Industry Insider: Cheryl Bonk, M/I Homes
For the past 26 years, Cheryl Bonk has been helping people fulfill their personal dreams of owning a house. Starting as a greeter in a model home, she worked her way up the ladder through six companies to become vice president of sales and marketing for M/I Homes, a national builder based in Columbus, Ohio, which entered the Chicago market in 2008.
She got the bug to work in new home construction sales after she and her husband built their our own first home. “After spending five years working in retail, I thought that it would be fun to sell homes instead,” Bonk said.
She was quickly hooked on the industry, running her own community for the Kirk Corp. within 18 months. Stints with Renquist Development, Wiseman-Hughes, King’s Court Builders and Kensington Homes followed, with Bonk picking up skills and knowledge along the way.
At Renquist she marketed a very large community — The Woodlands in Darien. At Wiseman-Hughes she did a little of everything, from color selections with customers to sales. At King’s Court Builders in Naperville, Bonk learned how to market and sell custom homes and was able to design and choose the subcontractors for her own custom house, giving her added knowledge and appreciation for the building process.
When she moved on to the fledgling Kensington Homes, she was ready to lead, rather than just sell. So she became general sales manager of the privately-held firm, a position she held for nine years, watching the firm grow incrementally each year.
“But like so many other privately-held homebuilders, Kensington Homes didn’t survive the tough times. It was so difficult to watch the company vanish in front of you after nine years of building up the business,” she said.
When Kensington closed, Bonk was determined to remain in the industry she had grown to love so much, so when she heard that M/I Homes was entering the Chicago market for the first time with a community in Elgin, she approached them and took a sales job.
“It was a tough market for me because I didn’t know Elgin, but I learned the nuances of the market and after six months, I had been promoted to sales manager for the community and a year after that, I became vice president of sales and marketing for M/I Homes’ Chicago communities,” Bonk said.
Since M/I entered the Chicago market, it has grown from one community to seven. In 2010, it was the top townhouse builder in the Chicago area and the fourth largest builder overall in the market.
What is your dream house?#147;My dream house would be a home on the beach where I can wake up every morning with the ocean outside my window. It would have a porch and the most luxurious master bedroom and bathroom you have ever seen because my husband and I have always designed our homes around the kids.#148;What is your favorite home amenity?#147;I believe that what makes a home drop-dead gorgeous are terrific interior molding details in just the right places.#148;What is your business philosophy?#147;Stay as close to the heart of your business as you can #8212; whether it#146;s an exciting day on the sales floor, understanding the needs of your customer or walking through a home at construction #8212; seeing that the special attention to details is there, or knowing the pulse of how your team is feeling on any given day. Being a part of the front line in every aspect of your business keeps you emotionally charged up and inspired to reach higher and achieve more.#148;The details:M/I Homes sold 139 townhouses in the Chicago market in 2010, ranging from $149,900 to $241,900. Many were sold to first-time buyers, both singles and couples, although some have also been sold to young empty-nesters who are downsizing from larger homes, Bonk said.It currently has communities under development in Elgin, Naperville, Hanover Park, Winfield, Aurora, St. Charles, Streamwood and Carol Stream.#147;We have been using Route 59 and the Metra lines as our guideposts,#148; she said. #147;We want to stay within the inner growth range where the jobs are and in order to build in those areas at an affordable price, we are concentrating on townhouses.#148;Eventually, however, she expects the company to expand to single-family homes, which are M/I Homes#146; mainstay in other cities.She credits M/I Homes#146; success in the Chicago market to the fact that they have been able to buy land in premium locations at today#146;s prices, instead of having to work off land purchased in previous years at higher prices.#147;This allows us to sell our homes at prices lower than the foreclosures and resales on the market,#148; Bonk said. #147;When you have a brand new home with a 30-year warranty and an Energy Star rating in a great location, it makes choosing between that home and a nearby resale or foreclosure easy.#148;What is the best part about working in new home construction sales?#147;This business is always changing. There is always something new to focus on #8212; new products, new locations, different economic issues. The diversity of things you touch is energizing. #147;I also like the pride I can put into what I do by making special product decisions for the consumer, which will make them enjoy living there better. After homes are built, I like to drive back through the neighborhood and remember the people I sold to and the special touches that various buyers asked us to put into their houses.#148;What are the biggest changes you have seen in the business?#147;When I started in the business, interest rates were 18 percent and it was very difficult to qualify someone for a mortgage at that rate. Today I feel we have come full circle because it is difficult to qualify people for mortgages again, but for different reasons.#148;She also cited major changes in the product she is selling. Instead of the old-style, cookie-cutter homes, today she is selling a product that is energy efficient, creatively designed and of very high quality.Future plans:#147;Of course, in five years we would love to be selling hundreds of homes per year in the Chicago market. But we know that we need to grow cautiously. So we plan to chip away at the market, finding opportunities where we can and improving our market share through conservative growth.#148; 28001860Cheryl Bonk, vice president of sales and marketing for M/I Homes, joined the builder in 2008. The company is building these townhouses in Naperville.SCOTT SANDERS/ssanders@dailyherald.com