kind of thing. If we reverse that and we talk about the community first, because that's what people are going to fall in love with, is the community typically. From a builder perspective, if you can alter your websites to talk more about the community and talk more about the life that's happening there, and if you have residents already living there, if you can pull some of that out, those experiences they're currently having, that just makes it so authentic. And I know I've said that word like 20 times already, but you've got to be able to tell the story and be real about it. And so, that's one of the things on the website.

So, if you can maybe talk less about your floor plans, more about the community and what's happening there, especially on social. Because people, once they start falling in love with the community, they'll figure out what floor plans you have. I'm not saying hide it and don't talk about it at all, [00:18:00] but don't go directly to this is a three-bed, two-bath kind of thing. Because again, we can get those anywhere.

Kevin Weitzel: So, little admission here. I've only lived my whole life in working-class neighborhoods, no amenities, no nothing other than like community parks and stuff. I don't know, about five, six years ago, I visited Rivertown, I guess it's in Florida, up in the Jacksonville market. They have like eight different pools, and some that are family-focused, some that are like exercise-focused. They've got one with a lazy river. They've got restaurants on location. They have multiple different parks with different themes. Some that are sports themes, some that are just playground themes. It blew my mind, and I can see how that could draw somebody. Does it ever repel anybody? It's just all upside?

Monaca Onstad: No, I would say so. I think there's a happy medium for people, right? So the community you're talking about, it's like massive, right? There's a lot of stuff. It's great. I think there's a happy medium, and I think it all goes back to knowing who's going to live there, right? So, now if you're in Texas, especially in like the Houston area, there's like amenity wars going on. You know, how big can your [00:19:00] water slide be? How big can your lazy river be? All of that. And it sells, right? Lagoons and all of that. I mean, it sells there. People want it. I think that when you go to different markets, people want different things.

Like, for example, I spent a lot of time in the Loudoun County, Northern Virginia market with Willowsford. It was an agri hood. People were looking for a retreat there, right? Because most of them were commuting into DC. They were looking for a retreat, so that worked. It's really about understanding where are your people, where are they working, you know, what do they want?

We have a community on the east coast of Florida here. Martin County, they had not allowed development in 40 years. This is like the first development they'd approved in 40 years. It was really important for them to do this open space. So, 70% is left in open space, but they're building an entire town there, with 4,000 homes and a town center and trails and all of this. But they know their buyer, right? They knew what their buyer wanted, and they knew that was going to fit for that county, and it's wildly successful. [00:20:00] So, and that's a farm that's not big slides and all of that. It'll have pools and things. It really goes back to understanding who your buyer is and what they're going to want to do so that you can make sure you're matching those amenities correctly.

Kevin Weitzel: It's also really inclusive because, again, coming from working class neighborhood, some of those nicer amenities were typically reserved for people that had memberships or that were members of a country club, and they were the only people that got it, even if you lived right next door to it. But all these new neighborhoods they're all fully inclusive. So, you could live in the most budget minded home in the neighborhood, or the highest falutin, you know, 10 billion bedroom McMansion, and still have access to all the same amenities.

Monaca Onstad: And something that's really cool about that is not only do you have access to the amenities, you're also hanging out with all those people, like, we're all one. Right? At the end of the day, we're all people. You know, you are meeting people around the neighborhood at the amenities, you're connecting. I mean, that's really what I love to do. I love to connect people [00:21:00] and the fact that we get to do that at such a large scale these days is pretty amazing. But that's what it's about. Like you're creating community through these amenities.

Kevin Weitzel: Now, ignoring regional draws, you know, if you're in the mountains, maybe hiking is popular, if you're near the ocean, maybe you know, windsurfing is popular. But if you ignore those locale specific ones, what metrics are you using to determine what you would recommend to a builder or developer? Do you have a, here's the hot list, here's the not list?

Monaca Onstad: It's honestly a feeling, like it's the study that I do, but it's also the brand and what the feeling of the community gives us. There's elements that you're going to have to put in. Pickleball in Florida. Do it without it, and you're not selling any homes. Just basic. But what we do is we try to say beyond that, like, okay, yeah, pool, pickleball, all that's expected, but what's the land giving us? How are we pulling out that true story?

We have a community in Hernando County here in Florida, where it's just some beautiful land. We know [00:22:00] that bordered by forest land, so state forest, it's never going to be built on. So, gosh, let's play that up. Trails. You can go through the forest. How do we connect to those? And it's got a little topo, which normally you don't have that in Florida, right? So, you know, how do we address that? So, trails, huge amenity, hugely popular across the country, outdoor open space trails. So, let's tie into that because not only does it tie into the brand, it ties into the land and it ties into what's surrounding us.

Kevin Weitzel: Gator petting farms and feeding farms.

Monaca Onstad: Yes. What I know of Kevin, so far, I'm not going to offer you a job.

Kevin Weitzel: Oh, I can't be an interior decorator. I can't be a designer. And when it comes to amenities, honestly, I'm not that client. I'm a patio home guy. I want no amenities. I just want my simple home and a HOA that takes care of my exterior. That's it. Right? That's the kind of buyer I am. But I'm impressed with the amenities that all these places keep putting in. I'm not that client. It is truly a foreign environment for me. But gator farms, [00:23:00] come on.

Monaca Onstad: Gator Farms. Yes. Yes.

Greg Bray: And Monaca, when you want the guy in the Elvis suit spinning the sign out at the model saying, open house or whatever, Kevin's your guy.

Monaca Onstad: I love it.

