Community Marketing & Real Estate
President, TLCo
Tue, 09/22/2020 - 9:00am
First in a Series:
The Landings Company, The Landings Association, and The Landings Club: Who’s Who?
The Landings Company is a 100% owned subsidiary of The Landings Association (TLA). Simply put, TLA is a not-for-profit, while the Company is a for-profit corporation. Although the Company and TLA have the similar 
objective of protecting and enhancing property values, each go about their mission using very different but complementary strategies to do so.
Given their differing tax statuses and missions, each entity has its own Board. The TLA and Club Boards are elected, while the Company board is appointed, with TLA review and approval, and includes one-to-three active TLA Board Directors each year. The Club also has a liaison present in our monthly Company Board Meetings to encourage cooperation and communication amongst the three entities and collaboration where appropriate.
TLA exists to protect what we have in our community and keep it in tip-top shape, while the Company’s role is to expose more people to our island paradise and its lifestyle to keep properties selling at the highest values possible in varying market conditions. The Club exists to serve its members and is clearly a foundational part of our available lifestyle and adds significant desirability for us as the place to live life fully.
Given the above, our Board is more business and marketing focused, while TLA’s Board is rightfully obligated to be more governmental in nature, given that it follows established Covenants and state law to make official decisions on our (the residents) behalf. I’d say the Club is somewhere in between in that they are a bit less affected by market conditions than the Company given their normally more predictable revenue stream (COVID-19 aside) and their need to uphold their commitments to their current members, while also growing their membership numbers beyond expected, natural attrition.
The Company derives revenue solely from the listings we sell, buyers we represent who purchase homes and lots, and our property management operation. Our objective is not to drive profit, as evidenced by the 2020 budget which had a meager $3,000 profit goal. The Company’s financial focus is to reinvest in the largest, targeted, national, regional, and local marketing spend possible after direct sales costs and modest, general and administrative costs. In my more than six years since arriving in early 2014, we’ve increased marketing dollars spent from $1.0m in 2013 to $1.4m in 2020, or +40%. Total revenue increased from $5.5m to $7.7m, or +40% (as shown in the chart above, 2016 and 2017 were affected by hurricanes) as well, while general and administrative grew only 18% during the same period. All of the above is accomplished with no cost to our current residents who aren’t selling, buying, or renting their home through the Company, as there is no funding from TLA or the Club other than a parttime Discovery Visit Concierge whose cost is shared with the Club.
The Club also spends significant marketing dollars to attract new members, which is synergistic with the Company’s marketing outreach for new homeowners by design. Additionally, they help us host the hundreds of Discovery Visitors we bring to the island each year.
All three organizations are critically important to our overall objective of protecting and enhancing property values which would suffer dramatically should one “leg of the stool” falter.
The Landings Company is 100% self-funded and can only continue with your support when selling your home, referring friends and family, or renting your home.
If you are interested in selling your home, please call us today (598-0500). Listings across all price ranges are selling at a pace higher than we’ve seen in many years, with a supply that’s at its lowest level in years.
In the next installment of this series, we will explore: How do we market The Landings? Please note, these installments will be part of TLA’s weekly email to all resident.
Your Company, The Landings Company!
objective of protecting and enhancing property values, each go about their mission using very different but complementary strategies to do so.
Given their differing tax statuses and missions, each entity has its own Board. The TLA and Club Boards are elected, while the Company board is appointed, with TLA review and approval, and includes one-to-three active TLA Board Directors each year. The Club also has a liaison present in our monthly Company Board Meetings to encourage cooperation and communication amongst the three entities and collaboration where appropriate.
TLA exists to protect what we have in our community and keep it in tip-top shape, while the Company’s role is to expose more people to our island paradise and its lifestyle to keep properties selling at the highest values possible in varying market conditions. The Club exists to serve its members and is clearly a foundational part of our available lifestyle and adds significant desirability for us as the place to live life fully.
Given the above, our Board is more business and marketing focused, while TLA’s Board is rightfully obligated to be more governmental in nature, given that it follows established Covenants and state law to make official decisions on our (the residents) behalf. I’d say the Club is somewhere in between in that they are a bit less affected by market conditions than the Company given their normally more predictable revenue stream (COVID-19 aside) and their need to uphold their commitments to their current members, while also growing their membership numbers beyond expected, natural attrition.
The Company derives revenue solely from the listings we sell, buyers we represent who purchase homes and lots, and our property management operation. Our objective is not to drive profit, as evidenced by the 2020 budget which had a meager $3,000 profit goal. The Company’s financial focus is to reinvest in the largest, targeted, national, regional, and local marketing spend possible after direct sales costs and modest, general and administrative costs. In my more than six years since arriving in early 2014, we’ve increased marketing dollars spent from $1.0m in 2013 to $1.4m in 2020, or +40%. Total revenue increased from $5.5m to $7.7m, or +40% (as shown in the chart above, 2016 and 2017 were affected by hurricanes) as well, while general and administrative grew only 18% during the same period. All of the above is accomplished with no cost to our current residents who aren’t selling, buying, or renting their home through the Company, as there is no funding from TLA or the Club other than a parttime Discovery Visit Concierge whose cost is shared with the Club.
The Club also spends significant marketing dollars to attract new members, which is synergistic with the Company’s marketing outreach for new homeowners by design. Additionally, they help us host the hundreds of Discovery Visitors we bring to the island each year.
All three organizations are critically important to our overall objective of protecting and enhancing property values which would suffer dramatically should one “leg of the stool” falter.
The Landings Company is 100% self-funded and can only continue with your support when selling your home, referring friends and family, or renting your home.
If you are interested in selling your home, please call us today (598-0500). Listings across all price ranges are selling at a pace higher than we’ve seen in many years, with a supply that’s at its lowest level in years.
In the next installment of this series, we will explore: How do we market The Landings? Please note, these installments will be part of TLA’s weekly email to all resident.
Your Company, The Landings Company!
This article was originally published by The Landings Association on their website. Visit landings.org to read the original article. https://landings.org/news/2020/09/22/community-marketing-real-estate
