The History of My Townhome Part 2
The Founders of My Townhome
While working at The Boulevard Company I was befriended by John Delaloye. John was the Chief Financial Officer for Boulevard Development. As I was closing out communities the contracts were steady. I would enter John’s office on a regular basis for contract approval. There is something interesting about on site sales, the better you are the faster you sell, the faster you sell, the faster you are out of job. This idea of selling yourself out of inventory is a subject that I will discuss in greater detail in another chapter; however, the fact that I had effectively “sold myself out of a job” would be one catalyst for the creation of My Townhome. John held an MBA from Northwester in Chicago and cut his teeth in banking at what was at the time First Union Nation Bank. John had worked personally on the funding and development of over 600 condominiums and townhomes. He was a wealth of knowledge and knew how to put a business together. I would soon learn that John and I were contemplating the same ideas.
We both had come to realize that there was a void in the market. There was a very high pent up demand for multi-family housing and the local brokerage was primarily selling single family homes. What if someone started a real estate brokerage that worked exclusively with townhomes and condominiums. Whoever did it could focus all of their efforts on understanding multi-family pricing, the intricacies of home owners associations, the needs of the buyer and the wants of the seller. Sellers would have an agency that would be known throughout the market for the promotion of homes just like theirs . Buyers would have an agency with unmatched knowledge and experience in exactly what they were looking to purchase. One day John pulled me into his office and we started to discuss the idea of a real estate brokerage firm that would handle exclusively multi-family sales. Together we started to understand that we could be that someone that created this business.
The timing was perfect. Most of The Boulevard Company projects had been successfully sold. As is natural with real estate development following a fast sales cycle there was a low inventory level. The only immediate need for sales was at a new uptown condominium development known as Gateway Plaza. John and I discussed the idea of forming an outside sales agency to work with Chris Branch and the Boulevard Company to sell out the remaining inventory. I believe in business and in life the most successful ventures are born out of necessity and are good for all involved. With a low inventory, outsourcing sales was the right business move for The Boulevard Company . John and I would focus our attention almost exclusively on our biggest client. All efforts were directed to the sales and market of Gateway Plaza. Almost everything was in place, John brought a strong financial mind with an understanding of how to create a business, I brought sales experience and market knowledge, we had a high profile client and over 50 condominiums to sell.
The only thing missing was money and one of John’s primary responsibilities while at The Boulevard Company was sourcing capital. The search began and we had a great audience that we could pitch our idea to. In short order John had secured our first investor and it was time to incorporate what would soon be My Townhome LLC.
Written by T.J. Larsen, Founder My Townhome Realty
Tune in Next Month for Part 3 of this multi part series …The Legal Process |