Greg Bray: Before I lose it, I just want to say that when you're ready to start that new HDTV show called Amenity Wars, there's an opportunity there somewhere.

Monaca Onstad: Oh my gosh, guys. Yes.

Greg Bray: Well, Monica, we want to respect your time. We appreciate what you've given us so far. A couple more questions. When you think of storytelling, are there places outside of home building that you look to, to say, Hey, they do a good job with storytelling, we need to learn from them that you kind of use for inspiration?

Monaca Onstad: Yeah, I think there's so many. Going back to the community in Austin last week, I mean, when the team hit on what we thought the brand should be and the feeling, I started looking for other brands that were similar, that had this same feeling in the story. I mean, one brand that I found they did this beautiful pottery, this gorgeous pottery, they were doing by hand. It [00:24:00] emulated the brand that I wanted to create. I mean, they had their story on their website and how, you know, kinda the whole process of creating this.

And I just thought, wow, like how that emulates community building, right, or building this place we're going to try to build, and how do we relate it back to this gorgeous company that's creating this beautiful pottery. I envisioned later, you know, as we, 'cause it's not built yet 'cause we just had our charette, but like how cool it would be to actually have some of that pottery one day on the shelves of the information center as a node to like, that's where, we thought the story would start.

Greg Bray: That's a great example. Great example for sure. If there's a builder listening today who's like, you know what, we haven't done a good job with this. We haven't really thought through the story. We haven't really thought through more than just, oh, we're putting in a pool and a clubhouse. What's like the first thing you recommend they do?

Monaca Onstad: Well, it's funny, we have a couple builders right now that have called us and we're doing this for them. Sometimes the builders [00:25:00] think that the first thing is to look at messaging because they typically think messaging is incorrect, and I don't think that's true. Sometimes, messaging is a problem, but I think messaging comes last. I think that you need to really take a good look at your community. Maybe have some fresh eyes on it.

Because sometimes we get blind from our problems, we can't really see them, because we don't want to see them sometimes. So, I think you have to go through, look at what you have in a fresh set of eyes. Look to see is there anything additional you need to do? Is there somewhere I could put in some more trails? I think that you play up what you have. What do you have, and how do we play that up, right? But I think sometimes trails are the easy things to come back in after the fact, whether they're sidewalks or what. And then entryways are important, all of those things.

But really, one of the quickest ways is also to do some lifestyle. What is your website? Are you doing any programming or events for community members? You can do things like that are super easy, [00:26:00] popsicles by the pool or what have you, but try to pull that out of the story. Like whatever the community is about, try to pull that out and put it on your website and social media, and all of that, real things happening.

And sometimes even when you don't have a lifestyle program, sometimes your residents are already doing it. So, how can you capitalize off that to, you know, chat with your residents? They'll do ad hoc social committees, which are amazing, right? They can do some amazing events. So, how do you play into that a little bit? Maybe you can donate a little bit of money to go back to some of their programming, and then you can get some images from it. Step back, look at the community to see if there's anything that you're missing because it's not always about the message.

Greg Bray: Well, Monaca, do you have any kind of last words of advice that you'd like to share with listeners today?

Monaca Onstad: I think from a builder perspective, I would say sell the vision first and then the floor plan.

Greg Bray: Nice and succinct. Love it.

Kevin Weitzel: What's the one bit you'd tell builders to absolutely stop doing right [00:27:00] now?

Monaca Onstad: Well, I honestly I think it's selling the floor plan. I know that's their product and that's what they want to sell, and most builders are doing a great, great job. Builders are really into their product because they're builders. They love building homes. This is what they do. If I were the customer, I'm looking for a home. We are building a house right now, and everything fits except one thing. I wanted one more thing. But guess what? I know the community. I know the lifestyle that's coming. I know the amenities. We helped design them. I know all of that, right? I know what's coming. And so, I decided that I was going to go ahead and buy this house, even though it needed just a little something else. The floor plan wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I'm so in love with the community that I decided to buy it anyway.

Don't overlook the ability to get the buyer to really key into your community based on what's there. Stop underselling that you got a [00:28:00] pool and a clubhouse. We tend to undersell that sometimes. One more thing. It's not succinct, but one more thing. So, when you talk about amenities on your builder website, don't just list like pool, clubhouse, that means nothing to me. Give me some images, paint that story for me. Paint that story for the customer, for the buyer to say, Oh, that's how I want my life to be.

It's kind of like fitness. We don't build communities without fitness centers. Typically, you don't do that because people come in and they may never go into that fitness center ever, but when they come in that door to buy that home, they say, Wow, I could work out there, right? My life could be better because I could work out there. But now again, I mean, me included, I may never walk into that fitness center.

Kevin Weitzel: You build a gym and people buy a membership to go on, you know what, I could chisel this body. And then they go a couple times, they're like, wow, this is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be.

Monaca Onstad: Exactly. It's harder to chisel than you thought. So, the point there is you've [00:29:00] got to figure out whatever your product is, whatever your website looks like, figure out how to put what's happening in the community, the images that you're going to have from the amenities. It's not just listing out pool, clubhouse, fitness center. I don't know about you guys, but a bullet point list never got me excited about purchasing anything.

Greg Bray: Well said. Well, Monaca, if somebody wants to connect with you, what's the best way for them to reach out and get in touch?

Monaca Onstad: Awesome. They can find us on our website at OnPlace.life. Or they could reach out to me directly. I'm on LinkedIn. Monaca Onstad.

Greg Bray: Well, thank you, Monica, and thank you, everybody, for listening today to The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you. [00:30:00]


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