The Real Estate Market

Seems like at least once a week for the last few months, (especially from parents and in-laws) I get asked the question How's the real estate market? I haven't heard good things. Well, I haven't heard good things either. It seems like every other day, the business section has some sort of headline talking about the declining market. I'll tell you what I think. About this time last year, the real estate inventory level for housing supply locally was about 4-1/2 months. Currently, it is hovering around 5.2 months. It is definitely increasing which is an adverse sign but San Antonio seems to be much different than the coasts, the midwest and the northeast. We don't rise and fall as meteorically as they do, and our local economy is still somewhat robust. Does that mean we keep plowing ahead, aggressively firing-up homes and using capital to grow?; absolutely not. Our mission right now is to conserve cash to weather the next 18 months while choosing projects that make sense both for us and our clients. My humble opinion is that our market will remain somewhat flat which means that we will need to focus our attention on our systems and cost-efficiencies so that we can provide for a better customer experience than our competition.

The Beginning

In 2002 I decided to make a career change. I had been in the telcommunications field for a long time and experienced a company and industry that went on a rocket-ride until the end when the bottom fell out. Luckilly, I have an awesome wife and she allowed me to pursue my dream of renovating houses. Up untill that time, all I had done was renovate one home, but I had definitely caught the bug. After a few years into it and many projects later, I had met an awesome guy named Jason Mattern through Church who was a fellow Aggie and in my Bible study. We decided to do a new home project together to see how things would go and the short of it is it turned-out great. We collectively decided to drop what we were doing and go into business together full time. I have been thanking my lucky stars ever since.